Legendary hacker George Hotz recently made a bold claim, stating that none of your crypto assets are truly “safe.” His remark followed the release of OpenAI’s new O3 model, which supposedly discovered a polynomial-time factoring algorithm. This algorithm could potentially break the security of many cryptographic systems by enabling the factorization of large numbers. However, experts argue that it is highly unlikely for crypto security to be compromised without the advent of large-scale quantum computing, which would be a groundbreaking achievement.
Hotz shared an Axios article that highlights growing concerns among computer science students about being replaced by AI, as the O3 model has demonstrated programming abilities that already surpass most developers.
But is Hotz’s statement serious, or is it just a joke? Known for founding the self-driving car startup Comma.ai, Hotz gained fame in his youth for unlocking Apple iPhones and hacking the PlayStation 3. Despite his reputation, many in the cryptocurrency community have dismissed his warning, suspecting it to be a joke.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back has labeled the claim about the cryptographic algorithm as “highly dubious.” Some have pointed out that the Axios article doesn’t mention the algorithm at all. Back suggested that Hotz’s comments may have been a misunderstood joke, possibly aimed at the sensational headlines surrounding AI development.
