# AI has made exploit writing cheap, so patching is now the bottleneck

> Original title: The Exploit Was the Bottleneck

- Source: a16z News
- Published: 2026-11-05T15:01:00.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/odnyutz39s796h96qs6fcjwfe
- Original: https://www.a16z.news/p/the-exploit-was-the-bottleneck

## Summary

Asaf Ezra argues that AI agents have made turning a vulnerability into a working exploit cheap and fast, shifting the bottleneck in offensive cyber to patching. He cites the August PaperCut campaign, which compromised 395 organizations in 48 countries, half of them schools, and Mandiant data showing average time from disclosure to attack falling from 63 days in 2018-19 to five in 2023. He expects outbreaks hitting hard-to-update systems rather than a grid or internet collapse.

## Why it matters

The piece argues that AI has made exploit writing cheap, so patch speed, not exploit skill, now sets the defensive bottleneck, backed by a multi-year data series.