Schmidhuber: No True AGI Without Self-Replicating Robot Hardware
SchmidhuberAI · x · 2026-09-08
Jürgen Schmidhuber calls claims that "AGI is here" ridiculous. His partial answer, in Section 20 of his DLH survey:
- Humans have imagined physical self-replicating machines (SRMs) for centuries — Descartes, Butler, Capek, von Neumann, Zuse — but no practical design existed until now: AI-controlled general-purpose robots that learn to operate all machines and tools humans operate could also build, operate, and repair the machines needed to make more of themselves, including mining, refining, assembly, and repairing robot factories.
- He stresses that today's AI only works well in the virtual world behind the screen: no AGI without mastery of the physical world, and no true self-improvement without self-improving hardware — self-improving, meta-learning software already exists, but closing the loop in hardware is what matters.
Related event: Schmidhuber Rejects "AGI Is Here": No Physical-World Mastery, No AGI(8 posts)→
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