Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggests that Artificial Intelligence (AI) could play a crucial role in tackling one of Ethereum’s “biggest technical risks”: deep-seated bugs in its code. In a post on February 18th on X, Buterin shared his excitement about leveraging AI to identify and fix code flaws within the Ethereum network.
Buterin’s remarks come as Ethereum is nearing the completion of the long-awaited Dencun upgrade, scheduled for March 13th. Dencun had been deployed on the Goerli testnet on January 17th, but a bug in Prsym prevented the network from completing on the testnet for four hours. The upgrade is pivotal for Ethereum’s long-term roadmap.
However, not everyone agrees that AI is a reliable tool for detecting bugs in Ethereum’s code. In July 2023, OpenZeppelin conducted a series of tests using OpenAI’s GPT-4 to identify security issues in Solidity smart contracts—the native language of Ethereum’s code. In these tests, GPT-4 successfully identified vulnerabilities in 20 out of 28 challenges.
While Buterin is optimistic about AI’s future, he has previously cautioned developers to be careful when deploying AI with blockchain technology, especially when deploying it alongside “high-risk” applications like oracles.