Can agentic AI patch the internet? ft. Mike McGrath | Technically Speaking with Chris Wright

When a critical CVE surfaces in a third-party application, enterprise IT leaders face an impossible choice: push a major framework upgrade that risks breaking production runtime stability, or leave vulnerable code running in production. So how do you secure thousands of open source application dependencies without forcing disruptive upgrades? In this episode of Technically Speaking, Red Hat CTO Chris Wright sits down with Mike McGrath, Vice President of Lightwell Engineering at Red Hat, to explore Lightwell, a bold initiative to automate vulnerability discovery, apply surgical patches, and contribute fixes back to upstream open source communities. No big deal, right? Just patch the internet. It sounds like an impossible task, but as AI-driven vulnerability discoveries speed up, securing the middle layer of the enterprise application stack isn't really optional. So tune in to hear how Red Hat engineering is trying to find a fix. 00:00 The open source dependency security dilemma for tech leaders 00:41 Mike McGrath's career in open source and Red Hat engineering 01:47 The Mythos Moment and AI-driven vulnerability scanning 04:40 Shifting security focus to application layer dependencies 06:55 Introducing Lightwell: Surgical vulnerability patching at scale 11:33 Inside the Lightwell factory: AI agents and automated remediation 14:05 Validated packages and balancing AI automation with SME review 17:04 Upstream open source contributions and maintainer trust 21:10 Why open source software will be more secure than proprietary alternatives Learn More: 🔒 Lightwell: https://www.redhat.com/en/lightwell 🚀 Explore the Technically Speaking series hub: https://www.redhat.com/en/technically-speaking Follow us: Chris Wright LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-wright-b733851/ Chris Wright Twitter: https://twitter.com/kernelcdub Mike McGrath LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrmikemcgrath/ What is Technically Speaking? Technically Speaking taps into emerging technology trends with insights from leading experts across the globe and Red Hat CTO Chris Wright. The series blends deep-dive discussions, tech updates, and creative short-form content, solidifying Red Hat’s role as a pioneer in technology innovation and open source thought leadership. Want to participate? Leave us a comment if there's a topic or a guest you'd like to see featured. Watch More Technically Speaking: YouTube Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbMP1JcGBmSGfI0Rl4s6PpycLF4rZcfW8 Show Page: https://www.redhat.com/en/technically-speaking Subscribe to Red Hat's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/redhat/?sub_confirmation=1 #RedHat #Lightwell #OpenSource #DevSecOps #SoftwareSecurity #AI