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Coding a Transhuman AI defines a seed AI by self-enhancement: smarter AIs become more capable of rewriting their own code, and the fundamental object of a seed AI is to enhance the ability to enhance abilities. Copy claim link
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Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source
Date 1998-09-07 · publication Wording attested 2001-01-26. The quoted wording is attested by the capture of 2001-01-26; earlier captures are redirects to uncaptured pages, and the "temporary edition" may have been revised. Role Articulation Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Scope and limits Attested from 2001. The page says its terms derive from Vinge’s novel A Fire Upon the Deep, adding "So, to some extent, is the concept of a seed AI": the page’s own attribution, not a traced lineage.
The evidence 01 primary source Supports the claim
Coding a Transhuman AI (temporary edition) ↗ Eliezer S. Yudkowsky · 1998-09-07
Archived copy, captured 2001-01-26: Coding a Transhuman AI (temporary edition) ↗
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Source excerpt “Smarter and smarter AIs become more and more capable of rewriting their own code and making themselves even smarter. [...] The fundamental object of a seed AI is to enhance the ability to enhance abilities.” Location in source Section "Paradigms: 2. Seed AIs" and section "Principles: 1. Self-enhancement and domino enhancement"
Machine-checked · 2026-10-06
Source details and check notes Authors Eliezer S. Yudkowsky Version Raw Internet Archive capture of 2001-01-26, retrieved 2026-10-06 with the hash recorded by the 1996–2022 candidate search. Personal website, sysopmind.com. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-06 Language English (en) Archive copy Open archived copy, captured 2001-01-26: Coding a Transhuman AI (temporary edition) ↗ . Captured 872 days after the recorded publication date. An archive copy shows only what the archive retrieved on 2001-01-26. It does not prove what the page said earlier, and it can differ from the copy checked on 2026-10-06.Attribution Eliezer S. Yudkowsky, "Coding a Transhuman AI" (temporary edition, as captured 2001-01-26). Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Checked against the raw capture on 2026-10-06. Status and meaning Editorial status. Not reviewed by an editor . An exploratory record that no editor has accepted. This status does not say whether a person has read any linked passage. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document meets the proposition’s criterion. The record documents what the text states, in its register (fiction and satire are labelled); it is not evidence that the proposition is true and implies no influence on or from another text.
Date. Announced on the Extropians list on 1998-09-07 (messages 2209 and 2212); the page states "Copyright ©1998".
Record ID ts-a3-catai