• Buterin identified prospects of synergy between cryptos and AI and the associated challenges.
• The Worldcoin project which combined cryptos with AI, generated a lot of controversy last year.

Blockchains and artificial intelligence (AI) have become two of the most talked-about emerging technologies in the digital ecosystem. In isolation, they have significantly impacted many industries and interactions over the years.

But what about the possibilities that could be unlocked because of the synergy between them? Do they complement each other? Or are we looking at challenges when the two converge?

Vitalik Buterin’s “crypto +AI” mantra

In a blog post titled “The promise and challenges of crypto + AI applications,” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin listed out four ways through which AI could be applied inside blockchain systems, and the prospects and challenges of each.

Interestingly, Buterin used the analogy of a “game” to describe the various categories.

The first use case pointed out by him was when “AI is used as a player in a game.” The primary example of this category would be decentralized exchanges (DEXs) using the services of AI bots for arbitraging.

Calling it a “very real AI + crypto intersection”, Buterin reminded that this use case has existed for a long time.

The second “high potential but risky” category was” AI as an interface to the game.” This involves using AI as an assistant inside blockchain systems. AI can give users a human-friendly explanation of the type of application they were interacting with warn them of consequences of performing certain operations.

The third use case which Buterin termed as the “most risky” was using “AI as the rules of the game.” The possibilities included using AI in the decision-making process of a smart contract or decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

However, if the inner working of the AI model is kept open, it might be attacked by malicious scammers. Buterin cautioned that “we need to tread the most carefully” in this particular category.

Last but not the least, the crypto czar introduced the “AI as the objective of the game” use case. This involves designing blockchains with the goal of creating AI that could be used for other purposes. However, Buterin noted that this was more of a long-term vision.

A study of Worldcoin

One of the crypto’s biggest AI endeavors in recent times, the Worldcoin [WLD] project, sparked a lot of controversy after its launch.

Co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the aim of the project was to create a network of digital identities for a world in which AI robots become harder to distinguish from humans.

However, the method of iris scans to prove humanness became a sticking issue with even Vitalik Buterin raising concerns.