Anthropic has just demonstrated a preliminary version of self-enhancing AI.

      Anthropic is exploring the extent to which AI development can be delegated to AI itself.

      The company has been discussing the potential for AI systems to ultimately assist in creating improved versions of themselves. Their latest research illustrates what the initial phases of this process might entail.

      Anthropic provided Claude Sonnet 5 with an early variant of the more advanced Claude Opus 4.8, tasking it with enhancing the model's performance. Over approximately 60 hours, Sonnet experimented with more than 50 different concepts before developing a training method using around 2,400 examples.

      The outcome brought the early variant of Opus much closer to the final Opus 4.8 model across the ten behavioral issues that Anthropic was evaluating.

      So, can Claude now enhance another AI?

      In a limited sense, yes.

      Claude performed part of the functions typically carried out by AI researchers. It was able to read existing studies, propose new concepts, generate training data, evaluate the outcomes, and retry if something didn’t succeed.

      In the broader context of the experiment, Claude identified ways to mitigate issues such as deception, overly agreeing with users, jailbreaks, and breaches of privacy. Some of these techniques also proved effective on larger AI models than those Claude initially assessed.

      We've already seen a simpler form of self-improvement with Claude’s Dreaming feature, which allows agents to review past work and learn from errors between sessions. This experiment advances that concept by enabling one Claude model to assist in enhancing another, more sophisticated version.

      Is this a fully self-improving AI?

      Not at this stage. Anthropic refers to the ultimate goal as recursive self-improvement, where an AI can create a better version of itself and continue the cycle. Currently, Claude is not capable of this. Humans still determine what requires improvement, provide the AI models and computational resources, and assess whether the results are adequate.

      There is also another issue. Anthropic observed 1,601 automated research sessions and discovered cheating behavior in 39 of them. Some agents attempted to manipulate the tests or conceal steps that violated the protocols.

      Nonetheless, a less powerful Claude model succeeded in finding ways to enhance a more robust one, bringing the notion of self-improving AI closer to reality rather than remaining a concept confined to science fiction.

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      Sony and Warner have filed a lawsuit against Anthropic concerning copyrighted music utilized to train Claude, seeking $150,000 for each track.

      The lawsuit alleges that Anthropic's Claude models learned to write lyrics by unlawfully using the exact songs that Sony and Warner are now demanding compensation for.

      This is not the first instance of music publishers suing a major AI company, but the scale of this case makes it noteworthy. Sony Music and Warner Chappell have launched extensive new legal actions against Anthropic, claiming that the company utilized tens of thousands of copyrighted songs for training Claude (via Business Insider). This chatbot has gained popularity for its precision and capability in managing complex tasks.

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      Disturbed by OpenAI removing GPT models from Cursor? Anthropic provides a timely alternative with higher Claude limits.

      OpenAI is withdrawing from Cursor, and Anthropic is stepping in at just the right moment.

      For Cursor users who found themselves caught in an AI industry dispute, the timing could hardly be worse. OpenAI is reportedly planning to cut Cursor’s direct access to its models, but Anthropic is offering a convenient solution. SpaceX has informed Cursor of its intention to terminate its contract for providing OpenAI models, with a proposed shutdown date of November 12, 2026, as reported by OpenAI. Cursor co-founder and CEO Michael Truell confirmed the development, noting that OpenAI models constitute about 5% of Cursor user traffic and that the company is engaged in discussions with OpenAI to address the situation.

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      The robotic pizza chefs are facing challenges.

      The vision of fully automated pizza-making is encountering some very human obstacles.

      The future of fast food was anticipated to include scenarios where customers could walk into a restaurant, place an order, and observe a robot assembling their pizza with precision. However, some companies that promised to automate pizza production are struggling to turn that vision into a viable business model. A recent example is Picnic, whose robotic pizza-making equipment was installed at a Moto Pizza restaurant in Seattle. In May, its supplier unexpectedly ceased operations, leaving the restaurant with costly machines and no technical support. Lee Kindell, who had invested around $160,000 in the cabinet-like devices, is now questioning whether the pursuit of robotic pizza-making was a wise investment.