Ethereum's Co-founder Vitalik Buterin Urges Prudence in Merging AI with Blockchain
Summary:
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum co-founder, advises developers to proceed with caution when combining AI and blockchain technology, particularly in high-risk and high-value contexts such as prediction markets or stablecoins. He believes using AI in mechanisms like prediction markets and crypto wallet interfaces could be beneficial, but cautions against relying solely on AI interfaces due to potential error risks. Buterin also warns that open-source AI models, while offering flexibility, are prone to attacks, while closed-source AI models lack transparency. Developing a decentralized AI that other applications could use is the chief challenge, Buterin concludes.
Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has issued a cautionary message to developers merging artificial intelligence (AI) with blockchain technology. In a blog post dated January 30, Buterin disclosed his predominant apprehensions about AI, advising developers to tread wisely, particularly when introducing new applications in contexts where high risk and high value are involved. He elucidated, "Excessive care is required if one develops, for instance, a stablecoin or a prediction market utilizing an AI oracle. If the oracle proves susceptible to attack, a large sum of money could vanish almost instantly."
Buterin further explained that the area where AI demonstrated the greatest viability was its ability to engage in mechanisms like prediction markets on a micro-scale – a task that would be impossible for human beings. AI could also find application in making crypto wallet interfaces user-friendly by explaining transactions, verifying signatures, or identifying scams. Buterin, however, cautioned that using merely AI interfaces could be potentially perilous because the chance of encountering other types of errors would increase, although AI complementing a conventional interface is increasingly becoming a plausible idea.
Buterin believes the riskiest scenario would be utilizing AI to enforce crypto systems' rules or governance. Open-source AI models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks as malicious individuals can scrutinize their code and tailor attacks against them. While closed-source AI provides a certain degree of security through ambiguity, it furnishes no insight into its functioning or guarantees that it is impartial, added Buterin.
The crypto startup Worldcoin, related to OpenAI, operating on closed-source AI, is a case in point. Buterin clarifies that this startup is based on the idea of eschewing any simple call into the AI model and opts for trusted hardware instead. Buterin stated the creation of a decentralized AI using crypto and blockchain that other applications could use posed the most formidable challenge. Implementing cryptographic techniques and blockchains to build a single, decentralized, trusted AI for some applications to depend upon for a specific objective presents both prospective functionalities and opportunities to advance AI safety, circumventing the risk of centralization associated with mainstream solutions to the same problem. Buterin concluded that the fundamental presumptions underlying these applications could fail in numerous ways.
Published At
1/31/2024 7:21:15 AM
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