Recursive raises $650 million for self-improving AI

Recursive: a spectacular fundraising for self-improving AI

The artificial intelligence startup Recursive has recently made a remarkable entrance into the tech scene by announcing an impressive fundraising of $650 million. This financing is intended to support the development of an AI capable of improving itself autonomously, a concept that the company considers the fastest way to achieve superintelligence.

Recursive emphasizes the idea of recursive self-improvement, where an AI uses open algorithms to continuously enhance itself. The initial goal is to create an AI that can optimize other AI systems, before extending this capability to other scientific fields.

A vision inspired by science fiction

Tim Rocktäschel, co-founder of Recursive, draws inspiration from the concept of the "information barrier" by science fiction author Stanisław Lem. This concept describes a point where the growth of knowledge exceeds human capacity to understand or integrate it. Recursive aims to overcome this barrier by fully automating the scientific method, starting with AI research.

Significant financial and strategic support

The latest funding round, which values Recursive at $4.65 billion, was led by GV (Google Ventures) and Greycroft, with notable participation from AMD Ventures and Nvidia. In April, the Financial Times had already mentioned funding exceeding $500 million, highlighting the growing interest in this company.

An experienced leadership team

Recursive is led by Richard Socher, a former Salesforce executive, and Tim Rocktäschel, a former Google DeepMind employee. They are surrounded by researchers from major tech companies such as OpenAI, Meta, and Uber AI. Despite this prestigious team, the company has yet to publish any concrete technical results, leaving the industry awaiting its first tangible advancements.