AI in Reverse Engineering and Legacy Code Is More Capable Than Expected

The F-15 Strike Eagle II reverse engineering thread included a notable aside: someone asked how well AI handles decompiled code without symbol names, and the answer was surprisingly positive. The person doing the project said they were 'surprised just how well AI could figure out the intent' of decompiled assembler. This wasn't the main story, but it's the kind of offhand observation that signals a capability shift.

This fits into a broader pattern of AI finding unexpected traction in domains that look structurally hard, like code without context, old binary formats, and undocumented systems. The David Ahl BASIC games ported to C thread and the 4-bit DIY CPU guide both attracted people excited about understanding and preserving old systems, and AI is becoming a practical tool for that work.

The implication for founders: if you're building tools for developers working with legacy codebases, migrations, or reverse engineering, AI assistance is now a real feature, not a speculative one. The bar for what counts as 'too hard for AI to help with' has moved.