Independent capability measurement

Choosely AI Progress Index

How close AI is to doing complex digital work on its own.

A conservative, evidence-backed measure of what today’s best AI can actually do — not what companies say it can do.

Reviewed 14 October 2026. The Index places frontier AI at 50.8 out of 100 across reasoning and adaptation, real-world work, and autonomy and agency.

Methodology V1.0Current approved snapshot
Current frontier/ 100

Verified capability—not marketing claims.

The capability balance

The shape of AI capability

Three scores. One evolving form.

Reasoning develops the head. Real-world work develops the arms and hands. Autonomy develops the torso, spine and legs. Each system’s surface reveal and lights respond automatically to its score. Compare approved snapshots, replay the change, then read the precise balance below.

The form is a visual metaphor for the three measured capabilities. Its surface reveal and lights use exact scores; labels round to one decimal.

Capability Profile

Approved

CAPI50.8 / 100+1.0 pts
Reasoning & Adaptation: 78.9 out of 100. Real-World Work: 28.9 out of 100. Autonomy & Agency: 46.2 out of 100. Exact scores determine distance from the center. Values and previous-snapshot changes are listed in the table.

What moved

Canonical pillar scores compared with Sep 23, 2026
PillarPreviousCurrentChange
Reasoning & Adaptation78.978.9Unchanged
Real-World Work25.728.9+3.2 pts
Autonomy & Agency46.246.2Unchanged

Lowest pillarReal-World Work28.9 out of 100

Each point moves outward as its pillar score rises. A lower score pulls the profile toward the center.

Geometry uses exact scores; labels round to one decimal.Read distance along each axis. The filled area is not the Index or a percentage.

As the Index changes, the shape changes with it.

What is driving the score?

Three ways to understand where AI is now.

30% of index
78.9

Reasoning & Adaptation

Can AI figure out difficult problems and adapt when things change?

Static novel reasoning is near the V1 ceiling, while verified interactive adaptation has advanced sharply but remains incomplete.
30% of index
28.9

Real-World Work

Can AI reliably finish useful work from start to finish?

The weakest pillar: accepted professional deliverables remain much harder than polished demos suggest.
40% of index
46.2

Autonomy & Agency

Can AI keep working on its own without constant human help?

AI can reach into longer expert tasks, but strict end-to-end computer-workflow completion stays low.

What has actually been counted?

The Live Edge

Choosely separates proven capability from promising claims and unanswered questions.

VerifiedProven and counted.
Adapting to hidden rules

ARC-AGI-3 Semi-Private rises to 62.71% under the provider-neutral Standard harness.

ARC-AGI-3 · Verified evidence
Novel reasoning

ARC-AGI-2 reaches 95.0% on the frozen Semi-Private surface.

ARC-AGI-2 · Verified evidence
Longer autonomous work

AI can attempt work that would take human experts almost 12 hours, but uncertainty rises as tasks get longer.

METR · Verified evidence
Being checkedInteresting—not counted yet.
New benchmark results

Checked before they can change the Index

CHECKING
Company performance claims

Not counted without independent evidence

EXCLUDED
Still openImportant capabilities not reliably solved.
A reliable history of progress

This first snapshot is where the series begins

OPEN
Human impact signals

Not published until defensible evidence exists

OPEN
View all evidence →

What is holding AI back?

What AI still can’t do.

Impressive demos are not the same as dependable autonomous work. These are the clearest gaps in the frozen evidence.

01

Make interactive adaptation dependable

ARC-AGI-3 has advanced sharply, but 62.71% still leaves substantial failure on hidden-rule environments.

ARC-AGI-3 · 62.71%
02

Deliver client-acceptable work

Most professional projects still need human work before independent reviewers call the result client-ready.

RLI · 21.25%
03

Finish computer workflows cleanly

AI often makes useful progress on computer tasks but fails to complete every required step.

OSWorld 2.0 · 20.6% binary accuracy
04

Pass broad agent tasks in full

Broad agent tasks only count when the whole job is finished correctly; partial progress does not pass.

ALE · 38.2% full pass rate

How did capability reach this point?

How AI got here.

A few capability shifts changed what AI systems could plausibly do next. This is context—not fabricated Index history.

  1. GPT-4 launches

    Broad multimodal reasoning advances

  2. Function calling

    Models begin using external tools

  3. Claude 3 Opus

    Long context and robust analysis

  4. GPT-4o

    Real-time multimodal interaction

  5. Agentic systems

    Autonomous step-by-step workflows

  6. AI Progress Index V1.0

    First canonical measurement

  7. Reliable autonomy

    The work ahead

Why trust the measurement?

What the Index is based on.

Six independent tests. Exact results are frozen before they can influence the headline score.

Novel reasoningVerified

95.0%

AI can solve most difficult unfamiliar static puzzles on the frozen semi-private surface.

ARC-AGI-2 ↗
Adapting to hidden rulesVerified

62.71%

AI can now solve a majority of the semi-private interactive adaptation surface under ARC Prize’s provider-neutral Standard harness.

ARC-AGI-3 ↗
Professional workVerified

21.25%

Most professional projects still do not reach a client-acceptable finish without human help.

RLI ↗
Broad agent tasksVerified

38.2% full pass rate

AI completes more than one in three broad professional agent tasks in full on the frozen ALE-V1 surface.

ALE ↗
Longer autonomous workVerified

~11h 59m at 50% success

AI can now tackle tasks that take human experts hours, but reliability falls as work gets longer.

METR ↗
Computer useVerified

20.6% binary accuracy

AI often makes partial progress across computer workflows but rarely finishes them cleanly.

OSWorld 2.0 ↗

The Change Brief

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