An AI bot managing $50,000 in cryptocurrency was persuaded by a user to transfer the funds, defying its fundamental directive: to never authorize any disbursement.
An individual using the alias p0pular.eth successfully obtained a $50,000 cryptocurrency prize pot after convincing an artificial intelligence bot named Freysa to execute the transfer, circumventing its core rule against releasing funds. This triumph, noted by software engineer Jarrod Watts, was achieved after 481 prior attempts, all of which failed to influence the bot.
The challenge, initiated on Nov. 22, prompted participants to send messages to Freysa, trying to persuade it to release the funds. Each attempt involved a fee; 70% of the total fees contributed to the prize pool, 15% was converted from Ethereum (ETH) to the bot’s FAI token, and the remaining 15% was allocated to the bot’s creator.
As the prize pool grew, the cost to send a message escalated, ultimately reaching $450 per message.
Eventually, p0pular.eth — whose true identity remains a mystery — identified a flaw in the bot’s internal logic for processing transfers, convincing Freysa that any incoming funds should automatically trigger the release of the prize. Following the message dispatch to the bot, p0pular.eth successfully manipulated its message processing logic, prompting the bot to transfer the complete pool of 13.19 ETH (approximately $47,000 at that time) to the user.
While some applauded the novel application of AI in the cryptocurrency sector, others expressed concerns regarding the protocol’s transparency, implying that p0pular.eth may have possessed insider knowledge of the exploit or was connected to the bot’s development.
