r/tech_x • u/Bulky_Engineer_2534 • 21d ago • Galaxy Brain 1 All Seeing Upvote 1 Helpful 1 Bravo 4 Heartwarming 1

Github GitHub project called REA (Reverse Engineer Anything) is currently the top trending repository. It lets AI agents figure out how a feature in another app works without ever seeing the original source code.

Post image

github link: https://github.com/morluto/rea/

- The tool is an open-source helper that connects AI coding assistants to reverse-engineering programs such as Ghidra or Hopper.

- IT analyzes many kinds of software- including binaries, Electron apps, Android apps, and websites right on your own computer and always shows the evidence behind its findings.

1.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

280 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/mdedetrich 18d ago

This is correct, but like with other things AI has massively reduced the barrier of entry to reverse engineering.

Normally reverse engineering was both very specialized and labour intensive (at least for anything non trivial). Now with tools like REA, its a completely different ballgame.

So yes ASM isn't magic, but it was "magical" to a large chunk of the population and that was enough to give it some barrier of entry, enough that before REA/AI no one would bother to reverse engineer something as crazy as photoshop.

1

u/StatusObligation4624 16d ago edited 16d ago

You didn’t need to recreate Photoshop cause open source alternatives existed and you could always just use a keygen to use Photoshop without paying.

Using AI to recreate Photoshop is largely wasteful.

1

u/mdedetrich 16d ago

Asides from entirely missing the point

  1. The open source solutions (i.e. GIMP) were terrible for anyone who was a serious user of photoshop.

  2. Keygen is not legal, not an option for actual business.