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Prefer watching? This post is based on my YouTube video.
The industry as a whole
How is the cyber industry impacted?
I really don’t know, but from what I’m absorbing through my multiple sources (active job, professors, internet, social media), I can gather:- Attackers are better (good and bad).
- Defenders have the potential to get better, but are still slow on development (good for the industry).
- Autonomous pentesting is the new craze (bad for the industry).
How quickly will AI take jobs, and is it happening?
This is a tough question, because again, I don’t really know, and nobody does. I think Daniel Miessler makes a good point in his video about knowledge workers and the reality of corporate America, essentially saying the bar is very low for a large majority of jobs, so they are easy to replace. I agree with him, but until AI gets locked down by regulations, I think it is a risk most companies won’t take… for now. However, I can see very soon (depending on the company’s risk tolerance) company boards hopping on the AI train to cut costs as much as possible. As Daniel expertly noted, “The ideal employee count for a company is 0.” From a specialized standpoint, I think there are some niche cyber fields (think full-scale red teaming or ultra high-level reverse engineering) that still aren’t impacted by AI… yet. And yet is the big, scary word. In an ideal world, I hope that the industry as a whole is augmented by AI, not replaced.The education crisis
I am in college, and there is a serious education crisis due to AI. I have found that the majority of students are revealing their laziness due to AI. Putting the minimal amount of effort into an assignment used to translate into a meh grade and meh learning. Now, putting the minimal amount of effort into an assignment translates into a perfect grade and no learning. We are hijacking our brain into thinking we did something worthwhile when we retained none of it. Many profs have openly admitted that it is nearly impossible to distinguish AI work from original work, and that makes their job miserable. Learning is supposed to be difficult at times, but ultimately rewarding. AI is stripping away all the friction that used to come with learning and replacing it with a false understanding.AI can be used as a great learning tool. As someone who is fascinated by AI, I try my best to augment my learning instead of magic-ifying it: using AI to study, challenge my learning, and force me to think of problems from a new perspective. All great use cases for AI. The unfortunate truth is a lot of students will be lazy and not jump through extra hoops if they don’t have to.
The solution?
I think that the whole education system is in need of an overhaul anyways, so AI could be the catalyst that revolutionizes how kids are taught in the modern era. While I don’t have a great solution now, I bet that the new education will revolve around more practical assignments. Think:- Hands-on labs (in person)
- Public speaking (slideshows or demos) on a topic
- Teaching a topic to the class
- In general, less “answering questions” assignments and more “show me you’re solving problems”