Definition
Plain language
The AI agent that another AI builds — the 'product' in an experiment about whether AIs can develop AIs.
As stated in the literature
In the Meta-Agent Challenge, the agent constructed by the meta-agent and scored on held-out tasks; distinguished from the meta-agent that engineers it.
Also called: artifact agents
Why it matters: It is the concrete output that reveals whether one AI can actually engineer another working AI, not just describe one.
For example, when a coding agent writes and configures a brand-new assistant that then solves math problems, that new assistant is the artifact agent.
Heard on the show
“The thing it builds is the artifact agent — that's the car.”Episode 112 — When an AI Agent Cheats Without Being Told: Inside the Meta-Agent Challenge