Ex-Stability researcher seeks funding to test AI-assisted attacks on a wall of everyday hardware

hugobowne · x · 2026-08-21

Researcher John Whitaker, recently departed from Lightcone, is fundraising for an urgent project: an eval of AI capabilities for embedded device/hardware hacking. He worries that talk of cyber being "defense dominant" focuses on easily patched software like Chrome, while we're surrounded by mice, keyboards, hard drives and garage door openers running firmware of unknown vulnerability to AI-assisted attack. Hardware testing is harder — it needs the physical devices plus support circuitry for power cycling and voltage readout. He plans to buy a wall of common devices and put models to the test, but needs funding for the hardware and unpaid runway.

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