Will AI expose the rickety infrastructure of the internet?
News Source
β’Sat, 24 Oct 2026 20:15:33 +0000
π° What Happened
A serious flaw in PHP, a coding language used by many websites, forced site owners to act fast this week. They were told to update their sites or take them offline. The problem became known online as the PHP-ocalypse. On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, reporters compared the internet to something held together by glue and dreams. They said its foundations are older and more fragile than most users think.
π The Backstory
PHP runs a large share of the web, including many small business and blog sites. When a flaw appears, the fix is usually a quick software update. But plenty of sites run old versions that nobody maintains. The podcast asked whether AI will make these problems worse. Cheap AI tools make it easier for attackers to hunt for weak spots. In this case, human researchers found the flaw first.
π― Why It Matters
Your favourite sites can go down for reasons far from your screen. Small updates you never see keep the web working.
A serious flaw in PHP, a coding language used by many websites, forced site owners to act fast this week. They were told to update their sites or take them offline. The problem became known online as the PHP-ocalypse. On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, reporters compared the internet to something held together by glue and dreams. They said its foundations are older and more fragile than most users think.
PHP runs a large share of the web, including many small business and blog sites. When a flaw appears, the fix is usually a quick software update. But plenty of sites run old versions that nobody maintains. The podcast asked whether AI will make these problems worse. Cheap AI tools make it easier for attackers to hunt for weak spots. In this case, human researchers found the flaw first.
Your favourite sites can go down for reasons far from your screen. Small updates you never see keep the web working.