But longtime web security researcher James Kettle wanted to look beyond the bug-hunting apocalypse to explore a question that has taken on even more urgency as major AI organizations disclose real-world examples of rogue AI hacking: Can agentic AI develop novel, abstract hacking methods, from concept through to practical attacks? He concluded that AI is perhaps minimally capable but extremely limited in its ability to devise new attack paths in a fully autonomous way. Importantly, though, when paired with human guidance and insight in key moments, Kettle found that AI is an extremely powerful partner in conceptualizing and uncovering new strategies for hacking. With this in mind, he decided to scope his tests more narrowly so the AI systems were working within his own area of web security expertise. “I’m interested in pushing AI to the absolute limit to see where it fails and where you need a human,” Kettle says.