Models that improve on their own are AI’s next big thing

AXIOS January 27, 2026
Ina Fried

AI models that can learn as they go are one of the hot new areas drawing interest from both startups and the leading labs, including Google DeepMind.

Why it matters: The move could accelerate AI’s capabilities, but also introduce new areas of risk.

Known technically as recursive self-improvement, the approach is seen as a key technique that can keep the rapid progress in AI going.

• Google is actively exploring whether models can “continue to learn out in the wild after you finish training them,” DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Axios during an on-stage interview at Axios House Davos.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a livestream last year that OpenAI is building a “true automated AI researcher” by March...

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