The release of Mythos, an AI system designed to autonomously discover vulnerabilities in code, may do more than help blockchain developers find bugs.
As AI-powered security tools become cheaper, faster and more widely available, researchers said they could reshape what the crypto industry considers reasonable due diligence before deploying code, potentially altering expectations for developers and institutions.
For years, smart contract security has been constrained by budgets. Comprehensive audits often are costly, making AI systems like Mythos, which was briefly released earlier this month before it was removed from the American market, dramatically cheaper.
"It pushes the price of a basic audit toward zero," said Alexander Urbelis, chief information security officer at ENS Labs. Work that once required weeks and significant expense could eventually be completed in minutes, allowing projects that previously could not afford professional reviews to obtain fast security assessments.
For years, researchers have relied on automated tools known as fuzzers to hunt for software bugs by bombarding programs with inputs and observing what breaks. AI systems take a different approach.