Ethereum Foundation Launches Decentralized AI Team

One of Ethereum’s core developers announced the formation of a new AI team, which plans to increase the ETH ecosystem’s accessibility for this sector. A major update may come out by November.

In the long run, this team wants to build a future for open, “censorship-free” decentralized AI development. Ethereum’s technical contributions could make it a huge player in this space.

Ethereum’s AI Initiatives

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has been actively changing in response to dramatic tensions this year, opening new governance structures and various technological experiments. Today, one of Ethereum’s core developers announced another new project, as he will begin spearheading an AI team:

According to Davide Crapis, this team will focus on enabling a greater AI economy on Ethereum’s blockchain. That includes allowing AI agents to coordinate financial transactions without middlemen and similar functions. This will hopefully secure the blockchain’s position in this growing economy.

The team has a short-term goal: release ERC-8004, “a standard for proving who an AI agent is and whether you can trust it,” on ETH’s blockchain by November. This will allow the standard to have a well-publicized launch at Devconnect in Argentina.

The Bigger Picture: Guardrails and Pitfalls

Zooming out a little, Crapis wants Ethereum to play a crucial role in decentralized AI (dAI) development. The sector is currently led by a few capital-intensive firms, which could cause serious practical problems if one fails.

Even if they succeed, though, this centralized model is antithetical to crypto’s leaderless ethos. Ethereum’s new team is determined to create open and “censorship-resistant” models as part of a decentralized AI Stack. This ambitious goal will take more time, but it has significant possibilities.

Still, outside observers shouldn’t develop too grandiose of ideas about AI on Ethereum. Vitalik Buterin, the blockchain’s founder, recently warned about the dangers of giving these agents too much unfettered control:

“Native AI governance is a bad idea. If you use an AI to allocate funding for contributions, people WILL put a jailbreak plus ‘gimme all the money’ in as many places as they can,” he claimed via social media.

All things considered, though, this could be huge. Ethereum is one of the crypto industry’s largest blockchains, and its entry into the AI sector could guarantee a decentralized future in the long run.