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OpenAI's median researcher spends $600 a day on inference. That is what the 3.1x costs — and it is a purchase, not a breakthrough.

OpenAI says it hit its 'automated research intern' milestone and published the internal numbers: 3.1 agent-workdays per human workday, a median researcher running more than $600/day of inference at API prices, and a 90th percentile past $7,000/day. Annualised, that is roughly $150,000 per head in tokens alone. The leverage is real. It is also bought, at a price that reprices every 'agents replace engineers' business case.