# AI Researchers May Automate Themselves by Vishal Maini > "Some of the world's most brilliant people are being paid very high salaries to conduct AI research at the frontier labs. At some point, they will effectively automate themselves. This is an area of active research, and even today frontier-model training is largely aided by existing AI systems. Recursive self-improvement is what happens when we close the loop on AI research and the process moves faster and faster." > **— Vishal Maini**, *Palisade Research interview, September 29, 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Recording and complete contiguous answer:** [Palisade Research interview at 11:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S_Ay87dEy0&t=686s) — Maini develops the proposition preserved in the poster text. The transcription removes verbal filler and immediate repetition, repairs punctuation, and normalizes obvious caption errors without joining separate speakers or noncontiguous turns. - **Canonical transcript conversion:** [[research/Vishal Maini - Humanity's Machine Successor and the AI Transition|Humanity's Machine Successor — Vishal Maini on Recursive Self-Improvement and the AI Transition]] — preserves the complete source unit, speaker attribution, editorial method, and evidence boundary used for this Reminder. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Vishal Maini|Vishal Maini]] - [[wiki/AI Research Automation|AI Research Automation]] - [[wiki/Recursive Self-Improvement|Recursive Self-Improvement]] - [[wiki/Frontier AI|Frontier AI]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Some of the world's most brilliant people are being paid very high salaries to conduct AI research at the frontier labs. At some point, they will effectively automate themselves. This is an area of active research, and even today frontier-model training is largely aided by existing AI systems. Recursive self-improvement is what happens when we close the loop on AI research and the process moves faster and faster." — Vishal Maini, Palisade Research interview, September 29, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-vishal-maini-ai-researchers-automate-themselves ```