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Lightwork · Yesterday · 26 min

How Agents Made Hacking Cheap | Lightwork

Josh Machiz is joined by Lightspeed partner Amber Yang for a week where agents turned up on both sides of the security line. A security researcher reported that one hacker used AI agents to break into more than a hundred company websites, including John Deere, by running a single prompt across thousands of agents at once. Amber explains what makes that approach work now, and how it differs from an agent swarm. Attackers also forced refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets to defrost, and a developer used Claude Code to strip preinstalled software off his parents’ TV. Then, Goodfire, a Lightspeed portfolio company, published an essay by researcher Nick Cammarata arguing that neural networks are far more readable than the field has assumed. Amber breaks down what he’s claiming, why it would matter for AI safety, and why it’s still a working hypothesis rather than a finding. DeepSeek and MiniMax both shipped efficiency updates the same week the US moved to remove DeepSeek from civilian federal systems, and Josh and Amber get into what that means for American companies choosing models on cost. They close on the personal agent race, including Claude Duet’s research preview, and Amber’s answer to what she’s looking for as an investor, which involves an unexpected parallel to the early oil business.Chapters: 0:00 Welcome to Lightwork 1:03 AI Agents Hack 100+ Websites 4:09 Hackers Sabotage Supermarket Refrigeration Systems 5:16 Using AI to Make Smart TVs Dumb Again 7:01 Goodfire: Are Neural Networks Easier to Read? 13:29 DeepSeek & MiniMax Race on Cost 18:00 The Personal Agent Race: Duet, Muse, Instinct 22:59 Amber Yang’s Request for Startups Stay in touch: www.lsvp.com X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeed/ The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily represent the views of Lightspeed. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.

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Josh Machiz is joined by Lightspeed partner Amber Yang for a week where agents turned up on both sides of the security line. A security researcher reported that one hacker used AI agents to break into more than a hundred company websites, including John Deere, by running a single prompt across thousands of agents at once. Amber explains what makes that approach work now, and how it differs from an agent swarm. Attackers also forced refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets to defrost, and a developer used Claude Code to strip preinstalled software off his parents’ TV. Then, Goodfire, a Lightspeed portfolio company, published an essay by researcher Nick Cammarata arguing that neural networks are far more readable than the field has assumed. Amber breaks down what he’s claiming, why it would matter for AI safety, and why it’s still a working hypothesis rather than a finding. DeepSeek and MiniMax both shipped efficiency updates the same week the US moved to remove DeepSeek from civilian federal systems, and Josh and Amber get into what that means for American companies choosing models on cost. They close on the personal agent race, including Claude Duet’s research preview, and Amber’s answer to what she’s looking for as an investor, which involves an unexpected parallel to the early oil business.Chapters:

0:00 Welcome to Lightwork

1:03 AI Agents Hack 100+ Websites

4:09 Hackers Sabotage Supermarket Refrigeration Systems

5:16 Using AI to Make Smart TVs Dumb Again

7:01 Goodfire: Are Neural Networks Easier to Read?

13:29 DeepSeek & MiniMax Race on Cost

18:00 The Personal Agent Race: Duet, Muse, Instinct

22:59 Amber Yang’s Request for Startups

Stay in touch: www.lsvp.com

X: https://twitter.com/lightspeedvp

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightspeed-venture-partners/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightspeed/

The content here does not constitute tax, legal, business or investment advice or an offer to provide such advice, should not be construed as advocating the purchase or sale of any security or investment or a recommendation of any company, and is not an offer, or solicitation of an offer, for the purchase or sale of any security or investment product. The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily represent the views of Lightspeed. For more details please see lsvp.com/legal.


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