Vitalik Buterin Says AI Could Make Ethereum Security Harder to Break

By Isaac • September 17, 2026 3:09 pm •

Artificial intelligence is giving attackers better tools, but Vitalik Buterin does not believe that makes the security fight unwinnable. His argument is more ambitious: the same technology can help defenders prove that software behaves the way it is supposed to behave.

In a current report on Buterin’s remarks, Decrypt detailed the Ethereum co-founder’s case for using AI-assisted formal verification across far more than a smart contract. Buterin argued that systems capable of proving difficult mathematical propositions could also help prove that software satisfies explicit security properties.

His target is the whole stack: protocols, servers, networks, databases, caches, compilers, key management, and the layers connecting them. A flaw in any one component can undermine guarantees made elsewhere,