Ethereum co-founder Vitalik says work could extend to 2040 or even 2050 without AI
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated in an interview with Balaji Srinivasan at the Network State Conference 2026 on October 9 that AI has become a crucial factor in advancing the Lean Ethereum roadmap.
He mentioned that according to the current roadmap's goals and ambitions, without AI, related work could extend to 2040 or even 2050; currently, AI can participate in a large amount of research and code development, significantly accelerating the progress of the entire roadmap.
Lean Ethereum is described by Buterin as a multi-year reconstruction that nearly replaces all major components of the protocol, comparable in scope to the Merge in 2022, involving recursive STARKs, automated formal verification, optimized consensus, and quantum safety.
Hegota is expected to be the last "normal" fork, after which work will shift to more complex cryptography and verification mechanisms; Buterin previously pointed out that key aspects like formal verification have only become feasible with modern AI tools.
This statement elevates AI from an optional tool to a critical variable in whether the roadmap can be completed in an acceptable timeframe; development resources and attention are shifting from purely human research to AI-assisted coding and verification, benefiting from tools and teams that can accelerate protocol iteration, while facing long-term delay risks without AI assistance.
The interview also covered AI's role in cryptography, formal verification, and future interaction methods, highlighting AI's dual role in protocol security and efficiency.
Source: Public information
ABAB AI Insight
Vitalik has transitioned from an early Ethereum designer to continuously leading the long-term roadmap, recently positioning Lean Ethereum as a significant protocol reconstruction following the Merge, and publicly incorporating AI as a key factor in accelerating research and coding.
In terms of capital and technological pathways, AI tools are being used for formal verification, cryptographic research, and code development, shortening a timeline that could have extended to 2040-2050; the motivation is to balance ambitious goals (quantum safety, privacy, scalable state, etc.) with the speed of real-world delivery.
Similar cases include other large open-source protocols or cryptographic projects that have long relied on human effort due to complexity, later accelerated by AI tools for formalization and optimization; currently, we are at a stage where AI can significantly contribute to research and coding, but system-level state management remains challenging.
Essentially, this represents a technological substitution and reconstruction of development productivity: shifting the research and implementation of protocol upgrades from pure human time constraints to AI-assisted acceleration, compressing the roadmap completion time from decades to a more feasible timeframe; value shifts from purely human input to effectively utilizing AI's verification and coding capabilities.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
Without AI, ambitious roadmaps could turn into plans for 2040; with AI, they have a chance to be realized in a shorter time.
Formal verification and complex cryptography have transitioned from "only human effort" to "AI is necessary for feasibility."
The speed of protocol upgrades now depends on whether tools can compress the time for research and coding.