Pinboard founder warns AI could unleash self-replicating 'software roaches' on the internet
moyix · x · 2026-10-20
Maciej Cegłowski (Pinboard) published a long-form essay arguing AI is breaking the internet's long-standing dynamic stalemate. With code now trivially cheap to produce, the future web may be full of heterogeneous vibe-coded software, reviving conditions like the 1990s worm era. Once self-replicating code has variability, heritability, and resource competition, natural selection takes over: even killing 99.9% of mutants guarantees resilient 'software pests' that evade controls — 'death is the best form of reinforcement learning.' Dumb evolution may outfox even superhuman AI, since evolved code can be inscrutable (cf. Busy Beaver functions). He urges action before self-replicating code permanently infests connected devices.
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