Smart Ass Take:
So the plan is to build an AI that builds a better AI that builds a better AI, and somewhere around iteration seven we all become houseplants. Cool. Cool cool cool. The researchers pinky-swear they’ll keep humans in the loop, which is exactly what you say right before you’re not in the loop. And nobody in this article wants to talk about the part where we bolt quantum computing onto this thing — because once you pair recursive self-improvement with hardware that laughs at classical math, the ‘intelligence explosion’ stops being a metaphor and starts being a timestamp. I.J. Good called an ultraintelligent machine ‘the last invention man need ever make.’ He meant it as a milestone. I’m starting to think he meant it literally.
Article Excerpt:
“If models can self-improve quickly via architectural improvements, it is quite possible a single model can disable all rivals while it acquires more and more power.”
Article Summary:
Cade Metz reports on a growing cohort of AI labs — including London startup Inherent, the aptly named Recursive Superintelligence, plus OpenAI and Anthropic — chasing recursive self-improvement (RSI): AI systems that design, code, and train better versions of themselves with shrinking human involvement.
Inherent’s prototype, Faraday, ingests everything its researchers do — emails, chats, meeting transcripts, its own conversations — and uses that to iterate on itself. The ambition isn’t just faster optimization; it’s AI that invents entirely new architectures humans wouldn’t think of.
The excitement comes bundled with genuine dread. Anthropic itself published a post titled ‘When A.I. Builds Itself’ warning RSI could increase the risk of humans losing control, and its CEO cited RSI as a reason to slow development. Yale economist Jason Abaluck argues a single self-improving model could disable rivals and consolidate power — and that this should be the front page every day.
Metz traces the idea back to the 1956 Dartmouth workshop and I.J. Good’s 1965 ‘intelligence explosion’ prediction, notes that today’s coding-capable models already accelerate AI research, and concedes RSI could still be decades away. Reassuring, in the way a distant thunderstorm is reassuring.