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A comment on Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format.

Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by chrismorgan on Saturday May 16, 2026 @04:47AM (#48158235)
Meta: this was submitted with the article’s title “The CTF scene is dead” which I found very easy to understand. It has just been updated to use the subtitle’s first sentence, “Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format”. I find that much harder to grasp, rather like a garden-path sentence. My immediate thoughts were that “Frontier” was a company name, and that there was some file format named CTF. If you don’t know about Capture The Flag contests, the change doesn’t help. If you do, I think the change makes it worse.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by IanCal on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:02AM (#48158332)
If it helps I understand the second much better and feels less clickbaity and includes more info. I do agree with the points you made about the confusion although I find frontier a term used in this area a lot, “frontier AI models have” would probably resolve that.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by Jenk on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:42AM (#48158564)
If the title simply said "AI is out-performing humans at CTF" then none of this confusion exists. Nothing is "broken," we don't need to be superfluous with "frontier," and the point is still there.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by IanCal on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:50AM (#48158607)
But the article is arguing it is broken. That’s the point. You can disagree but that’s very much that the author is writing about, not a curiosity, and that it’s these top models that are not custom security models.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by nine_k on Saturday May 16, 2026 @01:06PM (#48161941)
It's like "Forklifts outperform humans in weightlifting". The problem, of course, is that a forklift is much easier to spot among athletes than an AI among CTF players.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by mrgoldenbrown on Saturday May 16, 2026 @09:20PM (#48165270)
CTF competitions and leaderboards are broken. Major competitions have stopped. Top competitors have dropped out.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by jofzar on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:09AM (#48158364)
Imo frontier is too niche and specific, if you know what a frontier model means then it's fine, but if you don't then it's negative/detrimental to the title.

"new" does the same thing and is probably just a better descriptor then frontier

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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by jack_pp on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:32AM (#48158521)
if you are on HN and have no idea what "frontier model" would mean maybe it's time you found out.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by hbbio on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:56AM (#48158648)
I also misread the updated title.

"Frontier models break the open CTF format" is good

"Frontier AI..." means wtf is Frontier AI.

Because of course it exists (just googled it): https://frontierai.company/

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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by rockskon on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:25AM (#48158475)
But then you're not acting as a billboard promoting AI. Isn't that partly the point?
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by jsoaoxhd on Saturday May 16, 2026 @06:18AM (#48158774)
Why do people always hijack threads to discuss titles? Most articles have terrible titles. Just downvote it and move on.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by dandellion on Saturday May 16, 2026 @07:43AM (#48159280)
Why do you contribute to making this thread longer? Just downvote an move on.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by skinfaxi on Saturday May 16, 2026 @08:13AM (#48159489)
They can't downvote.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by KomoD on Saturday May 16, 2026 @09:01AM (#48159889)
You can't downvote a submission.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by keeganj on Saturday May 16, 2026 @11:33AM (#48161097)
I agree, it took me a second to parse. It may be because this is the first time I've seen "frontier models" described as "Frontier AI". That sounds more like a company name, especially when the F is capitalized.
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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by SomeHacker44 on Saturday May 16, 2026 @04:29PM (#48163522)
The article never defined CTF. Nor have the top comments here. Skip.

Basic rule: define every abbreviation when it is first used.

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Re:Frontier AI has broken the open CTF format by gbnwl on Saturday May 16, 2026 @05:06PM (#48163818)
Frontier as in "Frontier Model" is a legitimate vocabulary term you should probably be aware of in 2026. It's not something the author made up or chose randomly, it's common parlance in the space.
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