I don't think even recursive self improvement is needed for superintelligent AI. Evolution often gets stuck in local maxima. It could be that there are relative

I don't think even recursive self improvement is needed for superintelligent AI. Evolution often gets stuck in local maxima. It could be that there are relatively simple algorithms much smarter than humans and that as soon as we find one the AI will be much smarter than us without any self improvement. In the same way that birds fly with flapping wings, but human flying machines with propellers were immediately stronger and shortly thereafter faster than any bird.