Chinese AI researcher Yao Shunyu denied rumors that he is founding a Recursive Self-Improvement (RSI) startup, stating on November 2 that he remains an employee at Google DeepMind. "I did not found a company; I am still an employee at Google DeepMind," Yao said, adding he was unaware of the origin of the false report. The speculation had claimed the RSI project's co-founding team was largely assembled and actively recruiting talent from Google DeepMind, Anthropic, and OpenAI, with a reported valuation of $2 billion. Yao joined Anthropic in 2024 before moving to Google DeepMind as a Senior Research Scientist in September 2025. This marks his second public denial this month, following an October 12 statement rejecting plans to raise funds in China.