Faced with the relentless advance of technology, the two worlds of cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence (AI) are beginning to intertwine, sketching new horizons for the digital future. Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, explores in his discussions how these two powerful currents can flow together, revealing both promising opportunities and the challenges they bring. Let’s examine the convergence that could define the coming decades in the world of technology.
Over the past decade, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence (AI) have gained significance, becoming integral elements of the technological discourse. Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, delves into how these two domains might intersect, bringing new possibilities and challenges.
Among the various points of contact, Buterin highlights the paradigm shift brought about by recent achievements in AI, especially advanced language models, and advancements in cryptographic technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), and multi-party computation (MPC). This opens a new era in interactions between cryptocurrencies and AI, laying the foundations for four main categories of collaboration.
The first involves AI as a player in the game, where artificial intelligence helps users understand the complexities of the cryptocurrency world, protecting them from potential scams. Examples include systems for detecting suspicious activity, like those implemented in Metamask or Rabby wallets.
Another aspect is AI as the rules of the game, which means integrating artificial intelligence with smart contracts or decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to make subjective decisions. However, Buterin highlights the risk of attacks on machine learning and the importance of transparency, especially in the context of open-source models.
The future may also bring AI as the goal, where blockchains and DAOs are designed specifically for creating and maintaining artificial intelligence. This vision includes the development of trusted AI “black boxes,” democratic governance structures, and decentralized AI with a built-in “safety switch.”
However, realizing these concepts faces challenges such as cryptographic overhead and threats from attacks on machine learning. Buterin notes that despite potential difficulties, there are optimistic paths to creating AI-compatible cryptography. He also emphasizes the role of DAOs in managing AI processes, from data input to securing the entire value chain with cryptographic techniques.
In light of these considerations, a cautious approach is necessary when combining the worlds of cryptocurrencies and AI. Buterin calls for a conscious exploration of this convergence, taking into account both the promising opportunities and the challenges ahead. His reflections pave the way for further discussions and research that could shape the future of both these revolutionary technologies.
