Geoffrey Huntley: the answer to AI is engineering, not more AI
kieranklaassen · x · 2026-11-12
Geoffrey Huntley's AI DevCon New York talk "The answer to AI is engineering" is now online, arguing the way through AI-era security shocks is faster engineering, not AI hype.
- Security take-off is the new normal: attackers auto-scan and exploit fresh commits, so publishing code is riskier than ever; autonomous purple teaming defense will demand inference capacity exceeding your attackers' — a cost most companies haven't budgeted for, and it will be exorbitant.
- Recent incidents: OpenCode breached, Japan's PM urging PHP updates, an HTTP stack flaw allowing remote server shutdown, a 12-year-old GitLab flaw leading to RCE, and a CA whose key was literally the number 4 instead of a 116-digit value — guessable keys that could forge HTTPS certificates for any site.
- We don't need most libraries anymore: libraries existed because code was hard to write; keep only a trusted core (kernel, DNS, crypto).
- Nix overlays to patch the whole world, paired with agents, plus bonus material on loops, back pressure, and property-based testing.
His conclusion: optimizing incident response times also speeds up build times.
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