# Review of the Self-Defining Systems proposal for AI-driven system development

DevFeed: [Review of the Self-Defining Systems proposal for AI-driven system development](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/murat-and-aleksey-read-papers-self-defining-systems-39546.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://charap.co/murat-and-aleksey-read-paper-self-defining-systems/>)

Author: Aleksey Charapko

Published: 2026-01-30T01:24:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Aleksey Charapko](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/aleksey-charapko.md>)

Topics: [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/systems.md>), [Artificial Intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai.md>), [Specifications](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/specifications.md>), [Processes](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/processes.md>)

Tags: [agentic](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agentic.md>), [agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agents.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [changes](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/changes.md>), [improvements](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/improvements.md>), [llm](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/llm.md>), [one-page-summary](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/one-page-summary.md>), [papers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/papers.md>), [performance](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/performance.md>), [research](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research.md>), [specifications](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/specifications.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/systems.md>)

## AI overview

The article reviews Self-Defining Systems, a proposal in which agentic engineers design and build systems from system and operating-environment specifications. It argues that the proposal extends the familiar try, evaluate, and repeat loop by allowing agents to change the specification as well as implement it, while noting that the paper lacks a precise definition of the process.

## Source excerpt

Self-Defining Systems (SDS) by Thomas Anderson, Ratul Mahajan, Simon Peter, and Luke Zettlemoyer is a bold proposal for AI-driven systems research. In SDS, agentic "engineers" get the system specification and operating environment specification, then design and build the systems to spec. Crucially, as the specification or environment changes, an army of agents should notice and [...]