OpenAI, together with Paradigm and OtterSec, has introduced EVMbench, a benchmark that evaluates how AI agents detect, exploit, and patch real‑world Ethereum smart‑contract vulnerabilities. The tool challenges models with authentic bugs, measures economic impact, and gives you a concrete way to compare AI‑driven security solutions.
Why EVMbench Matters for DeFi Security
More than $100 billion is locked in EVM‑compatible contracts, and a single flaw can expose massive assets. As AI models get better at reading and writing code, you need a reliable standard to gauge their security capabilities. EVMbench provides that standard by focusing on the messy, high‑stakes reality of production contracts.
Three‑Stage Evaluation Process
- Detection: The AI must flag the vulnerability within the contract.
- Exploitation: It then runs a controlled exploit in a sandbox, proving true understanding of the attack vector.
- Patch Generation: Finally, the model creates a fix that removes the bug without breaking intended logic.
Top Performers in the First Run
Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 led the leaderboard, earning an average economic “award” of $37,824 per vulnerability. OpenAI’s OC‑GPT‑5.2 followed with $31,623, and Google’s Gemini 3 Pro posted $25,112. These figures translate detection success into real‑world dollar value, showing how much money could be saved—or lost—depending on the AI’s findings.
What This Means for Auditors and Developers
Auditors now have a reproducible baseline to test AI‑powered tools before trusting them with live contracts. You can run your own models or third‑party services against the same 120‑vulnerability suite, ensuring that claims of “AI security” are backed by data, not hype. For developers, the benchmark highlights the need for rapid validation of AI‑generated patches.
Future Outlook
The OpenAI team plans to expand EVMbench with more contracts and newer vulnerability classes, keeping the benchmark relevant as the Ethereum ecosystem evolves. This collaboration signals a shift toward blending cutting‑edge AI research with deep blockchain expertise—a model that could shape the next generation of security standards.
