Meredith Whittaker is bae.
this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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You're definitely not the only one with that crush lol
👋
Sigourney Weaver vibes
You're not wrong. But save some love for Udbhav Tiwari
Yes and no.
At its very core? "Agentic AI" is about the idea of having a bunch of different "agents" communicate with one another in a network with defined(-ish) communication pathways. This is an "agent network". And if that sounds like microservices/task graphs/how every fucking app works then... you win the No-Prize!!
And, in that regard, it isn't any difficult. This service has access to that database. It always has. Hell, this service might still have zero "AI" in it but count as an "agent" for marketing purposes. If the credentials are checked and passed in an appropriate and authorized way, it is as safe as it ever has been. Which... is a different depressing discussion.
The issue comes into play when you are looking at people rapidly rewriting existing infrastructure just to say they did. And doing so with generative AI that they fundamentally can't vet (even if they wanted to). THAT is how you break things and THAT is how you introduce new CVEs.
The issue isn't that you have this data stored in a SQL table that is accessed by that service which was pre-seeded with credentials in a secure way. The issue is that you have no rewritten both that service and the SQL server in a way that "optimized" things by removing that costly security check.
Hell, this service might still have zero "AI" in it but count as an "agent" for marketing purposes.
True. I do think that's where we might find something useful after the bubble pops.
But it's some shit marketing though.
"Microservices, but sometimes it hallucinates." is a sales pitch targeted for gullible suckers.
“Microservices with delegated responsibility and elevated permissions, but sometimes hallucinates” is slightly more accurate. Claude Cowork probably won’t rm -rf / but what do I know.
The windows have all the modern anti-burglary features and the plumbing is immaculate
— excerpt from a sale advert for a house with its front wall missing and the living room exposed to the elements
Don't know why you're getting downvoted, but you've got a solid pulse on the issue, here.
The word "agentic" makes me want to rip my tongue out of my mouth.
Not only is it a stupid fucking word but it's unpleasant to even think about pronouncing.
Agentic, the new fragrance by Fuocke Ayai
China just over there letting them mfers fuck all their own shit up.
You never let your enemy know when they're making a mistake, or several dozen
I've wiped better ideas off of the used shoes of an old bash profile than the average agentic AI solution.
Yeah? And why should some wagie care that his corp gets hacked through the agent? Or that Microsoft is watching? This is true but its not an angle to get at anything with because the country where this is being mass produced has an apathetic population
Upper management in my company constantly asks for instances of AI being used. People who align with this whole AI mess get much easier promotion timelines and visibility. My team has decided to realign ourselves to do more ML work partially for this reason. Its even dumber when you realize all these tech execs are themselves invested in these AI companies
Seems to me like the bubble is getting even worse because of efforts to deny that it is a bubble in the first place.
I'm surprised to learn that the CEO is not Moxie Marlinspike, my understanding is that he created the signal protocol. Perhaps he has nothing to do with the apps that implement signal?
Marlinspike is a well known name in the cryptography community, the guy knows his stuff.
he stepped down a while ago
He did not singlehandedly create the "signal protocol" (double ratchet key exchange tyvm), that's not really how it works. He was an early contributor who became an advocate and figurehead because he was a good communicator/unafraid of the exposure. Check out some of his pre-signal sailboating stuff for a good time :)
Meanwhile, they just started publicizing their own e2e encrypted chatbot.
The Signal Foundation did? Or Moxie Marlonspike, who I don't think is technically involved with them anymore? (Not calling you out, I'm not particularly sure of his status there anymore.)
chatbots are not agentic AI so it's a bit unrelated.
You're mixing the Signal Foundation up with the original creator of Signal who has stepped down and is no longer involved... And is off...
checks notes
Building fucking AI bots apparently? Thank goodness he's not involved with Signal anymore.
In other news water is wet.
asks for your phone number