# Dean W. Ball argues METR's Anthropic findings show weak recursion, not strong

> Original title: Iron Makes Iron

- Source: Hyperdimensional
- Published: 2026-11-10T17:24:58.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/whi3dmwfnc0lagi5d0smgz36v
- Original: https://www.hyperdimensional.co/p/iron-makes-iron

## Summary

Dean W. Ball argues that METR's study of Anthropic, which found its capability improvement roughly doubled, shows weak recursion, where AI serves as an input to better AI under human direction. He says the evidence does not yet show strong recursion, in which AI autonomously plans and executes development of its successor. Ball argues that AI safety policy should distinguish the two, and that broad bans on AI-assisted AI development would also block biomedicine and safety research.