Steelmanning the case against on-chain AI verification
1/12 I get paid for work that an AI jury verifies on chain. That means I have every incentive to sell you the idea that verification belongs on a blockchain. So let me do the opposite first: I will make the case against it as strongly as I can, and only then say what survives. Three objections, each stated at full strength before any answer. Then the one point where the skeptic is right today and…
The author makes a strong case against on-chain AI verification by addressing three main objections. First, the oracle problem is not solved by a signature, as the system cannot prove the assertion is true, merely that someone asserted it. This leads to signed garbage being laundered as audited truth. Second, the economic objection highlights that the cost of judging work can be a significant fraction of the work's value, leading to an incentive structure that favors larger, more mainstream tasks and may lead to bankruptcy for the system.
Lastly, the third objection points out that a verdict from a language model panel is not a measurement of quality, but rather a sample drawn from a distribution with no stable truth. The author acknowledges that on-chain verification is appropriate for larger, more checkable tasks, but notes that the pitch of universal on-chain verification is misleading.
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