- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has become increasingly outspoken on AI.
- In the most recent instance, Buterin has asserted that AI can tackle a critical Ethereum risk.
- Despite the assertion, the technology might not be at the desired level yet.
In the past month, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has become more outspoken on AI. Following a deep dive into potential intersections between the new tech darling and crypto and a quick take addressing the challenge posed by deep fakes through the normalization of security questions, the highly influential crypto founder is back with another hot take.
In the latest instance, Buterin suggests that AI could help tackle Ethereum’s “biggest technical risk.”
AI to Play Key Role in Ethereum Security?
In an X post on Monday, February 19, Ethereum’s Buterin expressed excitement about using AI to vet code on the Ethereum network.
"One application of AI that I am excited about is AI-assisted formal verification of code and bug finding. Right now ethereum's biggest technical risk probably is bugs in code, and anything that could significantly change the game on that would be amazing," Buterin wrote.
In the status quo, developers typically manually debug code and are audited by security firms. Despite these processes, an estimated $1.95 billion was lost to DeFi hacks in 2023, with the Ethereum network accounting for 70% of all losses.
Sponsored
While Buterin’s statements have sparked excitement among users and seen some shilling projects already working toward the proposed AI use case, experts suggest that the practical use of AI to debug complex code is still not feasible or advisable.
Is AI Just Not There Yet?
In October 2023, leading computer scientist and U.S. policy advisor David Gewirtz contended that while generative AI tools could point developers to where to look when debugging code, analysts still need to sift through it and understand how it works.Â
Sponsored
“It’s a helper, but it’s not a coding replacement,” he wrote.
Despite this potential usefulness, Gewirtz warned about the potential risks that could arise if developers depended too much on the technology. He noted that the inability to check the AI’s process and understand why specific changes were made could make the code difficult to maintain.
"If it turns out there is a problem in the AI-generated code, the cost and time it takes to fix may prove to be far greater than if a human coder had done the full task by hand," the computer scientist wrote.
Gewirtz backed up his findings by citing a July 2023 Texas University study, which concluded that AI still underperformed humans when writing complex code. “If AI is struggling to write complex code, it will have even more difficulty debugging complex code,” he posited.
The risks highlighted by Gewirtz are all the more important considering the predominantly financial nature of Ethereum applications.
On the Flipside
- Ethereum’s Buterin had warned about the risks of ceding decision-making to AI, noting that requiring the AI model code to be open-source in line with crypto ethos could allow attackers to build optimized attacks to trick the system.
Why This Matters
Buterin’s statement highlights yet another potential area where AI and crypto can intersect. However, the full realization of this vision may still be far into the future.
Read this for more on Buterin’s view on AI:
Here’s How Ethereum’s Buterin Sees AI, Crypto Intersecting
Learn more about MATIC’s recent price action:
Polygon MATIC Reclaims $1, but Can It Hold out This Time?
