AI-powered systems are driving down the price of smart contract reviews in cryptocurrency projects, according to security researchers. The changes could raise expectations for due diligence by developers and institutions alike.
Anthropic's Mythos model, briefly released earlier this month before its removal from the American market, autonomously hunts for vulnerabilities in code. Researchers say the tool and similar systems can complete basic audits in minutes at near-zero cost, compared with the weeks and high expense previously required.
Alexander Urbelis, chief information security officer at ENS Labs, noted that machines have hunted bugs for years but now possess reasoning capacity. "It pushes the price of a basic audit toward zero," he said, adding that a clean AI report will offer no legal defense if issues arise.
David Schwed, COO of SVRN, emphasized continuous auditing and real-time remediation at a fraction of prior costs. Both experts cautioned that AI cannot replace human judgment on economic vulnerabilities or social engineering attacks, which caused losses at projects including Drift, Ronin and Bybit.
