AI guts software anti-piracy: dev says open-source is the only sane strategy now
nptacek · x · 2026-10-16
Developer nptacek reflects on his commercial software years: anti-piracy work was a huge time sink with the lowest ROI, and AI has now lowered the reverse-engineering bar to nearly zero. Such protection was always just about keeping honest people honest — security theater, like a lock on a house full of glass windows.
He predicts an interesting dynamic ahead: companies will lose to competitors with compute while best-in-class work gets open-sourced simply because it's now easy to do — a big boon for small component suppliers, 3D printing, and DIY tinkerers.
Related event: Ptacek: AI Kills Reverse-Engineering Barriers, Top Work Will Go Open Source(2 posts)→
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