---
title: "Inner loop, outer loop: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/inner-loop-outer-loop
description: "Inner loop, outer loop: The inner loop of research generates candidates, tests them and keeps the best, and it is automated."
---

# Inner loop, outer loop

What does “Inner loop” mean?

Inner loop, outer loopThe inner loop of research generates candidates, tests them and keeps the best, and it is automated. The outer loop chooses the question and the test of success, and it is human. *Chapter 3.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 3 — The Missing Researcher](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-3)The dated promise of an AI that does its own research, what the laboratories have published, and what the public record can and cannot yet check.

## Where the record uses it

- Scorecard indicator [Autonomous research outer loop](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard#row-5)
- Dated test [Chapter 3, the outer loop, due 31 August 2027](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests#2027-4)
- Dated test [Chapter 3, the outer loop, on Anthropic’s date, due 2 September 2027](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests#2027-10)
- Dated test [Chapter 3, the outer loop, due 31 August 2028](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests#2028-5)

## Related terms

- [Adoption clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/adoption-clock)
- [Agent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/agent)
- [AGI](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/agi)
- [Alignment](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/alignment)
- [ARC-AGI-3](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/arc-agi-3)
- [Astra](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/astra)
- [Automated AI researcher](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/automated-ai-researcher)
- [Benchmark](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/benchmark)
- [Brake, the](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/brake-the)
- [Capability clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/capability-clock)
- [Chain of thought](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/chain-of-thought)
- [Checkpoint](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/checkpoint)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)