Someone hacked the Switch 2 by using an old game and AI

is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has apparently been jailbroken, and a modder has already shown the console running a custom version of Mario Kart World featuring new playable characters like Cinnamoroll, the red Angry Bird, Peter Griffin, and Steve from Minecraft.

OpenAI’s Codex helped make this “ns2jb” jailbreak, according to Sammy Hajhamid, aka “pepsipu.” It’s a software-only, tethered jailbreak, which, in this case, means that you’ll have to run it from a game every time you turn the console on for it to work. This exploit requires the game SmileBASIC 4, which lets users program and play games (though another modder claims that the title is “not strictly needed”).

This jailbreak still seems extremely complex for most people, and its full impact isn’t clear yet; users on the Switch 2 hacks subreddit are debating how big of a deal it actually is. Still, this could mark the beginning of a string of exploits for the Switch 2, especially if modders use AI to help.

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