The Big Change AI Brings to Internet Safety

The internet as we know it is facing a major turning point. A new AI tool called Mythos can quickly spot hidden weaknesses in software that have remained unnoticed for years. Instead of releasing it to everyone, the creators gave access—and $100 million in credits—to big tech companies like Amazon, Apple, and Google. Their goal? To fix these hidden flaws before hackers exploit them. But here’s the catch: other AI labs are close behind, meaning this power will soon spread far and wide.What makes Mythos different is how it changes who can find these weaknesses. For decades, only trained programmers could spot bugs because coding was complex. Now, AI lets anyone—even non-experts—write software by just describing what they need. A small business owner could create an app without knowing a single line of code. But without security checks, these tools could open doors for cyberattacks. Weak spots could let hackers steal data, hijack accounts, or even crash entire systems. The old way of keeping the internet safe relied on two things: hard-to-write code and hard-to-find bugs. That kept most people out of trouble, even if it wasn’t perfect. Now, AI flips the script. Anyone can code, and soon, anyone—including criminals—could find and abuse weaknesses. The balance we had is gone.