AI cybersecurity is not proof of work

Brains beat brute force, say devs — but “Mythos” hype lights the comments on fire

TLDR: The author says AI security isn’t a “more computers wins” grind—only smarter models find real bugs. Commenters split: some joke about “better hallucinations,” others demand slowing the chaos, and skeptics call “Mythos” hype, framing a bigger fight over whether security needs brains, brawn, or both.

The post argues that bug-hunting with AI isn’t a mining contest where more computers always win. Instead, the author says smarter models beat bigger rigs, pointing to a gnarly OpenBSD bug as proof that small models “hallucinate” fake issues while mid-tier models get cautious and still miss the real flaw. Cue the crowd: the comments instantly turned into a tech soap opera.

One camp is cackling at the logic loop. “So the bigger models hallucinate better?” cracked one user, mocking the idea that dumber bots stumble into truth by accident while smarter-but-not-smart-enough bots confidently miss it. Another commenter brought the existential dread, saying attackers only need one hole while defenders must plug them all—so it’s not just brains vs. brawn, it’s time vs. chaos. Meanwhile, the “slow down the internet” squad invoked a sci-fi “Bureau of Sabotage” to throttle nonstop updates, pleading for sanity in a world of 12-hour hype cycles.

Then came the drama bomb: the mysterious, closed “Mythos” model. Skeptics called it vaporware with drone-sized hubris, while others dropped receipts that a rival thread claimed security IS a grind-it-out arms race. Translation: brains vs. GPUs is the new Coke vs. Pepsi, and everyone’s picking a side with memes and side-eye.

Key Points

  • The article argues that AI-assisted cybersecurity is not analogous to proof-of-work because more compute or sampling does not guarantee finding bugs.
  • LLM-driven bug discovery saturates in explored code paths; beyond a point, model intelligence, not sample count, limits results.
  • The OpenBSD SACK bug is used to illustrate that uncovering some vulnerabilities requires integrating multiple subtle conditions.
  • Weaker models tend to hallucinate plausible issues without causal understanding; stronger models hallucinate less but may still miss complex bugs unless sufficiently capable.
  • The author concludes that better, more intelligent models and faster access to them will determine success in future cybersecurity, rather than “more GPUs.”

Hottest takes

“So the bigger models hallucinate better?” — andersmurphy
“Seriously. We need a BuSab for IT… Slow down” — nottorp
“Mythos is closed and overhyped… let’s see reality” — 4qwUz
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