OpenAI published new usage data showing a fivefold growth in active Codex users in H1 2026, with a tenfold jump in long-running agent tasks, and median output per OpenAI developer surged 13-50x year-over-year due to agentic AI usage. By the metric of functional capability, 2026 has witnessed the arrival of AGI-like systems in the form of long-horizon agents that no longer operate as passive conversationalists but as active doers that function as specialized colleagues. This highlights a rapid industry shift to autonomous AI agents for complex tasks, suggesting AI could dramatically boost productivity and job scope, but also underscoring the need for oversight as agents operate at machine speed in coding and knowledge work.
When your AI coworker can spend eight hours reasoning through a problem and you don't need to touch the code it ships, something has shifted about what automation means.