Whooooaaaaa, sci fi twist that actually might be viable.
There are already quite a number of ai projects in the eth network.
They are all to monitor market conditions and to work with bots to execute trades.
Some of these are programmed with an algorhythm to adapt to market conditions over time.
In a way, I guess you can say it is programmed to learn.
If it really does get to a skynet type future, actually networks like the eth network is how it would be done.
It can be stopped because it is open source and distributed.
It can independently execute transactions, and if that transaction involves ai than it can indefinitely grow in an automated state.
Of course, the currently existing ai isn't anywhere near having programming that is sophisticated enough to enable independent ai learning.
Eventually it will get there, and whether that gets put on the blockchain, who knows?
I guess we have to count on eth scaling terribly to save us all lol.
I believe that Ethereum needs to scale first before it could become the "Skynet" of the future. Once Ethereum can reach millions of TPS at a cheap cost, then smart contracts could execute without much effort. With the recent AI projects that are being worked on ETH, there's a huge possibility that Ethereum could become the Skynet of the future. Remember, that Ethereum will become virtually unstoppable by then since it will operate on millions of devices worldwide. Relying on blockchain technology, it would require 51% of the network's hashrate (or supply of coins if switched to PoS) to disrupt the ETH network.
Given that hashrate is increasing every day, and ETH's price is rising, it'll be practically impossible to stop it. Imagine if someone develops a fully-functional AI within the Ethereum blockchain. Such AI would be unstoppable as it would be running if the required "GAS" is met. The same way smart contracts operate as intended and are censorship resistant, I believe that an AI within the Ethereum blockchain would do the same (it sounds terrifying but it's the true reality unfortunately).
Then, it would be complete chaos in our world as Ethereum becomes the Skynet of the future, since it will be able to control from IoT devices, to drones, robots, and even the market. Just my thoughts