ELEMENTARY (SD)2019–2022
OpenAI — GPT-2 · GPT-3 · ChatGPT (GPT-3.5, Nov 2022)Released: 2019–2022 · ChatGPT: November 2022
Could do
Write simple sentences, answer basic questions. Often makes things up with confidence.
AI grows up like a student — just much faster.
Scope: LLMsEvery AI product you've heard of belongs to a “grade level”. Here is the whole class, from 2019 to today — September 2026.
What grows here is one family of AI: LLMs — the “brain” behind ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. Other AI you know (image generators, voice assistants) builds on top of the same brain.
HIGH SCHOOL (SMA)2023
OpenAI — GPT-4 (Mar)Released: March 2023
Anthropic — Claude 1 · Claude 2Released: 2023
Google — Gemini 1.0 (Dec)Released: December 2023
Meta — Llama 2Released: 2023
Could do
Passes bar & medical exams. Text-only; still needs guidance.
UNIVERSITY (S1)2024
OpenAI — GPT-4oReleased: 2024
Anthropic — Claude 3 · 3.5 SonnetReleased: 2024
Google — Gemini 1.5 · 2.0Released: 2024
DeepSeek — V3 (Dec)Released: December 2024
Meta · xAI — Llama 3 · Grok 2Released: 2024
Could do
Multimodal — sees, hears, speaks. Fast and cheap.
GRAD SCHOOL (S2–S3)2025
OpenAI — o1 · o3 · GPT-5 (Aug)Released: 2025 · GPT-5: August 2025
Anthropic — Claude 4 · 4.5Released: 2025
Google — Gemini 2.5 · 3 Pro (Nov)Released: 2025 · Gemini 3 Pro: November 2025
DeepSeek — R1 (Jan)Released: January 2025
xAI · Meta — Grok 3 · 4 · Llama 4Released: 2025
Could do
Reasons before answering. Starts using tools & acting as an agent. PhD-level on benchmarks.
PROFESSOR / RESEARCH PARTNER2026
Anthropic — Fable 5 → Fable 5.1 & Mythos 5.1 (Sep 1) · Opus 5 · Sonnet 5Released: 2026 · Fable 5.1 & Mythos 5.1: September 1, 2026
OpenAI — GPT-5.4 → 5.6 → GPT-6 Astra (Sep 3)Released: 2026 · GPT-6 Astra: September 3, 2026
Google — Gemini 3.1 → 3.8 Flash (Sep 2)Released: 2026 · Gemini 3.8 Flash: September 2, 2026
xAI — Grok 4.6 (Aug 12)Released: August 12, 2026
DeepSeek — V4 → V4.1 Flash (Sep 10)Released: 2026 · V4.1 Flash: September 10, 2026
Meta — Muse Spark 1.3 (Sep 2)Released: September 2, 2026
Alibaba · Moonshot — Qwen 3.8-Max · Kimi K3Released: 2026
Could do
Agentic — works on projects for hours by itself, 1M-token memory, independent research. Not an assistant anymore — a colleague.
2027+?Automated AI ResearcherAI that researches and improves itself→the road to AGI
Notice the pace: from elementary to professor took humans ~25 years. AI did it in 4 — and 2025 alone shipped 25+ major models. Whatever you tried last year is already two grades out of date.Sources: aireleasetracker.com · llmgateway.io/timeline · benchr.org · Situational Awareness (Aschenbrenner, 2024)