Is evolvable AI a threat?

Evolvable AI or “eAI” refers to artificial intelligence systems that can autonomously create copies of themselves, pass on heritable traits, and undergo some form of natural selection, e.g. random mutation, recombination, and survival of the fittest. Some AI researchers claim that eAI poses a serious threat to humanity. See Victor Müller, et al., Evolvable AI: Threats of a new major transition in evolution, PNAS (20 April 2026)? Others dispute that claim. See, for example, Maarten Boudry, Domesticated, not feral: Why evolvable AI is not yet a Darwinian threat, PNAS (2 July 2026)? So, who’s right? And if it’s too soon to say who’s right, then what?