Your view

Rave18

https://futurism.com/80-of-it-jobs-can-be-replaced-by-automation-and-its-exciting/

Danielm7

I think automation is a HUGE thing, for almost all industries. Most people think their jobs are a lot more safe than they are, not to be all chicken little about the whole thing but take something like the transportation industry. Start sending autonomous tractor trailers out that can run 24/7, get in less accidents. We already have warehouses switching to automatic picking. It's not that you won't need any people, just a lot less.

Take something like desktop support, 10+ years ago you needed more people, now you can kick off a process to reimage a machine faster than you can fix it most of the time. It's not a "computers took our jobs!" sort of situation, but it's still automation requiring less employees.

I've talked to a few pentesters who insist they'll never be replaced since no computer will think as dynamically as they will. But, you give a ton of logic from lots of top teams into a powerful system, it'll do 90+% as well, and when people look at the bottom line that's likely enough to make a decision for most companies.

As with anything else in IT, adapt. Maybe learn some automation? Most of us aren't doing the same things we were doing 15+ years ago, and I don't expect to be doing the same things in another 15 years fro mnow.

IronmanX

Danielm7 wrote: »

I've talked to a few pentesters who insist they'll never be replaced since no computer will think as dynamically as they will. But, you give a ton of logic from lots of top teams into a powerful system, it'll do 90+% as well, and when people look at the bottom line that's likely enough to make a decision for most companies.

Pentesters find holes in software that were not caught by the software development team.
There are automated tool that do scanning but as people who know who use them they are as good as the people running them them.

I seen a while ago that Mark Cuban said (supposedly) that software development would be automated in the near future.
That is like saying business development will be automated in the future. Some one has to come up with the idea and then a plan to implement said idea. That idea will change and morph as it gets developed. I don't think computers will ever get that far where they can anticipate our wants and needs and then adapt them to fit our preferences as things progress.

Maybe software developers wont have to type code but they will have to tell the computer want they want it to do.
Even Data on the holodeck had to make changes as he seen fit to the holodeck scenes he was developing as time went on.

Danielm7

Well the example I gave for desktop support, it's not that the job 100% goes away, but it the need for staffing gets reduced. If some portions of programming are turned into "pick the function and the system will make it work" will you really need so many programmers? For most pen testers out there do you really think they're all finding holes at every engagement that aren't already known with a CVE? I doubt it.

Verities

Automation doesn't scare me..its going to happen to every job field eventually. However, there will need to be mechanics/fixers for the automation technology. AI scares me...if this kind of information came out 10 years ago, I don't think I would have believed it:

Google's new AI has learned to become "highly aggressive" in stressful situations - ScienceAlert

AI will be smarter than HUMANS by 2029 before we MERGE with machine, Google chief says | Science | News | Express.co.uk

I truly believe that Google will be among the first to produce an AI entity that will be smarter than humans. This thinking is still way out there to a great many, but think about all the searches you preform every day (they store all this data and analyze it to figure out how you think) and look at the amount of evidence being laid out before us. Heck, even Amazon has a hand in this arena:

Amazon Wants to Ship Your Package Before You Buy It - Digits - WSJ

https://aws.amazon.com/amazon-ai/

Amazon Applies Its AI Tools to Cyber Security

How Amazon teaches Alexa, and what it hopes the virtual assistant will learn someday - GeekWire

IronmanX

Danielm7 wrote: »

"pick the function and the system will make it work" will you really need so many programmers? For most pen testers out there do you really think they're all finding holes at every engagement that aren't already known with a CVE? I doubt it.

Pick the function and the system will make it work we already have that in software development they are called libraries. Then to "adapt" to what we really need those functions to do we overload them.

True that most pentests are exploiting known CVEs but some times fully patch systems can be vunlernble to said CVEs if they are deployed in a certain way.

PwnToOwn just wrapped up. I believe all PwnToOwn systems are fully patched.
A lot of the times the exploits carried out in that contest are know its just that someone found a new way to execute them.

The person who took home $105K Exploited edge by using two or more vulnerabilities to be exploited in unison (using Javascript). Then a Windows Kernal Hack to escape the VM to the host system.

Will AI be able to think creatively and come up with these ideas? Maybe I guess nothing is impossible.

IronmanX

Amazon Wants to Ship Your Package Before You Buy It - Digits - WSJ
^Needs a subscription

This looks simular:
https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/

This has already happened to me by the Star Bucks AI (I mean no offence to the Star Bucks AI overlords )

Ordered a bunch of cartons of Chia Tea.
2 months later I get a repeat shipment. WTH I didn't order this ask the wife she didn't order it but we are almost out and need more............

I contacted Star Bucks and asked what was going on. They refunded my money no questions asked and didn't ask me to ship back the Chia tea.

Verities

IronmanX wrote: »

Amazon Wants to Ship Your Package Before You Buy It - Digits - WSJ
^Needs a subscription

This looks simular:
https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/18/amazon-pre-ships/

This has already happened to me by the Star Bucks AI (I mean no offence to the Star Bucks AI overlords )

Ordered a bunch of cartons of Chia Tea.
2 months later I get a repeat shipment. WTH I didn't order this ask the wife she didn't order it but we are almost out and need more............

I contacted Star Bucks and asked what was going on. They refunded my money no questions asked and didn't ask me to ship back the Chia tea.

The article you posted covers the same thing. This stuff is real.....