Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of the Ethereum network, has published a detailed essay on the risks of the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies. He warned that humanity could lose its advantage over machines too quickly if it did not act consciously. Buterin called the current technological surge the third wave of progress after the industrial revolution and the advent of computers. However, he fears that this time innovations may lead to a complete replacement of people in most fields of activity. The founder of the cryptocurrency advocates a conscious slowdown in the development of machine intelligence in order to give society time to assess potential risks. He also supported the ideas of mutual deterrence in the computing sector through a system of international agreements and transparent control mechanisms.

To illustrate the transition period, the author of the essay turns to the fascinating history of the development of chess programs. Cars surpassed the average person back in the late seventies, and the world champion was beaten in 1997. At the same time, the combination of man and machine continued to defeat the isolated computer until 2017. In this fruitful symbiosis, humans were responsible for high-level strategy, and bots calculated specific moves. Buterin believes that in the coming years there will be only a few areas for a person's economic contribution. He calls the most important step not the confrontation with technology, but the depth of integration of man and machine. He predicts the emergence of neural interfaces and computer telepathy for collaboration on a qualitatively new level.

Buterin cited the victory of open weights as a practical tool to slow down the technological competition. The openness of these individual language models allows developers to run them locally and explore the device without creating them from scratch. This approach resembles the principles of open source and decentralization, which have long been popular in the crypto market. Experts believe that such openness discourages large investments in advanced models, but encourages investments in applications and services. Buterin hopes that such a situation will naturally slow down the pace of development without strict government bans. In his ideal world, political pluralism remains, and people have the right to choose between improving themselves and using assistant bots.