Comment by legacynl
7 days ago
> The issue was never that AI could help. CTF players have always used tools. [...] Teams that refused to use AI were not just missing a convenience; they were playing a slower version of the competition.
So the obvious solution is to fully ban AI and AI generated tools? To destroy your own hobby just because AI can semantically be considered a tool, seems very stupid to me. If the point of these CTFs is to practice and measure your skill, what becomes the point of the competition once everyone uses AI?
Many existing challenges are purely based on knowing the existing precise tool. It has been the difference of "very easy" and "insane" challenge, whether you knew the tool or not.
So, I would not start banning the tools. They always been there. We just need to fine tune the challenges where bar goes beyond things and you really need to use AI as tool. Maybe the definition of insane starts to be custom kernel fork with planted bugs and you need to use AI to find the bugs, and use some exploit chains against that kernel with specific web server. That is the real world right now, I guess.