Hut 8 co-founder Marc van der Chijs has warned that the race to develop artificial intelligence between companies and nations has accelerated to a point beyond human control, increasing the risk of shocks to financial systems and critical infrastructure.
The crypto pioneer, who has sold much of his bitcoin to invest heavily in AI, said the technology’s rapid progress could have consequences reaching far beyond the businesses developing it.
“We have lost control,” van der Chijs said, arguing that competition among countries and companies had driven AI development faster than people could manage effectively.
He believes AI and robotics could eventually carry out between 90% and 95% of existing jobs. Such a shift, he said, would dramatically reduce costs but also create a major challenge for governments, which would need to find alternative sources of revenue as fewer people worked in traditional roles.
Possible measures could include taxes on robots or charges linked to the use of AI, according to van der Chijs.
His own investment strategy has changed as the technology has advanced. Much of his capital has moved from bitcoin into AI, and he now favours AI data centres over bitcoin mining.
Despite that shift, van der Chijs continues to regard bitcoin as the best asset to hold for life. Growing concerns about the wider impact of AI have also been accompanied by a move to put some of the profits from his AI investments back into crypto.
The warning comes as AI development continues to be shaped by competition between businesses and nations. Van der Chijs said that race had helped push the technology beyond a level at which its progress could be fully controlled, creating potential vulnerabilities for essential infrastructure and the banking system.
He expects the combination of AI and robotics to transform employment and the cost of carrying out work. The scale of that change, he said, could leave governments needing to reconsider how taxation works if machines perform most existing jobs.
Van der Chijs’ preference for AI data centres over bitcoin mining reflects his broader shift towards artificial intelligence, although his long-term confidence in bitcoin remains unchanged.
