Former Ethereum core developer Eric Connor believes that Ethereum could play a pivotal role in solving AI’s current issues with centralization and lack of transparency. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on April 15, he stated that Ethereum’s smart contracts, decentralization, token economies, and micropayment infrastructure make it a strong candidate to support ethical and accountable AI development.
Connor pointed out that while AI is transforming society, it’s plagued by black-box models, centralized data silos, and privacy concerns — problems that Ethereum’s transparent and decentralized architecture can help solve. He emphasized that smart contracts could allow for verifiable training data and model transparency, addressing the secrecy prevalent in big tech.
Despite expected resistance from major AI firms, Connor said the demand for fair, secure, and transparent AI is growing — and Ethereum is well-positioned to meet that demand due to its ethos of openness and trust minimization.
Ethereum is also becoming important in the rise of agentic AI — autonomous AI agents that can interact with blockchain data and smart contracts — enabling new decentralized applications beyond finance.
Connor left the Ethereum core team in January to focus on AI, but remains bullish on Ethereum’s role in AI’s decentralized future.
