Claim · 2025-01-05 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

Buterin's post of 5 January 2025 states that, if he were convinced that something more "muscular" than liability rules is needed, he would favour a global "soft pause" capability on industrial-scale hardware so that the transition could be slowed on warning signs.

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

d/acc: one year later → contests → Accelerate rather than restrain

Where it appears

Machine succession, scale and acceleration: propositions in located texts, 1979–2026 →

Claim and evidence

d/acc: one year latercontests ↓Accelerate rather than restrain

Machine-checkedStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 2025-01-05 · publication Records dated 2025 →
Role: Contesting
Register (kind of text): Nonfiction
Engagement: States the contrary. It proposes a capability to slow AI hardware on warning signs, and contrasts its position with "be an e/acc, but decentralized", without arguing against a stated premise of acceleration.

Scope and limitsA conditional proposal for a capability to slow AI at a critical moment, which the post calls a temporary stopgap; it does not call for slowing AI now.

The evidence 02

primary sourceSupports the claim

d/acc: one year later

Author's site (vitalik.eth.limo) · 2025-01-05

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“If I was convinced that we need something more "muscular" than liability rules, this is what I would go for.”

Location in source Section "Strategy 2: Global "soft pause" button on industrial-scale hardware"

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-11-01

Source details and check notes

Authors: Vitalik Buterin
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 4499e156d0dd0f77e7db58f9b6886482d71cd06fa24b7812b91cb2eb8fd41964). post dated "2025 Jan 05", as served on 2026-10-31.
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-31
Language: English (en)
Attribution: Vitalik Buterin, “d/acc: one year later”, 2025-01-05.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (20 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. No human editorial review.

primary sourceSupports the claim

d/acc: one year later

Author's site (vitalik.eth.limo) · 2025-01-05

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“if we get warning signs that near-superintelligent AI is starting to do things that risk catastrophic damage, we will want to take the transition more slowly.”

Location in source Same section

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-11-01

Source details and check notes

Authors: Vitalik Buterin
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 4499e156d0dd0f77e7db58f9b6886482d71cd06fa24b7812b91cb2eb8fd41964). post dated "2025 Jan 05", as served on 2026-10-31.
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-31
Language: English (en)
Attribution: Vitalik Buterin, “d/acc: one year later”, 2025-01-05.
Reuse: No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution.
Check notes: Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (26 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. No human editorial review.

Status and meaning

Editorial status. Machine-checked. Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.

Relation. A passage of the document disputes the proposition or a premise it depends on. The record documents the text’s position, not who is right.

Date. Date of posting.

Record ID ht-w08-buterin-2025-dacc-one-year-later