self-evolving

Definition

Describes a system that rewrites its own components — prompts, tools, memory, sometimes code — from its own operating experience, with no human editing between rounds. The term belongs mostly to agent work, where what changes is the scaffolding around a frozen model rather than its weights; that is the useful distinction from self-improvement, which normally means retraining on self-generated data. Either way the gains are bounded by whatever decides which changes survive.

Explainers using this term

• Paper walkthrough: Zetta ζ — a robot harness that repairs itself mid-execution, with the policy frozenZetta $ζ$: An Efficient Closed-Loop Embodied Harness for Self-Evolving Physical Intelligence