I think harnesses would count, AI != LLMs. Any piece of code that helps the computer reason for itself is AI, the harnesses are AI in a sense.

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fluoridation 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

By that interpretation, neither the harness nor the LLM is the AI. The computer (or system of computers) taken as a whole is the AI. You can't remove any piece and still have an intelligent system.

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Jtarii 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

People are specifically talking about the engine itself and not the tools used.

We wouldn't call humans creating a calculator "recursive self improvement".

	▲	robbrown451 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I wouldn't call the harness an AI, but I might call a tool that plays a major role in creating another one like it "recursive self improvement." For instance in the industrial revolution a metal lathe and a milling machine were instrumental in creating the next generation of themselves. Same thing with a robot that is fabricated by similar (i.e. older model of the same) robots. All of them lead to exponential improvement.