Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed integrating artificial intelligence into decentralized autonomous organization governance to improve participation and decision quality. He argued that governance systems often suffer from limited human attention, as participants face numerous complex proposals requiring time and specialized knowledge.
Buterin suggested that personal AI assistants, such as large language model agents, could analyze proposals, infer user preferences, and cast votes accordingly while escalating high-impact decisions to the user. This approach aims to reduce reliance on delegation, which can concentrate power among a small group of active voters and weaken decentralization.
The proposal reflects broader industry efforts to address persistently low DAO participation rates, typically estimated at 15% to 25%, and growing concerns around governance centralization and attack risks. Researchers and blockchain organizations are already exploring AI-powered digital twins and automated voting frameworks. For institutional observers, the convergence of AI and onchain governance signals a potential shift toward more data-driven, scalable decision systems, while also raising new considerations around privacy, transparency, and accountability in decentralized networks.
