Ethereum research nonprofit Ethlabs has formally proposed moving Ethereum’s post-quantum security upgrade forward to 2027, two years earlier than the Ethereum Foundation’s existing December 2029 target. The plan, called pqai27, was published on the Ethereum Magicians forum and argues that artificial intelligence is accelerating both quantum computing and cryptographic risk timelines.
Ethlabs cited the U.S. government’s shift from a 2035 quantum-risk goal to 2030 and Google’s aim to complete its post-quantum transition by 2029. The group defined the upgrade around two phases: pqai-ready, where consensus is post-quantum and users have a quantum-resistant account path while capacity may be limited, and pqai-scaled, where the network runs at full capacity with post-quantum transactions and data availability.
“Being post-quantum is not enough; we intend on being post-AI too,” Ethlabs wrote. It said post-AI security means cryptography with as few assumptions as possible and clients hardened against AI models that find bugs at scale, supported by formal verification and Ethereum’s client diversity. The group also pointed to AI solving hundreds of open mathematics problems and identifying roughly 1,000 Linux vulnerabilities.
To meet the timeline, Ethlabs will withdraw its Quick Slots proposal from the upcoming Hegotá upgrade and redirect resources to quantum security. It said frame transactions, known as EIP-8141, should remain a priority because they can help Ethereum accounts adopt alternative, quantum-resistant signature methods. FOCIL should proceed only if it does not interfere with the security deadline. On consensus, Ethlabs identified two paths: modifying the existing Gasper system or adopting decoupled consensus. It named EIP-8288 for signature aggregation and EIP-8479 for quantum-resistant data availability as necessary for full capacity, noting co-founder Vitalik Buterin has previously supported EIP-8288.
The plan has not yet been approved by Ethereum core developers, and it would require reassessing priorities across upcoming hard forks after Glamsterdam. Ethlabs, founded earlier this year by former Ethereum Foundation researchers, acknowledged it does not take the Quick Slots withdrawal lightly but argued that committing now is cheapest and would help Ethereum remain a credible decentralized root of trust.
