Thread

PS5 Linux lead quits: "a bunch of noobs using LLMs" that "they don't understand"

344 points · 227 comments · alexjplant

arnaudsm · 1789570645 · focus · HN ↗
Misleading title, there's another major reason: it's an embargo agreement violation that jeopardizes Linux support on PS5.
<a href="https://x.com/theflow0/status/2099987019954831744" rel="nofollow">https://x.com/theflow0/status/2099987019954831744
1. sva_ · 1789571343 · focus · HN ↗
  > The scene used to be a group of highly talented researchers, but now it is just a bunch of noobs using LLMs and writing hacks they don't even understand. Slop kiddies found the only hypervisor bug left, which I had also found a while ago, and decided to report to Sony.
  Sounds like he is salty that somebody found an exploit using LLM that he found manually (which probably took a significant amount of time.) I can partly understand it, but I mean that's also just the game that somebody else might find an exploit, LLMs just make it easier. LLMs finding bugs is not a bad thing, just sucks for enjoyers of open source software in this particular case.
  You can probably find more though.
  1. tetromino_ · 1789571889 · focus · HN ↗
    > Sounds like he is salty that somebody found an exploit using LLM that he found manually
    Nope. He is salty because someone made public the secret exploit that Linux-on-PS5 apparently relies upon to bypass Sony's hypervisor protection. Now Sony will fix the exploit, and there will be no more Linux on the PS5 until another exploit is found.
    sva_ · 1789572047 · focus · HN ↗
    Okay, I misunderstood. But it wasn't particularly secret if 'noobs' had access then?
    MSFT_Edging · 1789572856 · focus · HN ↗
    It sounds like he had already found it the old fashioned way, then the noobs sic'd the LLMs on it, found it, and he told them "hey chill, we knew about this, don't ruin it" and they ruined it.
    To quote Dr Ian Malcolm:
    "If I may... Um, I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here, it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now [bangs on the table]"
    voidnullvalue · 1789580532 · focus · HN ↗
    That quote logically implies that people should be paralyzed to act on any novel information. There is no such thing as a discovery that occurs in a vacuum without some prior art. "Standing on the shoulders of giants"
    Then again, its a silly illogical movie
    MSFT_Edging · 1789648298 · focus · HN ↗
    I disagree. It's pretty clear the complaint is the lack of responsibility or care for the dangerous science at the center of the movie.
    The complaint wouldn't be remotely the same if Hammond was taking the power he was playing with seriously. His character is the villain, he ignores every warning and almost kills his grand children.
    In the case of the PS5 Linux project, the researcher who has worked towards the skills required to find these bugs has a greater respect, moved slower, had time to think.
    People playing with the enormous power of LLMs finding hypervisor bugs and throwing it in the fire have no respect for the work.
    bothers · 1789575871 · focus · HN ↗
    [dead]
    sva_ · 1789581533 · focus · HN ↗
    The vagueposting is off the charts. Whats the point of posting shallow dismissals?
    If two people independently from you find the same exploit using LLMs, it was clear that it'd leak at some point.

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