AI is speeding up its own development, says Anthropic

Anthropic says AI is starting to speed up its own development, moving toward what they call 'recursive self-improvement.' This means AI systems can design, train, and improve their next versions on their own. But Anthropic says this stage hasn't arrived yet, though signs are stronger than expected.

AI's ability to work independently is growing fast: the time it can handle tasks doubles roughly every 4 months. In March 2024, Claude Opus 3 could handle about 4 minutes of software tasks. By March 2026, Claude Opus 4.6 could handle 12 hours. Inside Anthropic, over 80% of code changes are now written by Claude, and engineers produce 8 times more code per day than in 2024.

But Anthropic warns that code lines don't equal real productivity. Humans still lead in research judgment and direction. AI self-improvement still needs more computing power to go further.