# AI companies race toward self-improving systems

> A new report reveals how Anthropic, OpenAI and others are automating AI development itself, with insiders predicting the breakthrough could arrive within months.
- Title: AI companies race toward self-improving systems · TIME
- Summary: A new report reveals how Anthropic, OpenAI and others are automating AI development itself, with insiders predicting the breakthrough could arrive within…
- Keywords: anthropic, openai, recursive self-improvement, gladstone ai, ai development automation, ai regulation, news, world, companies, race, toward, self-improving
- Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/10/14/recursive-self-improvement-AI-report
- Author: Billy Perrigo
- Published: 2026-10-14T13:55:01.438+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: anthropic, openai, recursive self-improvement, gladstone ai, ai development automation, ai regulation, news, world
## The tipping point nobody talks about
Anthropic and OpenAI have warned that AI may soon improve itself automatically, a process called recursive self-improvement. This could accelerate AI capabilities dramatically but might also mean developers lose control entirely.
## A rare glimpse inside the labs
Gladstone AI published a report Wednesday based on conversations with half a dozen researchers inside top AI companies.
## The timeline is measured in months
Most insiders Gladstone spoke to believe recursive self-improvement will start within the next three to twelve months, and possibly sooner, assuming there is no U.S. government intervention or slowdown.

> believe RSI will start within the next 3 to 12 months, and possibly sooner, assuming there's no U.S. government intervention or slowdown
## How AI development could automate itself
AI companies are actively working to automate all parts of the development pipeline: generating new ideas, running experiments to test them, and interpreting results.
## Computing power becomes the bottleneck
Companies with more computing power can test more ideas and reach recursive self-improvement first. The rarest ideas are those that perform better as more computing power is added, even if they look like failures at…
## Regulators need to see the process
Jeremie Harris, Gladstone's CEO, says the report aims to help lawmakers understand recursive self-improvement so they can regulate it.

> a human needs to be there
## Key takeaway

Anthropic and OpenAI are actively pursuing recursive self-improvement, where AI systems improve themselves automatically. A new Gladstone AI report based on insider conversations suggests this could happen within three to twelve months.