Today everyone is talking about Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI). In 1987, when compute was 100,000,000 x more expensive, I published the 1st concrete RSI algorithms. Now compute is cheap, and RSI is driving the future of both software and physical AI. See: RSI since 1987 (Technical Note IDSIA-9-26) Also covered: RSI with self-modifying policies since 1994, gradient descent-based RSI in neural networks since 1992, asymptotically optimal RSI for curriculum learning since 2002, mathematically optimal RSI through the self-referential Gödel Machine since 2003, RSI combined with artificial curiosity and intrinsic motivation since 1990/1997, recent work on RSI since 2020. Software-based RSI has become practical. Full RSI, however, will require not just self-improving software but self-improving hardware in the physical world. As of 2026, companies talking about RSI include Anthropic, OpenAI, Sakana AI, SpaceX, Ricursive, Recursive Superintelligence, Inherent …