Seven automated hacking systems will compete for a $2 million prize on Thursday

This Thursday, seven teams of researchers will face off in a live hacking challenge at Defcon, competing for a grand prize of $2 million. It’s a common sight at the conference, but this challenge comes with a twist — instead of human teams, Thursday’s challenge will be entirely automated, with experimental software programs hacking, patching, and defending networks with no human intervention.

It’s the end of a three-year project by DARPA, the experimental military research group that brought us stealth motorcycles, high-speed self-piloting drones, and the internet. This particular contest is one of DARPA’s Grand Challenges, which have tasked researchers with building robots that can navigate obstacle courses and cars that can drive themselves.