Sam Altman's OpenAI unveils ‘EVMbench’ to test whether AI can keep crypto’s smart contracts safe

OpenAI is stepping deeper into crypto security with the launch of EVMbench, a new testing framework designed to measure how well artificial intelligence can understand and potentially secure smart contracts on Ethereum and similar blockchains.

Smart contracts, self-executing code deployed on blockchains like Ethereum, underpin decentralized exchanges, lending protocols and a wide range of onchain financial applications. Because these contracts are typically immutable once deployed, vulnerabilities can be serious.

EVMbench is OpenAI’s attempt to see whether modern AI systems are up to the task of helping prevent those issues. Built in collaboration with crypto investment firm Paradigm, the benchmark draws on real-world smart contract vulnerabilities previously uncovered through audits and security competitions.

The system measures performance across three core abilities: identifying security bugs, exploiting those bugs in a controlled environment and fixing the vulnerable code without breaking the contracts.

OpenAI says the goal is to establish a clear standard for evaluating AI systems in blockchain security, especially as decentralized finance continues to secure billions of dollars in user funds. The stakes for smart contracts are only rising.

“Smart contracts routinely secure $100B+ in open-source crypto assets. As AI agents improve at reading, writing, and executing code, it becomes increasingly important to measure their capabilities in economically meaningful environments, and to encourage the use of AI systems defensively to audit and strengthen deployed contracts,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post.

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