Did OpenAI Secretly Create a Brain-Like Intelligence After All?

What We Know About Q* and OpenAI’s Potential AGI Breakthrough

Illustration by the author with components created via Midjourney

Earlier this year, OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman sent the tech world into a frenzy with a five-word Reddit post: “AGI has been achieved internally.”

AGI stands for Artificial General Intelligence. It’s the holy grail of AI research. Essentially, true AGI would be a brain-like intelligence capable of reasoning, creative thought, and perhaps even consciousness.

Altman posting about achieving AGI was a huge deal — it would be akin in its importance to a top scientist posting “Fusion works,” or Donald Trump posting “I’m not running.”

Altman later said that the post was a joke. But the drama around his recent ouster calls that into question.

OpenAI’s board was reportedly warned of a major breakthrough right before Altman was fired. Leaked documents suggest that the discovery relates to a new model, codenamed Q*.

Could OpenAI have achieved AGI after all? What is Q*, and what does it mean for the future of AI? Let’s explore.

The Importance of Basic Math

Much of what we know about Q* (pronounced Q-star) is based on reporting by Reuters. The news outlet…