On Recursive Self-Improvement (Part I) - by Dean W. Ball

Thoughts on the automation of AI research

On Recursive Self-Improvement (Part I) Thoughts on the automation of AI research Dean W. Ball Feb 05, 2026 193 1 30 Share Subscribe Introduction America’s major frontier AI labs have begun automating large fractions of their research and engineering operations. The pace of this automation will grow during the course of 2026, and within a year or two the effective “workforces” of each frontier lab will grow from the single-digit thousands to tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands. This means that soon, the vast majority of frontier AI lab staff will neither sleep nor eat nor use the

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