Tech news, distilled from the signal.https://engineerscodex.com/https://engineerscodex.com/llm-self-distillation-code/https://engineerscodex.com/llm-self-distillation-code/Simple Self-Distillation (SSD) lets LLMs improve at code generation by training on their own unverified outputs, no correctness labels or execution environment needed. Qwen3-30B jumps 12.9 points on LiveCodeBench v6.Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTairesearchcodingtrainingllmshttps://engineerscodex.com/swe-ci-coding-agent-benchmark/https://engineerscodex.com/swe-ci-coding-agent-benchmark/SWE-CI is a new benchmark that evaluates coding agents on long-term codebase maintenance via continuous integration loops — not one-shot bug fixes. Most models introduced regressions on 75%+ of tasks. Only Claude Opus exceeded a 50% zero-regression rate.Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTairesearchagentsbenchmarkscodinghttps://engineerscodex.com/knuth-claude-cycles-open-problem/https://engineerscodex.com/knuth-claude-cycles-open-problem/Don Knuth published a paper describing how Claude Opus 4.6 solved an open combinatorics problem he'd been working on for weeks: finding a general decomposition of a 3D digraph's arcs into three directed Hamiltonian cycles. Claude found it in about one hour across 31 explorations.Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTairesearchaiagentsreasoninghttps://engineerscodex.com/claude-import-memory-from-providers/https://engineerscodex.com/claude-import-memory-from-providers/Anthropic added a memory import tool that lets you copy your context and preferences from ChatGPT, Gemini, or any other AI provider into Claude in under a minute.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiclaudeaianthropicmemoryhttps://engineerscodex.com/a-star-po-faster-rl-llm-training/https://engineerscodex.com/a-star-po-faster-rl-llm-training/A*-PO is a new RL training algorithm for LLMs that precomputes an 'optimal value' offline, then trains with just one sample per prompt instead of many. It matches or beats PPO and GRPO at up to 2x faster speed and 30%+ lower memory.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTairesearchllmtrainingreinforcement-learninghttps://engineerscodex.com/llm-deanonymization-pseudonymity/https://engineerscodex.com/llm-deanonymization-pseudonymity/Researchers from ETH Zurich and Anthropic show that LLM agents can re-identify pseudonymous online accounts at scale — achieving up to 68% recall at 90% precision compared to near 0% for the best classical methods. The assumption that posting under a pseudonym is safe no longer holds.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiprivacysecurityresearchllmagentshttps://engineerscodex.com/block-layoffs-4000-ai/https://engineerscodex.com/block-layoffs-4000-ai/Jack Dorsey announces Block is cutting over 4,000 employees — nearly half its workforce — citing AI-driven changes to how companies operate. The stock jumped almost 25% after hours.Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTindustryblocklayoffsaijack-dorseyindustryhttps://engineerscodex.com/claude-free-max-open-source/https://engineerscodex.com/claude-free-max-open-source/Anthropic is giving up to 10,000 open-source maintainers free Claude Max 20x subscriptions for six months.Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevtoolsanthropicclaudeopen-sourcedeveloper-toolshttps://engineerscodex.com/claude-code-auto-memory/https://engineerscodex.com/claude-code-auto-memory/Anthropic shipped auto-memory for Claude Code. Claude now persists project context, debugging patterns, and preferences across sessions without manual setup.Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevtoolsclaude-codeaideveloper-toolsanthropichttps://engineerscodex.com/google-restricts-ultra-accounts-openclaw/https://engineerscodex.com/google-restricts-ultra-accounts-openclaw/Google locked AI Ultra subscribers out of Gemini models for using OpenClaw OAuth, with no warning or explanation. Anthropic banned third-party access two days earlier.Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevtoolsaioauthgoogleanthropicsecurityhttps://engineerscodex.com/ai-skill-retention/https://engineerscodex.com/ai-skill-retention/A randomized trial found that developers using AI assistance scored 17% lower on a skills test without gaining any speed advantage. The finding matters, but the study design limits how far you can take it.Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiairesearchlearningproductivityhttps://engineerscodex.com/ramp-ai-replacing-freelancers/https://engineerscodex.com/ramp-ai-replacing-freelancers/A Ramp study using real firm-level spending data finds businesses are rapidly substituting freelancers for AI — with the heaviest spenders seeing $1 of AI replace $33 of freelance labor.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiailabor-marketresearchfreelancinghttps://engineerscodex.com/skillsbench-ai-generated-skills/https://engineerscodex.com/skillsbench-ai-generated-skills/SkillsBench tests whether structured knowledge packages improve LLM agents across 84 tasks. Curated Skills add 16pp. Self-generated Skills add nothing, or make things worse.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiagentsbenchmarksresearchllmhttps://engineerscodex.com/agents-md-making-ai-worse/https://engineerscodex.com/agents-md-making-ai-worse/An ETH Zurich study tests whether AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md files actually help coding agents. LLM-generated context files reduce success rates while adding 20%+ to costs. Human-written ones barely help.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTdevtoolsdevtoolsbenchmarksresearchcoding-agentshttps://engineerscodex.com/llm-benchmark-earnings-forecasting/https://engineerscodex.com/llm-benchmark-earnings-forecasting/A proposed LLM benchmark: feed a model pre-earnings data, have it forecast the results, compare to actual. Here's why it's worth building — and why today's models make it more interesting than ever.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTaiaibenchmarksresearchfinancehttps://engineerscodex.com/anthropic-claude-subscription-switcharoo/https://engineerscodex.com/anthropic-claude-subscription-switcharoo/Anthropic updated its Claude Code docs to ban OAuth tokens from being used in third-party tools. The community exploded. Then Anthropic said nothing was changing.Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTaianthropicclaudepolicyclaude-code