Anthropic and other labs near recursive AI thresholds

The author argues that while AI researchers in 2023 were divided over what they were building, the uncertainty of 2026 centers on whether advanced AI can achieve recursive self-improvement. Anthropic disclosures, experimental code-speed optimization results, and safety research reports indicate that frontier labs are approaching capability thresholds where systems can autonomously build better versions of themselves. Meanwhile, public sentiment remains largely fixed on older chatbot-era concerns like job loss and scams. Open article →