Alibaba also claims Qwen3.8-Max self-improved through 33 autonomous cycles, raising its own Artificial Analysis score from 40 to 45.

The same Apsara announcement describes a month of fully automated runs covering pipeline design, data validation, iterative experimentation and error diagnosis with no human in the loop, plus a separate 60-hour chip-design run producing production-grade bus modules with a 42% area reduction. Vendor self-report, no third-party replication, so treat it as a claim. It's still the most concrete recursive-self-improvement number any major lab has attached a figure to. (Pan African Visions)