by Amit Shekhar · 15 September 2026
What is Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI)?
Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI), the idea of an AI system that makes itself smarter, and then uses that new smartness to make itself even smarter, again and again. We will also see why it matters, how an AI gets better today, how the self-improvement loop works step by step, a simple example with numbers, what already exists in the real world today, why people talk about an intelligence explosion, where it works well and where it fails, and why keeping humans in the loop is very important.
Before you read, guessHow is the process of improving AI currently characterized in terms of speed and cost?
Ten seconds, a guess, then read — a wrong guess still makes the answer stick.
What this article covers
- What is Recursive Self-Improvement?
- Why does Recursive Self-Improvement matter?
- How does an AI get better today?
- How does Recursive Self-Improvement work?
- A simple example with numbers
- Two kinds of improvement
- What exists in the real world today?
- Intelligence explosion
- Where it works well and where it fails
- Keeping humans in the loop
- Recursive Self-Improvement vs Normal Training
The article lives on outcomeschool.com. Read it there, then come back: the tutor in the margin has read it and will answer questions, and the questions below check what stayed.