{
  "id": 17219280,
  "title": "An exclusive conversation with the developer of REA, the viral AI reverse engineering tool",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/an-exclusive-conversation-with-the-developer-of-rea-the-viral-ai",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-30T11:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Scientific American",
    "slug": "scientific-american",
    "url": "https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-exclusive-conversation-with-the-developer-of-rea-the-viral-ai-reverse-engineering-tool/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "AI is empowering individuals to reverse engineer software that was previously off-limits, including products like printers, smart TVs, and cars. The pseudonymous creator, a software engineer named Morluto, developed Reverse Engineer Anything (REA), an AI-driven tool that can take apart and reassemble programs. Morluto's motivation stemmed from game decompilation, a complex process made more accessible with AI assistance. His tool has gained widespread popularity, with over 400,000 stars on GitHub. Morluto envisions AI-enabled reverse engineering as a means to democratize software control, dispelling the notion that \"code is magic\" and allowing anyone to participate. However, experts warn that this development could pose challenges for trade secret and copyright law, as well as present new security risks.",
  "summary": "An AI tool called REA can take apart software that isn’t meant to be opened in printers, smart TVs, cars, and more. Its pseudonymous creator wants everyone to get a peek",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}