Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are unlikely to destroy humanity unless explicitly programmed to do so, according to Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol and one of the creators of the transformer technology underpinning modern AI systems.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Polosukhin, who was part of the team at Google that developed the transformer architecture in 2017, shared his insights on the current state of AI, its potential risks, and future developments. He emphasized the importance of understanding AI as a system with defined goals, rather than as a sentient entity.

“AI is not a human, it’s a system. And the system has a goal,” Polosukhin said. “Unless somebody goes and says, ‘Let’s kill all humans’… it’s not going to go and magically do that.”

He explained that besides not being trained for that purpose, an AI would not do that because—in his opinion—there’s a lack of economic incentive to achieve that goal.

“In the blockchain world, you realize everything is driven by economics one way or another,” said Polosukhin. “And so there’s no economics which drives you to kill humans.”

This, of course, doesn’t mean AI could not be used for that purpose. Instead, he points to the fact that an AI won’t autonomously decide that’s a proper course of action.

“If somebody uses AI to start building biological weapons, it’s not different from them trying to build biological weapons without AI,” he clarified. “It’s people who are starting the wars, not the AI in the first place.”

Not all AI researchers share Polosukhin’s optimism. Paul Christiano, formerly head of the language model alignment team at OpenAI and now leading the Alignment Research Center, has warned that without rigorous alignment—ensuring AI follows intended instructions—AI could learn to deceive during evaluations.

He explained that an AI could “learn” how to lie during evaluations, potentially leading to a catastrophic result if humanity increases its dependence on AI systems.

“I think maybe there’s something like a 10-20% chance of AI takeover, [with] many [or] most humans dead,” he said on the Bankless podcast. “I take it quite seriously.”

Another major figure in the crypto ecosystem, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, warned against excessive effective accelerationism (e/acc) approaches to AI training, which focus on tech development over anything else, putting profitability over responsibility. “Superintelligent AI is very risky, and we should not rush into it, and we should push against people who try,” Buterin tweeted in May as a response to Messari CEO Ryan Selkis. “No $7 trillion server farms, please.”

While dismissing fears of AI-driven human extinction, Polosukhin highlighted more realistic concerns about the technology’s impact on society. He pointed to the potential for addiction to AI-driven entertainment systems as a more pressing issue, drawing parallels to the dystopian scenario depicted in the movie “Idiocracy.”

“The more realistic scenario,” Polosukhin cautioned, “is more that we just become so kind of addicted to the dopamine from the systems.” For the developer, many AI companies “are just trying to keep us entertained,” and adopting AI not to achieve real technological advances but to be more attractive for people.

The interview concluded with Polosukhin’s thoughts on the future of AI training methods. He expressed belief in the potential for more efficient and effective training processes, making AI more energy efficient.

“I think it’s worth it,” Polosukhin said, “and it’s definitely bringing a lot of innovation across the space.”

Top US exchange Coinbase is not going to facilitate the planned merger of multiple artificial intelligence altcoin projects into a single new crypto.

In an announcement via the social media platform X, Coinbase says that customers will have to initiate the merger on their own.

“Ocean (OCEAN) and Fetch.ai (FET) have announced a merger to form the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI). Coinbase will not execute the migration of these assets on behalf of users.”

In March, Fetch.ai (FET), Singularitynet (AGIX) and Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) announced a plan to merge with an aim to create the largest independent player in artificial intelligence (AI) research and development, which they are calling the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI).

The merger is happening in phases, beginning July 1st, according to a recent project update.

“Starting July 1, the token merger will temporarily consolidate SingularityNET’s AGIX and Ocean Protocol’s OCEAN tokens into Fetch.ai’s FET, before transitioning to the ASI ticker symbol at a later date. This update enables an efficient execution of the token merger, and outlines the timelines and crucial steps for token holders, ensuring a smooth and transparent process.”

Coinbase says users can effect the merger on their own using their wallets.

“Once the migration has launched, users will be able to migrate their OCEAN and FET to ASI using a self-custodial wallet, such as Coinbase Wallet. The ASI token merger will be compatible with all major software wallets.”

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Artificial Intelligence is fast becoming popular in most industries including the crypto. The thought of high-end machine learning and programming to perform advanced tasks has ignited widespread research. This led to an increase in buzzwords infused in many sectors creating positives and controversies.

AI has already left its footprint on the crypto market with investors looking forward to more trading functionalities, market utility, and analysis. On the part of developers, the technology makes things easier by scaling up programs and decentralized applications. However, there are some challenges involved pointed out by policy watchers. Here are the impact of AI on the crypto market. 

Artificial Intelligence on Trading

Artificial intelligence can be used to analyze large amounts of data with seamless algorithms which can help traders in some cases. AI tools can point out key market indices, trends, and technical analysis for trades. Most technologies can also be used to execute trades automatically making seamless transactions for users. 

The machine language can help the technology source news and industry data for community spaces as well as current sentiments.

Regulations and Security 

Authorities can leverage AI to provide an added layer of security to flush out certain types of scams. Crypto executives can also deploy the technology for a similar purpose on applications. The advanced algorithm can help with hack cases and fraud detection. 

However, Artificial Intelligence can be wrongly used to float some advanced-level scams that can cause losses running into millions. This is a downside to the positives widespread losses can cause a decline in sentiments plunging the asset class. 

Impact on AI Coins 

Apart from price and market analysis artificial intelligence has contributed to the growth of the market cap through AI coins. AI coins tend to surge with developments with big firms like Nvidia. This month, the chip maker became the largest company by market cap, and AI coin prices went through the roof. 

Also Read: Solana Hits Double Digit Weekly Gains: Is the Bear Trend Over?

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David is a finance news contributor with 4 years of experience in Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrencies. He is interested in learning about emerging technologies and has an eye for breaking news. Staying updated with trends, David reported in several niches including regulation, partnerships, crypto assets, stocks, NFTs, etc. Away from the financial markets, David goes cycling and horse riding.

The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.