# Frontier AI
> **Machine-Evolution Nexus:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] places this node within the history and governance of substrate-independent evolution.
**Domain:** Artificial Intelligence / Governance
**Doc Type:** Canonical Wiki Node
**Maturity:** Developed
## Definition
Frontier AI refers to highly capable general-purpose models near the leading edge of current development and deployment.
## Nexus Context
The article places population-level evolvability beside capability-based safety: many replicating, modifying systems may create ecological risk before any one model reaches a hypothesized intelligence threshold.
## Evidence Boundary
The category changes over time and is partly governance-defined. Frontier status does not establish consciousness, autonomy or Darwinian evolution.
## Relationships
[[wiki/Evolvable AI|Evolvable AI]], [[wiki/AI Safety|AI Safety]], [[wiki/Agentic AI|Agentic AI]], [[wiki/Recognition Threshold|Recognition Threshold]]
## Sources / Provenance
- Current AI governance frameworks; Müller, Steels and Szathmáry (2026).