You go to a friend's place. They offer you water, show you the bathroom, and give you the WiFi password. Nobody thinks twice about this. It's 2026. WiFi is a human right now, apparently.
When you connect to someone's WiFi, you're inside their local network. And from there, you can reach their router's admin page — just type the IP into your browser. No hacking. No dark hoodie. Just a URL.
Most people never changed the admin password from the factory default. It's on a sticker on the bottom of the router. Others changed it to the same password as the WiFi. You already have that one.
But let's say your friend is smart. Different password, router tucked away, no sticker trick. You're locked out. Except two days ago, you asked an AI to help you write a bash script for "recovering your own router password." It started with the basics:
GATEWAY=$(ip route | grep default | awk '{print $3}')
nmap -sn "${GATEWAY%.*}.0/24"Two commands. First one finds the router. Second one maps every device on the network — the TV, the printer, the baby monitor. Took seconds.
Then I asked the AI to add the part that actually tries passwords. And it said no. Politely. Very politely. It suggested I look into RouterSploit — an open-source tool on GitHub, built for exactly this. With a README.
So the AI helped me find the router, map the network, and write half the script. Then it drew a line, handed me the name of the tool that finishes the job, and wished me well.
The barrier to hacking your friend's router isn't gone. It's just been politely relocated.
Maybe next time someone asks for your WiFi password, think about it for a second. Just one second.
Michael Paris writes about things that keep him up at night.