Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin announced on Friday his separation from the Future of Life Institute (FLI) after it deviated from the initial strategy he supported when he donated Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens in 2021.

Buterin stated that the FLI initially presented a broad plan aimed at mitigating existential risks associated with artificial intelligence, biology, and nuclear threats. He expressed that this proposal motivated his donation. However, he noted that the organization’s direction has shifted toward political advocacy regarding AI risks, which he feels contrasts sharply with the original mission.

“My concern is that large-scale coordinated political efforts with substantial funding can lead to unintended consequences, provoke backlash, and address issues in an authoritarian manner, even when that was not the initial intent.”
“My concern is that large-scale coordinated political action with big money pools is a thing that can easily lead to unintended outcomes, cause backlashes, and solve problems in a way that is both authoritarian and fragile, even if it was not originally intended that way,” he wrote.

Disagreements on Current FLI Approach

The FLI’s mission is to lower extreme risks and guide transformative technologies for human benefit, with recent statements emphasizing the need for AI policies that prioritize collective welfare instead of corporate profit. While some of the FLI’s initiatives aim to implement safeguards in biosynthesis and AI models, Buterin criticized these solutions as prone to being bypassed, referring to them as ‘fragile’.

Cointelegraph contacted the Future of Life Institute for commentary but did not receive a response before publication.

SHIB Donation Impact

In 2021, Buterin was given significant quantities of SHIB and similar tokens, which people used to leverage his reputation. He later donated these funds to charitable initiatives, including the FLI. At the time of donation, he had not anticipated that the value of the SHIB tokens would soar to approximately half a billion dollars, stating, “I believed they would cash out between $10 million to $25 million, as I doubted the SHIB market could support more.”
FLI later announced a $25 million multi-year grant program funded by Buterin’s donation and the Shiba Inu community, marking a significant philanthropic impact from this cryptocurrency.