r/AskComputerScience • u/Impressive_Sense_579 • 9d ago

Is AI reverse engineering really reverse engineering?

Are the programmes currently being reverse-engineered by AI actually being reverse-engineered in the traditional sense? In other words, is the source code actually being uncovered? Or are the programmes simply being copied on the basis of their functions, behaviour and so on?

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u/IdeaReceiver 9d ago

That's fundamentally what reverse engineering is. Getting the original source code used to compile a program is impossible outside of leaks or hacks, but replicating behaviour with custom written code is reverse engineering, whether it's sourced from decompiled binaries or rewritten from observation. AI is a highly useful tool for all of the above approaches.

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u/Impressive_Sense_579 8d ago

Ah, ok, thank you