All data exists in one of three states: At Rest (stored on disk) In Transit (moving over a network) In Use (being processed in memory)
We have robust solutions for the first two: At Rest: Disk encryption, file system encryption. In Transit: TLS/SSL, VPNs, end-to-end encryption.
But in use—when data is loaded into RAM and processed by CPUs—it is decrypted. This is the Achilles’ heel of modern security.
The future of internet computations will be encrypted. It is not if, it is when.
Production systems need 99.9%+ reliability. Even if you magically achieve 99% per-step reliability (which no one has), you still only get 82% success over 20 steps. This isn't a prompt engineering problem. This isn't a model capability problem. This is mathematical reality.
The most successful “agents” in production aren't conversational at all. They're smart, bounded tools that do one thing well and get out of the way.
The pattern is clear: AI handles complexity, humans maintain control, and traditional software engineering handles reliability.
The winners will be teams building constrained, domain-specific tools that use AI for the hard parts while maintaining human control or strict boundaries over critical decisions. Think less “autonomous everything” and more “extremely capable assistants with clear boundaries.”