Ethereum’s new AI lead says ecosystem demand is driving AI push: Interview

The Ethereum Foundation’s new push into artificial intelligence was not part of its roadmap, but emerged in response to demand from ecosystem projects, according to new team lead Davide Crapis.

While not a direct policy shift, the move represents “another step” for the long-term success of the protocol. “Our ecosystem needs this,” Crapis told Cointelegraph.

The newly formed AI team will essentially have a foot in two main sides of the Ethereum Foundation: the protocol and ecosystem divisions. The dual focus targets product development and preparing Ethereum to onboard traditional AI developers.

“If we can show these traditional AI developers that ‘hey, there is value here, there is decentralization, it could solve some problems around alignment, verification of AI, governance of AI,’ that would be a successful path for us,” said Crapis.

Source: Davide CrapisSome AI products and services already emerging in the Ethereum ecosystem include micropayments, sometimes involving stablecoins, along with onchain identity and verification.

According to Crapis, Ethereum's dAI team will work on clarity and support in those areas. “Our plan is to actually publish a more detailed roadmap later this year, with milestones.”

The team behind the initiative will be initially formed by Crapis, an AI product manager and a member of AI staff, who will conduct research in collaboration with protocol teams.

Ethereum's move is currently based on a short-term roadmap focusing on Ethereum proposal ERC-8004, which would introduce a trustless way to discover, choose and interact with AI agents.

The proposal was co-authored by Crapis, along with MetaMask AI lead Marco De Rossi and OpenAI's Jordan Ellis.

“[The proposal] got a lot of traction very early,” Crapis said. “We feel that is something that can be very impactful already.”

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The right time for AI at Ethereum

The Ethereum Foundation announced its new AI team on Monday. According to the research scientist, the idea stems from a group of Ethereum Foundation researchers who saw potential in the ecosystem for supporting AI applications.

The Foundation isn’t the first crypto protocol to explore the AI-blockchain intersection.

Infrastructure protocol Planck launched a layer-0 blockchain for AI in July, while Kite AI introduced an AI-focused layer-1 blockchain for Avalanche in February.

Crypto AI agents started proliferating on blockchain rails in 2023. These agents can complete financial transactions and other tasks with minimal human supervision.

When asked if he considered the Ethereum Foundation a late entrant to the AI race, Crapis said he didn’t.

“I wouldn’t say it’s late,” he told Cointelegraph. “The timing feels right because people have been experimenting with AI coordination on these protocols for about two years now.”

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