Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin praised Shiba Inu for its role in helping his new PhD Fellowship fund happen.
The Vitalik Buterin PhD Fellowship in AI Existential Safety will support eight students in funding their AI existential safety research, for up to $50,000 in total.
Here’s a closer look at what Buterin said.
Vitalik Buterin Thanks Shiba Inu
Through the Future of Life Institute, Vitalik Buterin has now funded eight PhD fellows at universities in the UK, US, Germany, and Switzerland in researching AI.
In the fellowship announcement, the institute said: “We believe research today will help us better prepare for and prevent such potentially negative consequences in the future, thus enjoying the benefits of AI while avoiding pitfalls.”
Replying to the reveal on Twitter, Buterin praised the Shiba Inu community for its role in this fellowship.
“Big thanks to the Shiba Inu community, whose cryptocurrency made these fellowships possible,” he said.
The post was shared and celebrated across the Shiba Inu community, with Shytoshi Kusama replying “Quite welcome fren!”
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Buterin did not disclose how exactly SHIB helped make this fellowship possible. However, based on his past relationship with the token, we can speculate it comes from the mass amount of SHIB given to Buterin when it first launched.
While he burned over 410 billion SHIB, contributing massively to the now popular SHIB burns, he set aside some SHIB for other projects. This included the India Crypto Covid Relief Fund, for example. It is possible some SHIB was sold to fund this fellowship, although this is just speculation for now.
However, Shytoshi may have given this suggestion some backing in the Shiba Discord server. “We changed the world with the first burn to his wallet and subsequent donation,” he said. “It's inspiring to be part of such a powerful movement and community and now brand.”