Ramez Naam(@ramez):We frequently conflate RSI with a fast-takeoff to super-intelligence (ASI). They are not the same. RSI means a model can improve on itself. That does not mean that it can do so more at each iteration, which is what would be required for a singularity. Far more likely that diminishing returns inherent to AI improvement (everything is sub-linear, governed by power-laws or log-scale diminishing returns) mean that each iteration of an RSI loop gives less relative uplift to the model than the previous, and that, after an initial boost, the system settles back to something like its previous improvement rate. RSI != Singularity, fast-takeoff, or ASI.

2026.09.16 18:04

We frequently conflate RSI with a fast-takeoff to super-intelligence (ASI). They are not the same. RSI means a model can improve on itself. That does not mean that it can do so more at each iteration, which is what would be required for a singularity. Far more likely that diminishing returns inherent to AI improvement (everything is sub-linear, governed by power-laws or log-scale diminishing returns) mean that each iteration of an RSI loop gives less relative uplift to the model than the previous, and that, after an initial boost, the system settles back to something like its previous improvement rate. RSI != Singularity, fast-takeoff, or ASI.

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