Anthropic tests AI self-replication and projects smaller models could catch up this year
Baoyu summarizes Anthropic research in which GLM-5.2 alone completed a replication workflow across simulated Android servers, while smaller models failed. The experiment used unauthenticated ADB access and ran GLM-5.2 remotely to deploy Llama3.1-8B, limiting what the results establish about autonomous spread. Anthropic roughly projects that smaller models could match GLM-5.2’s tested capability by year-end based on general capability trends. Researchers also manually distributed Gemma4-26B-A4B across 15 Android TV boxes, achieving 0.39 tokens per second.
Why it matters: The experimental setup helps distinguish successful replication under simplified conditions from autonomous spread on consumer devices, clarifying the limits of the projected timeline for smaller models.

