{"slug": "the-us-and-china-are-racing-to-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-at-stake", "title": "The US and China are racing to build ‘self-improving AI’. Here’s what’s at stake", "summary": "OpenAI said in a blog post last week that it aims to build an automated AI researcher capable of advancing deep learning research, though it remains unsure \"how to safely get all the way to aligned, full RSI,\" and described its GPT-6 Astra model, released in early September, as \"the world's most intelligent and aligned model.\" The push is part of a broader US-China race toward recursive self-improvement, with Z.ai founder Tang Jie saying on an August 31 earnings briefing that the Beijing-headquartered firm's next-generation GLM-6 model is heading toward \"self-evolution.", "body_md": "# The US and China are racing to build ‘self-improving AI’. Here’s what’s at stake\n\nBoth sides view ‘recursive self-improvement’ as a game-changer in the AI race. But who will get there first – and will it endanger us all?\n\nThe US-China race for artificial intelligence dominance has entered a new phase: using AI to build better AI.\n\nLeading AI companies in the United States and China are increasingly focused on deploying advanced models to write code, design experiments, and develop training techniques that can be used to improve more powerful models.\n\nThe ultimate goal is to achieve what the industry refers to as recursive self-improvement (RSI) – the creation of AI systems that can train themselves autonomously.\n\nRSI has the potential to be a game-changer for the AI industry. As AI systems contribute to building more capable successors, which in turn become better at improving the next generation, the process could create an accelerating feedback loop – propelling the evolution of AI onto a new trajectory.\n\nIn a blog post last week**,** OpenAI said it aimed to build an automated AI researcher capable of advancing deep learning research, though it was still unsure “how to safely get all the way to aligned, full RSI”. The company described its GPT-6 Astra model, released in early September, as “the world’s most intelligent and aligned model”.\n\n[are also working towards RSI](https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3356788/china-races-against-us-ais-holy-grail-self-improving-tech?module=inline&pgtype=article). During an earnings briefing on August 31, Tang Jie, the founder of Beijing-headquartered AI firm Z.ai, said its next-generation GLM-6 model was heading in the direction of “self-evolution”.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-us-and-china-are-racing-to-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-at-stake", "canonical_source": "https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3367237/us-and-china-are-racing-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-stake?utm_source=rss_feed", "published_at": "2026-09-13 00:00:10+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-13 00:25:55.650052+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-research", "ai-safety", "large-language-models", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "GPT-6 Astra", "Z.ai", "Tang Jie", "GLM-6", "United States", "China"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-us-and-china-are-racing-to-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-at-stake", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-us-and-china-are-racing-to-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-at-stake.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-us-and-china-are-racing-to-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-at-stake.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-us-and-china-are-racing-to-build-self-improving-ai-heres-whats-at-stake.jsonld"}}