AI May Be Able to Address Ethereum's Greatest Operational Concern

Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, recently expressed his optimism regarding the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in identifying and addressing vulnerabilities within Ethereum's codebase.

Source: www.ntv.com.tr

Buterin highlighted the significance of AI-powered auditing in detecting and resolving buggy code, which he considers to be one of the most significant technical risks facing the Ethereum network. These remarks from Buterin come at a crucial time for Ethereum as it approaches the launch of its highly anticipated Dencun upgrade, scheduled for March 13. While Dencun was successfully implemented on the Goerli testnet on Jan. 17, a bug encountered in Prsym resulted in a delay of four hours before the network could finalize on the testnet. Given the importance of network upgrades to Ethereum's long-term development, addressing such technical issues is paramount.

Nevertheless, there are differing opinions regarding the reliability of AI in identifying bugs within Ethereum's code. OpenZeppelin's experiments in July 2023, which utilized OpenAI's GPT-4 to identify security issues in Solidity smart contracts (the native language of Ethereum code), suggest that some caution may be warranted regarding the effectiveness of AI in this context. During these trials, GPT-4 effectively pinpointed vulnerabilities in 20 out of 28 challenges. In instances where GPT-4 missed flaws, it could often be guided to rectify its errors promptly. However, there were occasions when OpenZeppelin observed that the AI generated a vulnerability that did not exist initially.

Similarly, Kang Li, the chief security officer at CertiK, shared with Cointelegraph that the utilization of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT in coding frequently leads to the creation of more security concerns than they address. In essence, Li suggests that AI assistants should serve merely as aids to seasoned programmers, assisting in clarifying code lines swiftly. Despite Buterin's largely positive outlook on AI's future, he has previously cautioned developers to proceed cautiously when integrating AI with blockchain technology, especially in conjunction with high-risk applications such as oracles.

Disclaimer: FameEX makes no representations on the accuracy or suitability of any official statements made by the exchange regarding the data in this area or any related financial advice.