Planet Money

Snapshot · Planet Money

Can computer hackers get inside your mind?

Explore episode Jun 17, 2026

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AI Breaks the Deadlock: Vitaly Decodes FAST16

At 15:29 · chapter starts 12:22

Fast forward to the present day: Jags runs a large research team and wonders whether new AI tools could solve what years of human effort couldn't. He assigns the FAST16 problem to Vitaly Kamluk, a Belarusian cybersecurity legend based in Singapore, known for his calm, Zen-like demeanor. Rather than jump straight to testing the AI, Vitaly first spends nearly two weeks doing the reverse engineering himself — going completely dark, not answering messages — so he'd know whether the AI was getting it right. Then, at around 1am Singapore time, Jags gets a message: 'We need to talk.' Vitaly tells him he's had the AI models double and triple-check his work, and they all agree. The verdict: FAST16 targeted floating-point, high-precision math calculations — a type of operation no malware had ever touched before, and one exclusively associated with complex scientific modeling. Hearing this from the usually unflappable Vitaly, Jags takes it very seriously.

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