Former OpenAI research lead: AI's real capability gaps are hidden in seemingly simple tasks

At the 2026 AI Summit, Core Automation CEO Jerry Tworek pointed out that the best measure of AI progress is not its most stunning demos, but the "seemingly simple" tasks that models still cannot complete. The former OpenAI research lead emphasized that rapid technological leaps can easily obscure the fact that models have actually made no progress in some areas, and these shortcomings are precisely what determine whether AI can reliably handle real-world work.