Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argues that advanced artificial intelligence will shift the advantage in cybersecurity toward defenders by proving software security as a mathematical theorem. He advocates for the formal verification of entire programs, including databases, networking and caching layers, to move beyond the traditional method of scanning for individual vulnerabilities. Buterin posits that if AI can solve complex mathematical theorems, it can similarly validate that a program satisfies specific security properties.

The transition toward formally verified code is the strategic direction for Ethereum over the next few years to support scalability and privacy. Buterin holds about 90% of his net worth in cryptocurrency, which he describes as an implicit bet that the field will become naturally defense-favoring. He states that verifying high-level security definitions is a more tractable task than scanning implementation code directly.