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Before The Commit

Before The Commit

By: Danny Gershman Dustin Hilgaertner
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AI is writing your code. Who's watching the AI? Before The Commit explores AI coding security, emerging threats, and the trends reshaping software development. Hosts Danny Gershman and Dustin Hilgaertner break down threat models, prompt injection, shadow AI, and practical defenses — drawing from experience across defense, fintech, and enterprise environments. Companion to the book Before The Commit: Securing AI in the Age of Autonomous Code. No hype, just tactical insight for developers, security engineers, and leaders building in the AI era.

2026 Danny Gershman, Dustin Hilgaertner
Episodes
  • Episode 33: Agentic Loops
    Jun 30 2026

    The episode delves into the concept of forward deployed engineering (FDE) and its significance, highlighting the challenges faced by established companies in adopting AI. It also explores the shift from SaaS to utilities and the impact on SaaS companies. The tool of the week, 'Loops,' is discussed in detail, emphasizing its power in automating recurring tasks and enabling self-improvement. The conversation delves into advanced prompts and loops, the concept of goals and verifiable end states, financial optimization in AI spend, the shift to agent-based workloads, the future of AI models and providers, quality assurance and AI tools, token usage and model optimization, misconceptions about AI training, government work and AI training, and upcoming episode announcements.

    Takeaways

    • The premise of forward deployed engineering and its role in integrating and ushering people into AI usage
    • The shift from SaaS to utilities and the impact on SaaS companies, as well as the value of platforms AI models and providers are evolving rapidly, impacting market dynamics and competition.
    • Balancing token optimization with model quality is a critical challenge in AI implementation.

    Chapters

    • 00:00 Introduction to Forward Deployed Engineering
    • 08:00 Challenges for Established Companies
    • 28:26 Exploring the Tool of the Week: Loops
    • 38:22 Advanced Prompts and Loops
    • 44:13 Financial Optimization and AI Spend
    • 51:30 Future of AI Models and Providers
    • 01:00:29 Token Usage and Model Optimization
    • 01:06:48 Government Work and AI Training
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Episode 32: Cursor
    Jun 5 2026

    The conversation covers the introduction to Cursor, the transition to Riverside, experimenting with Cursor and Crow, SpaceX's acquisition of Cursor, Cursor's evolution and future predictions, features of Cursor and comparison with other tools, Nvidia's RTX Spark, and a discussion on AI usage and Apple's AI performance. The conversation covers a range of topics including Apple's AI competition, Siri 2 and Gemini integration, challenges with AI assistants, GitHub's Co-Pilot billing shift, the AI coding arms race, recent AI model releases, new AI tools and models, Grok subscription and plateauing, Claude Code's workflows feature, understanding workflows and goals, US government's stake in OpenAI, implications of government involvement, executive orders and AI regulation, and Anthropic's position and government relations.

    Takeaways

    • Cursor's evolution and future predictions
    • Nvidia's RTX Spark and its impact on AI usage Competition in the AI space is intensifying, with new releases and features from major players.
    • Government involvement in AI regulation and oversight is a growing concern.

    Chapters

    • 00:00 Introduction to Cursor and News
    • 08:20 Experimenting with Cursor and Crow
    • 16:27 Cursor's Evolution and Future Predictions
    • 26:18 Nvidia's RTX Spark and Apple's AI Platform
    • 37:14 Apple's AI Competition
    • 43:12 Grok Build and Composer Integration
    • 52:21 Implications of Government Involvement
    • 57:23 Executive Orders and AI Regulation
    • 01:05:04 Government's Oversight of AI Models
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Episode 31: Sam Kassoumeh, Co-Founder @ SecurityScorecard
    May 22 2026

    The conversation covers the topics of AI security gateways, SaaS-based companies, AI in coding, the evolution of Security Scorecard, and the impact of AI on threat intelligence data. The conversation delves into the transformative impact of AI and Threat Intel on data analysis, product development, and organizational workflows. It explores the exponential growth in interconnectivity and observation data, the value of net flow data when run through models, and the automation of manual tasks in identifying and cross-correlating data sets. The intersection of AI and Threat Intel is redefining the assessment process, transforming workflows, and changing the roles and responsibilities within organizations.

    Takeaways

    • AI security gateways are a hot commodity in the security space.
    • SaaS companies are doing more with less, leveraging AI and automation.
    • AI is changing the way coding is done, reducing the need for human intervention.
    • Security Scorecard was founded to address the growing dependency on supply chain partners and third parties.
    • AI has revolutionized threat intelligence data, uncovering deeper insights and network connections. Exponential growth in interconnectivity and observation data
    • Value of net flow data when run through models
    • Redefining the assessment process and transforming workflows

    Chapters

    • 00:00 AI Security Gateways in the Security Space
    • 07:35 AI's Impact on Coding and Automation
    • 28:44 AI's Impact on Threat Intelligence Data
    • 34:31 Value of Net Flow Data When Run Through Models
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    1 hr and 5 mins
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