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OpenAI Establishes Five-Level System To Gauge AI Progress
The ChatGPT creator revealed the new classification system to employees during a recent company-wide meeting.
OpenAI has introduced a five-tier framework to monitor its advancement toward developing artificial intelligence that can rival and even surpass human capabilities.
The initiative is the latest in the startup’s efforts to enhance public understanding of AI safety and was shared with staff during a company-wide meeting on Tuesday, July 9. OpenAI intends to present the levels to investors and other stakeholders, which span from conversational AI (Level 1) to AI that can independently operate an entire organization (Level 5).
During the meeting, OpenAI executives informed employees that the company is currently at the first level but is nearing the second level, known as Reasoners. This tier represents AI systems capable of basic problem-solving tasks comparable to a human with a doctorate-level education.
In the same session, OpenAI’s leadership demonstrated a research project featuring the GPT-4 AI model, showcasing new skills indicative of human-like reasoning. For years, the company has been working towards achieving what is often referred to as artificial general intelligence (AGI), which entails creating computers that can outperform humans in most tasks. Such systems do not yet exist, though OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has previously suggested that AGI might be achievable later this decade.
Also Read: The Most AI-Proof Career Opportunities In The Middle East
Determining the criteria for AGI has been a topic of ongoing debate among AI researchers. In a paper published in November 2023, researchers at Google DeepMind proposed a framework of five ascending AI levels, including “expert” and “superhuman”, which resembles the classification system used in the automotive industry for self-driving cars.
According to OpenAI’s proposed levels, the third tier on the road to AGI is called Agents, representing AI systems that can perform tasks autonomously over several days. Level 4 describes AI that can generate new innovations, while the highest level, Organizations, refers to AI capable of managing entire enterprises.
The framework, developed by OpenAI executives and senior leaders, is considered a work in progress. The company plans to collect feedback from employees, investors, and its board, with the possibility of refining the levels over time.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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