Vitalik Buterin Touts Ethereum’s Strength, Sets AI Event

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin on Thursday highlighted the blockchain network's robust fundamentals, calling them “crazy strong” before expounding on artificial intelligence.

"Ethereum's fundamentals have become crazy strong right now," Buterin said, pointing to recent developments like adopting a rollup-centric roadmap that he believes has largely solved the blockchain's scalability challenges.

In a wide-ranging Spaces discussion on X (aka Twitter), he also unveiled plans for a defensive accelerationism-themed day focused on AI at the upcoming Devcon conference in Bangkok.

Defensive acceleration, referred to as d/acc, is a term Vitalk coined last year to describe a more cautious approach to AI development. It was positioned in contrast to the "effective accelerationist" view that pushes to advance technology faster to realize its benefits more quickly.

During the conversation, Buterin outlined plans for a “d/acc discovery day” at Devcon in November.

"The big picture vision behind all of this is basically that we want to see a world that is both simultaneously safer and one that continues to be more open, more cooperative," Buterin explained.

He outlined several key focus areas for the upcoming program, including cyber defense, "info defense" against misinformation, biodefense, and physical resilience. 

Buterin also emphasized the importance of developing these technologies in a decentralized manner rather than relying on centralized authorities.

"We're not just going to be talking about the crypto things,” he said. “We're also talking about secure operating systems... community notes... robust and open and even privacy-preserving financial layers.”

He said the d/acc discovery day will feature speakers from various fields, including AI, biotech, and cryptography. 

Buterin expressed hope that the event would help people from different spaces realize that "we're actually part of the same team" in working towards a safer yet more open world.

The discussion also touched on challenges facing the crypto industry, with some participants critiquing the current state of user experience and governance models. 

However, Buterin and other participants emphasized that Devcon would be an opportunity to address these issues and push the ecosystem forward.

As Devcon approaches, Buterin called for active participation in shaping the direction of technological development: "We need active human intention to choose the directions that we want."