Recently, fueled by AI, there has been a massive buzz around cases where vulnerabilities in the PS5 were exploited to unofficially port PlayStation exclusives to PC or play pirated games. Now, word has broken out that the Nintendo Switch 2, released last year, has been cracked.

A user going by the handle 'pepsipu' on X (Twitter) claimed to have successfully jailbroken the Nintendo Switch 2. To back up the claim, the user dropped footage of playing Mario Kart World with third-party characters nowhere to be found in the game, such as Peter Griffin, Hatsune Miku, and Cinnamoroll.

Console jailbreaking involves forcibly stripping away the software and hardware restrictions put in place by console manufacturers like Nintendo for device security, ultimately grabbing root system access. While this opens doors for modding—injecting content never meant for the game—it is mostly abused to run pirated software.

The Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreak is built on a 'userland exploit' discovered in July of this year, which is a vulnerability allowing external code execution within specific apps or games. By leaning on generative AI tools like OpenAI Codex, the user figured out a way to hijack privileges by running certain backwards-compatible games on the Switch 2. Tracking down exploits for console jailbreaking normally takes years, but this time, AI helped wrap it up in just two weeks.

This jailbreak is tethered and temporary, meaning power cycling the Nintendo Switch 2 resets it, forcing the user to repeat the entire hacking ritual all over again. Furthermore, it is far too complex and convoluted for average gamers lacking programming chops, and since the user spilled the beans on which games were used, Nintendo could easily retaliate by blocking those specific titles.

Still, this whole ordeal serves as a stark reminder of the skyrocketing hacking risks ushered in by rapid AI advancements. AI has already been deployed to uncover and attack PHP security vulnerabilities rocking local and international tech landscapes, and as we just saw, it is now being weaponised to jailbreak hardware for piracy. The gaming industry definitely needs to crank up its security measures to brace for AI-driven cyber threats.