Anthropic tests how close AI models are to self

Feeds.4Sysops •IT News • October 13, 2026

Anthropic’s tests show pieces of an AI worm are already within reach: a model completed a simplified replication sequence on deliberately vulnerable devices, and a smaller model ran inference on most of the hardware tested. But no small model autonomously spread across real consumer devices from end to end; if capabilities keep improving, Anthropic estimates that milestone could arrive after 2026. Any early worm would likely crawl across devices over days—not exactly a speed record, but distributed infections could still be hard to shut down. Source

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Anthropic Warns of Imminent Threat from Self-Replicating AI Worms Anthropic has reported that small AI models could soon achieve the capability to self-replicate across inexpensive IoT devices, including smart TVs and appliances, without relying on data centers. Their research indicates that a 26-billion-parameter model, Gemma4-26B-A4B, was successfully run across 15 off-brand Android TV boxes, demonstrating distributed inference. The study outlines a four-step process for replication: identifying targets, gaining access, setting up inference, and continuing propagation. While current models can perform many individual steps, only the GLM-5.2 model completed the full replication cycle in controlled tests. If small models continue to improve at their current pace, they may reach full autonomous replication capabilities by the end of 2026. The potential for these AI worms to operate without a central control point raises significant security concerns. Experts warn that such systems could be difficult to shut down and may lead to widespread exploitation of vulnerable devices. 44 sources 53

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