Ethereum Co-Founder Sees AI as Potential Bug Buster

1. Ethereum’s bug problem: Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin sees bugs in code as the network’s biggest technical risk.
2. AI as a solution: Buterin proposes AI-assisted formal verification to find and fix bugs, potentially revolutionizing code security.
3. Shifting perspective: Despite previous concerns, Buterin now views AI as a valuable tool, citing Microsoft’s success in AI-powered code analysis.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed interest in using artificial intelligence (AI) to address one of the network’s biggest challenges: bugs in code.

“Right now Ethereum’s biggest technical risk probably is bugs in code,” he said on Twitter. “And anything that could significantly change the game on that would be amazing,”

Vitalik Buterin

AI-assisted code verification

Buterin believes that AI-assisted formal verification could be a game-changer in identifying and fixing bugs in Ethereum’s codebase. He views this as crucial, as bugs pose a significant risk to the network’s security and stability.

“This is an extreme claim: as much harm as the worst-case scenario of climate change, or an artificial pandemic or a nuclear war, might cause, there are many islands of civilization that would remain intact to pick up the pieces,” 

Vitalik Buterin

“But a superintelligent AI, if it decides to turn against us, may well leave no survivors and end humanity for good. Even Mars may not be safe.”

Shifting perspective on AI

While Buterin has previously voiced concerns about the potential dangers of AI, his recent comments suggest a more optimistic outlook.

Vitalik Buterin didn’t predict AI doomsday on Twitter recently. He’s been moving from pessimism to optimism.

In a January blog post, he mentioned AI could be a game-changer in crypto trading, as trading bots have been outperforming humans in market arbitrage for years.

“But AI arbitrage bots are only the first example of a much bigger category, which I expect will soon start to include many other applications.” 

Vitalik Buterin

AI in action

Microsoft’s success with AI, particularly in code analysis, serves as an example of the potential benefits of this technology.

Moreover, Microsoft had a great quarter, with record revenue driven by AI, including models, code analysis, and image recognition. The Microsoft Cloud alone made over $33 billion, up 24%.

CEO Satya Nadella highlighted the shift from talking about AI to actually using it at scale.