Epoch AI taxonomy
HoldTools
A framework used to classify agent activity into research workflow categories.
Why it's here
Placed in Hold: 1 article(s) of evidence from 1 source(s), led by research-stage coverage, with 0 in the last 30 days. Confidence 24%. Low accumulated evidence, so it defaults conservatively pending more signal.
Evidence (1)
- 7The New Stack·9/7/2026researchOpenAI says AI agents are adding supervisory work
OpenAI reports that its researchers are now using an "automated research intern" agent for multi-day, well-defined tasks, but the company says rising agent use has also increased the amount of human supervision required. By mid-August, agents were logging 3.1 agent-workdays for every human workday across the research organization, while researchers also faced significant inference costs and ongoing oversight demands.