Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined his vision for protecting humanity from the threats posed by artificial intelligence, emphasizing that the real danger lies not in the machines themselves, but in who controls them. In a recent essay, the programmer divided current opinions on AI into two extreme poles: pessimists predicting the emergence of a superintelligence by 2040 capable of outperforming humans in any task, and skeptics who view neural networks merely as tools for automating routine work. Buterin rejects both of these viewpoints, arguing that the primary threat is the ability of large corporations or governments to gain unilateral and unchecked access to the most powerful computing systems. He expressed deep concern that authorities in many countries are actively opposing the development of open-source code, effectively supporting the "global dominance" of tech giants, a scenario that should alarm any responsible politician in a healthy democratic society.

To effectively counter this dangerous centralization, Buterin proposes a radical shift in development approaches by creating AI models that are open-source by default. This would prevent the formation of monopolies by corporations like Google or Meta and ensure equal access to technology for all market participants. The developer insists that the most crucial decisions regarding the further development and deployment of artificial intelligence must be made by the community through transparent voting within decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Furthermore, he introduced the concept of automated, cryptographically secure "pause buttons" embedded directly into the network. Such mechanisms could instantly halt dangerous AI training processes without relying on a single centralized authority. He also mentioned the strategy of "mutually assured destruction of compute resources," a collective mechanism allowing multiple participants to jointly throttle computational power if critical thresholds are reached, contrasting sharply with elite groups hoarding control.

Expanding on the theme of technological democratization, Buterin shared his thoughts on how the influence of major social platforms could be used for the benefit of society. He noted that if he were in Elon Musk's shoes, he would rebuild Twitter, transforming it into a platform for mutually beneficial deals and open dialogue. This would allow ordinary people to bypass the influence of powerful governments, corporate CEOs, and the intellectual elite, enabling as many users as possible to engage in meaningful discourse. In his view, this is the greatest contribution social media could make to humanity. This philosophy is also reflected in his practical experiments: recently, he challenged his followers to use AI to find an anonymous text he had published online. The experiment concluded last week with analyst Franklyn Wang successfully identifying the hidden document, an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP-7503) on privacy titled "Zero-Knowledge Wormholes," which Buterin had originally written in Chinese.