Buterin Dismisses 50% Crash Prediction: 'Tiny' Risk of AI-Related Breaks

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has rejected a prediction that artificial intelligence could undermine confidence in Bitcoin's security and cause its price to fall by more than 50% within two years.

The prediction was made by Liron Shapira, who assigned a 50% confidence level to the forecast. However, Buterin sees things differently, citing his optimism about cybersecurity over the long term.

He believes that the main risk lies in managing the transition to a world where attackers and defenders both use increasingly capable AI systems. This could make it easier for attackers to identify vulnerabilities in node software, wallet code, mining-pool systems, or communications infrastructure.

Buterin argues that client developers and mining pools can respond to these attacks through ordinary upgrades, which would be less difficult than an emergency alteration of Bitcoin's monetary rules or transaction history. He also notes that the probability of 'actual breaks on hashes or PoW' is tiny.