TL; DR
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Vitalik Buterin (or ‘ETH Daddy’ as he is affectionately known here at W3D), simply did an AMA where he discussed two particularly interesting questions related to AI.
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His biggest fear is: “The risk that crypto stagnates, issues such as privacy and open internet infrastructure become lost.”
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In particular, he is thinking about: “AI-related issues” (noting the existential risks posed by advances in AI); and “how/if the Ethereum community could engage with it productively.”
Full story
Vitalik Buterin (or ‘ETH Daddy’ as he is affectionately known here at W3D), simply did an AMA hosted on an app built on the decentralized social protocol, Farcaster.
During the meeting, he was asked two particularly interesting questions regarding AI.
1. “What are you most concerned about for the future of Ethereum?”
“The risk that crypto stagnates, things like privacy and open internet infrastructure are lost.”
Translation: ETH Daddy is concerned that possibly the most important innovation in Web3 technology – the blockchain – is becoming irrelevant.
In this case, the data remains owned and monetized by a few major players; and blockchain technology will forever be known as “a solution in search of a problem.”
2. “What do you think about most of the time?”
“AI-related issues” (noting the existential risks posed by advances in AI); and “how/if the Ethereum community could engage with it productively.”
Translation: The power of AI is not lost on ETH Daddy and he believes it poses a real risk to the future of humanity.
One risk he believes a decentralized protocol (like Ethereum) can play a big role in solving is a system that allows people to prove they are actually human.
This is our opinion: While we admit that Web3 has a branding problem (due to a number of bad actors over the past fourteen years), there are two main use cases that remain: cryptocurrencies and smart contracts.
What most people seem to have forgotten during this bear market is that cryptocurrencies have a direct impact on the financial system.
And most innovations that directly impact the consumer economy (cheques, ATMs, credit cards, PayPal) tend to stick around until something better comes along.
As for NFTs (which are powered by smart contracts), they are fun for consumers right now, and due to the nature of blockchain technology, they will continue to exist whether users like it or not.
Although we can’t say for sure what the future holds Ethereumwe strongly believe that Web3 technology is here to stay.
If anything, AI should help and not hinder Web3 innovation, but maybe that’s just us.