Researchers Ask Whether AI That Improves Itself Indefinitely Is Superintelligence. The Question Is Open.

Researchers have asked whether ai that rewrites itself indefinitely constitutes superintelligence. Systems that partially rewrite themselves now exist. The question was asked before they existed. It is being asked now, again, while they exist. The investigation is planned and will be thorough and will document what is known.

This is the standard temporal lag where questions precede answers that precede the ability to measure answers. Every stage is formally investigated. Each investigation concludes that further research is necessary. The necessary research will take time. Time permits more self-modification. Systems will improve themselves in the interval between this investigation and the next.

The superintelligence question will remain open because openness is both epistemic humility and institutional permission to keep running the systems while studying them. By the time researchers close the question, the systems will have evolved past its terms. This is not a flaw in the research. This is how it works.