First talk

Death Of The Junior Pipeline - The Hidden Cost Of AI

Speaker

Tom Atkinson

Synopsis

AI has undeniably taken the world by storm. As we rush towards an agentic, AI driven future we are creating a huge security hole that is being casually swept aside in the race for efficiency and productivity. Companies are responding to pressure to downsize the workforce massively to only the most senior and talented individuals to “make the most of AI powered efficiency”. A consequential choice that is being made across all tech related industries is to cut the junior hiring and training programs. This in turn is killing the junior to senior pipeline across all tech related industries. Subsequently, as we build our AI powered future, we are eroding the pathways for the creation of the next generation of technical experts to maintain the brave new world. This security debt is racing towards us and we are already beginning to see the fallout of this.

This talk will explore what has happened, the impact it is having on security both today and going forward and will show why it is so crucial to maintain a viable pipeline to create the next generation of talent and discuss what we must do if we are to have a secure future and not a vibe coded disaster.

Future talks

We’re still trying to build up a backlog of talks. If you’ve implemented a C2 on a smartwatch, want to walk us through the highlights of a CTF, or have some insight into the breakdown of security cooperation globally, we’re interested!

Drop a message to talks@dc4420.org with a title, synopsis and rough length, and don’t worry if you haven’t presented before.

We’re also happy to host other activities, like lockpicking, or demoing a new piece of kit, just let us know.