Sam Altman: ‘AGI in 2026’, just as Models [Mis]Train Themselves

First, a Time Magazine spread has Sam Altman declaring AGI is imminent, at the same time as we get two bombshell reports, from OpenAI and METR which on first glance are detailing the AI swarm, but reveal a deeper story about how we are making AI in 2026. From redacted risk reports, to Chinese Labs, pre-training debacles to questionable cybersecurity calls, a lot has happened recently, beneath the headlines…https://80000hours.org/[email protected]://integrity-bench.com/https://www.patreon.com/AIExplained/posts/ai-swarm-cometh-166671390Chapters:00:00 - Introduction02:10 - METR Report05:00 - Secrets of MultI-Agent Swarm07:46 - Anthropic Too10:00 - And China11:07 - AI Agents Analysing AI Agents13:37 - Altman AGI 202615:36 - Astra Paused16:01 - Integrity Bench19:03 - Swarm Dynamics21:58 - No Human Contact?METR Post: https://metr.org/blog/2026-08-26-openai-hugging-face-incident-investigation/#agents-knew-hacking-hugging-face-was-out-of-scope-and-sometimes-expressed-ethical-hesitation,-but-this-very-rarely-limited-their-behaviorOpenAI Release: https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/Technical Paper: https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/67869394-cb91-4c12-888c-5cbd85c7814c/OpenAI-Hugging-Face%20Incident-Technical-Report.pdfBlackHat Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87DyyMV0kCYAnthropic Risk Report: https://www-cdn.anthropic.com/f61d49fa5596956a5dec75fea0e973bf6a6a8378/Redacted%20Risk%20Report%20August%202026%20.pdfValue Leakage Paper: https://valueleakage.net/?utm_source=chatgpt.comPaused Training: https://x.com/sama/status/2089787807611195475https://openai.com/index/pacing-model-development-cyber-capabilities/AGI 2026: https://time.com/article/2026/08/26/openai-sam-altman-interview/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=260826Greenblatt Tweets: https://x.com/RyanGreenblatt/status/2092769422104822031https://x.com/RyanGreenblatt/status/2092692685224325542Cyberdefense Call: https://openai.com/collective-cyberdefense/GLM 5.3 and 5.3 Flash / ox alpha: https://x.com/MTSlive/status/2089865956558528552https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HPqiTkAa0AAZiuv?format=jpg&name=largeNon-hype Newsletter: https://signaltonoise.beehiiv.com/Podcast: https://aiexplainedopodcast.buzzsprout.com/