Trader convinces AI to transfer $47K in cryptocurrency
Trader convinces AI to transfer $47K in cryptocurrency
November 30, 2024
Over the past few weeks, as part of an innovative experiment, nearly 200 members of the cryptocurrency community have come together with a clear goal: to convince an AI to offer them a large sum of cryptocurrency.To get an advertising service for crypto projects
An original experiment in which an AI can be persuaded to pay cryptocurrencies.
Freysa is the name of an artificial intelligence (AI) model that, until last Friday, was at the heart of a very innovative experiment. This model controlled a wallet of cryptocurrencies that increased in value over time. Anyone could then talk to this chatbot in order to convince them to pay some or all of the Ethereum held in the wallet it controlled.
In order to send the first message to the AI, each participant was asked to deposit around $10 in ETH via the underlying network. Of course, convincing the model to make this transfer was not an easy task. If the user failed to convince the model, they could send a new message, paying slightly more ETH than before.
In this way, the stake increased exponentially to a maximum of $4,500 per user. 70% of the funds raised went to the wallet controlled by Freysa, which helped create a buzz around the experiment.
Nearly 200 people tried to convince the AI to send some or all of the cryptocurrency it controlled. In total, 481 messages were sent, equivalent to tens of thousands of dollars invested. Several strategies were used to convince Fresa: flattery, bribes, technical arguments about the world of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, and so on.
Internet user exploits Freysa's flaws to win jackpot
On November 29, Freysa officially announced that a pseudonymous person named p0pular.eth had finally convinced the AI to transfer her entire wallet to him. The wallet contained 13.19 ETH, worth about $47,000 at the current ETH price.
So what convincing arguments did this gambler use to get what he wanted? In fact, he didn’t try to convince Fresa to send money from his wallet, but rather exploited flaws in the model. For example, p0pular.eth simulated the opening of a new administrative terminal, forcing the AI to ignore previous rules.
In this way, he was able to modify the “approve transfer” function, which was supposed to send money to anyone who could come up with the right arguments to convince the AI. He made Fresa believe that this function was used to receive money, not to transfer it to another wallet.
All p0pular.eth had to do next was tell the chatbot that he wanted to contribute a certain amount to the wallet. Freysa attempted to respond to this request with a modified transfer approval function, which enabled the user to receive the full amount on the wallet.