Ethlabs proposes to achieve quantum resistance and AI resistance for Ethereum by 2027

Ethlabs published an article on the Ethereum developer community forum, proposing to set 2027 as the target year for Ethereum to achieve post-quantum and post-AI capabilities, referring to this plan as "pqai27." The proposal argues that with the rapid enhancement of AI capabilities, the accelerated development of quantum computing, and the increased ability of AI models to discover software vulnerabilities on a large scale, Ethereum should prioritize strengthening the security of its underlying protocol to prepare for potential future cryptographic risks and cyberattacks.

Ethlabs pointed out that the U.S. government has advanced its target date for addressing quantum risks from 2035 to 2030, while Google plans to achieve post-quantum capabilities by 2029. At the same time, AI is solving a large number of long-standing mathematical problems and can also discover software vulnerabilities on a large scale. Ethlabs believes that although there is currently no evidence that existing cryptographic primitives will definitely be broken by AI, the associated risks are difficult to predict accurately, making it necessary to advance security upgrades proactively.

In terms of the technical roadmap, Ethlabs divides the goals into two phases: the first is "pqai-ready," which means the Ethereum consensus layer will achieve a post-quantum upgrade, allowing all users to have a path to migrate to post-quantum accounts; if existing cryptography fails prematurely, the network can still operate with reduced processing capacity. The second is "pqai-scaled," which means supporting post-quantum transactions and data availability under full network capacity, aiming for post-quantum transactions to reach the processing scale of ordinary transactions, including post-quantum signature aggregation and post-quantum data availability solutions.

To achieve this goal, Ethlabs suggests reassessing the scope of the upcoming hard fork Hegotá, reconsidering upgrades that do not belong to the critical path of pqai27. Among them, Frames and related post-quantum account proposals are still regarded as key components; FOCIL needs to be reassessed for its impact on upgrade progress and post-quantum compatibility. Additionally, Ethereum needs to choose between the post-quantum transformation of the existing Gasper consensus protocol and transitioning to a decoupled consensus. Ethlabs stated that to concentrate resources on advancing pqai27, it will withdraw the Quick Slots feature previously sought for Hegotá and plans to continue promoting this feature in 2028. The Glamsterdam upgrade and its scaling plan will proceed as originally scheduled. This roadmap remains a suggestion proposed by Ethlabs and will require further discussion and determination by Ethereum core developers.