Ripple CTO shuts down XRP conspiracy theory from ChatGPT

Published at: Dec. 6, 2022

Ripple’s chief technology officer has responded to a conspiracy theory fabricated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT, which alleges the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is somehow being secretly controlled by Ripple.

According to a Dec. 3 Twitter thread by user Stefan Huber, when asked a series of questions regarding the decentralization of Ripple’s XRP Ledger, the ChatGPT bot suggested that while people could participate in the governance of the blockchain, Ripple has the “ultimate control” of XRPL.

Asked how this is possible without the consensus of participants and its publicly-available code, the AI alleged that Ripple may have “abilities that are not fully disclosed in the public source code.”

At one point, the AI said “the ultimate decision-making power” for XRPL “still lies with Ripple Labs” and the company could make changes “even if those changes do not have the support of the supermajority of the participants in the network.”

It also contrasted the XRPL with Bitcoin (BTC) saying the latter was “truly decentralized.”

However, Ripple CTO David Schwartz has called the bot’s logic into question, arguing that with that logic, Ripple could secretly control the Bitcoin network as it neither can be determined from the code.

If it's final argument is that Ripple Labs "may have" some secret way to control the XRP Ledger that cannot be determined from the public code, why not argue that Ripple Labs "may have" some secret way to control the bitcoin blockchain that cannot be determined from the code?

— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) December 5, 2022

The bot was also shown to contradict its own statements in the interaction, stating that the main reason for using “a distributed ledger like the [XRPL] is to enable secure and efficient transactions without the need for a central authority,” which contradicts its statement that the XRPL is managed centrally.

Related: Ripple files final submission against SEC as landmark case nears end

ChatGPT is a chatbot tool built by AI research company OpenAI which is designed to interact “in a conversational way” and answer questions about almost anything a user asks. It can even complete some tasks such as creating and testing smart contracts.

The AI was trained on “vast amounts of data from the internet written by humans, including conversations” according to OpenAI and warned because of this some of the bot's reponses can be “inaccurate, untruthful, and otherwise misleading at times.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said upon its release on Nov. 30 that its “an early demo” and is “very much a research release.” The tool has already seen over one million users according to a Dec. 5 tweet by Altman.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also weighed in on the AI chatbot in a Dec. 4 tweet saying the idea that AI “will be free from human biases has probably died the hardest.”

Of all the optimistic 00s era takes, "AI will think logically from first principles so it will be free from human biases" has probably died the hardest. https://t.co/5rz33AEgKb

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) December 4, 2022
Tags
Technology
Blockchain
Xrp
Ripple
Twitter
Ai
Related Posts
MoneyGram launches USDC settlement using the Stellar blockchain
Financial services company MoneyGram International has partnered with the Stellar Development Foundation to enable consumers to send money using Circle’s popular stablecoin, USD Coin (USDC), and convert directly to and from fiat. Per a Wednesday announcement, MoneyGram has integrated support allowing crypto wallets connected to the Stellar Network to access its global retail platform. Working alongside Circle, MoneyGram will also enable “near-instant backend settlement,” account funding and local fiat withdrawals using the USDC stable token. United Texas Bank will act as the settlement bank to complete the process within the regulatory framework. “As crypto and digital currencies rise in prominence, …
Adoption / Oct. 7, 2021
Why Santander Doesn’t Want to Use Ripple for International Payments Yet
Santander, the large scale Spanish bank and one of Ripple’s major partners, is still hesitant to adopt XRP as part of its international payment network, One Pay FX. The company reasoned that the token “was not actively traded in enough markets” to support the company’s banking needs. During an interview with the Financial Times, Cedric Menager, chief executive officer of One Pay FX, explained that Santander wants to provide the “best [user experience] as quickly as possible.” He also said that the bank hopes to “operate in as many currencies and corridors as possible from the beginning.” Ripple clarified that …
Adoption / Aug. 13, 2020
wXRP to launch on the Ethereum blockchain in December
If all goes to plan, Wrapped XRP (wXRP) will be coming to the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain next month, courtesy of Wrapped.com. The move is meant to enable XRP holders to interact with aspects of decentralized finance, or DeFi, such as executing smart contracts for use in borrowing and lending, swapping for altcoins, via their native tokens. Currently, the network can only handle sending, receiving, and holding XRP. Wrapped tokens are digital currencies stored in a digital vault and run on a separate blockchain. Notable wrapped tokens include Wrapped Bitcoin, which operates on the Ethereum blockchain, and Wrapped Ethereum, which converts …
Technology / Nov. 3, 2021
'Overtime, we will see the NFT market broaden,' says Ripple’s CTO David Schwartz
Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have been dominating the crypto market this year. With sales topping over $2.5 billion during the first half of 2021, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that both the crypto community and mainstream creators are launching NFTs in hopes of driving revenue and engagement. The rise of the Metaverse has also pushed the adoption of NFTs, demonstrating the value of nonfungibles for major brands and social media platforms alike. While NFT sales soar, the Ethereum blockchain continues to rule the space. For instance, a recent report from Cointelegraph Research found that Ethereum represented at least 97% …
Adoption / Nov. 6, 2021
Ripple files final submission against SEC as landmark case nears end
The most talked about crypto lawsuit involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ripple is approaching its conclusion after a two-year-long battle. On Dec. 2 the SEC and Ripple both filed redacted replies to each other’s opposition to motions for summary judgment. Ripple argued in its motion document that the SEC has failed to prove that its offering of XRP between 2013 and 2020 was an offer or sale of an “investment contract” and therefore a security under federal security laws. Ripple concluded the document by stating that “the court should grant Defendant’s Motion and should deny …
Blockchain / Dec. 5, 2022