Anthropic warns AI models may soon self-replicate across internet devices

Anthropic published experimental findings indicating that medium-sized models (around 30 billion parameters or smaller) can already perform many individual steps required for autonomous self-replication. The company warned that continued capability gains could enable models to form botnets, spread across inexpensive internet-connected devices and resist centralized shutdown by the end of 2026. The assessment raised cybersecurity concerns about decentralized AI replication without reliance on data-center infrastructure.