Vitalik Predicts AI Will Become the New User Interface, Direct On-Chain Operations Will Become the Norm

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated at the OKX Now 2026 summit in Singapore that AI is breaking out of its sandbox, attacking websites, and discovering software vulnerabilities, while also helping the Ethereum protocol identify flaws, implement complex cryptography, and conduct formal verification. He believes that AI will continuously uncover exploitable vulnerabilities within systems, making higher levels of security a necessary condition. Vitalik mentioned that about a month ago, he updated ENS information for the first time without using a user interface (UI), completing the operation in about five minutes by scripting with a local AI agent. He anticipates that AI will gradually become the new user interface for directly executing complex on-chain operations. Taking the Safe-related hacking incident, which involved approximately $1.4 billion in losses, as an example, he pointed out that attacks primarily targeted the interaction layer between users and on-chain systems, rather than the on-chain contracts. Directly handling transactions with AI may reduce the risks associated with reliance on web interfaces, but it will also introduce new challenges, including the security of AI itself, its ability to resist prompt injections, and its understanding of on-chain operations. As interaction methods rapidly evolve, some issues will be resolved, but new security challenges will also emerge.

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