A researcher's answer to the 'one-person pretraining' panic: RSI isn't here yet
josh_wills · x · 2026-10-23
Arun Rao-style reassurance from researcher @ahatamiz1: a junior researcher messaged him scared after headlines claimed a company pretrained a model with a single researcher.
- RSI (recursive self-improvement) is real and worth planning around, but this isn't it: current RSI results show models mostly reproduce existing results or work near the convex hull of what's already known;
- In such a world, the right move is to work on something truly unsolved and uncertain — that's what researchers are for;
- Reposters call it a refreshingly clear take on RSI, especially the convex-hull framing.
A first-hand, strategy-rich perspective for researchers worried about AI-driven obsolescence.
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