Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin analyzed four ways cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence can overlap, identifying potential use cases and pointing out the risks involved.
In a blog post published Tuesday, Buterin examined the use of AI as an actor, interface, rules themselves and the end goal. He pointed out that using AI as an actor within a protocol has the highest viability, while using AI as an interface to a protocol has high potential but carries some risks.
“Generally, the basic mechanics will continue to be designed roughly as before, but use cases where individual players become AIs and the mechanisms can operate effectively on a much more micro scale are the most immediately promising and easiest to execute correctly.” he said.
Buterin pointed out that the most difficult task of getting cryptocurrency and AI right will be for applications that want to create a single, trusted, decentralized AI that other applications can rely on.
“These applications have the potential for both improved functionality and AI safety in a way that avoids the centralization risks associated with more mainstream approaches to the problem,” he said. “However, there are many cases where the underlying assumptions can fail, so they deserve to be handled carefully, especially when deploying these applications in high-value and high-risk environments.”
Buterin said he expects to see more trials of constructive use cases for AI in each of these four areas and to find out which ones work at scale.
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Tim is the editor-in-chief of The Block. Before joining The Block, Tim worked as a news editor at Decrypt. He holds a BA in Philosophy from York University and studied News Journalism at Press Association Training. X Follow him at @Timccopeland.