ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Indirect self-modification

Indirect self-modification is a way for a computer program to teach itself by making its own changes. Here's an example: Say you have a computer program that teaches itself to recognize different kinds of animals. To do this, it will observe pictures of different animals, and then make adjustments to itself until it can recognize the animals correctly. The changes the program makes to itself are called indirect self-modification.