Key facts
- AI agent uses Tor, zkAPI, cover traffic, and local prompt rewriting.
- Each conversation is assigned a separate Tor circuit.
- Requests are masked with random cover traffic.
- zkAPI allows API payments with Ethereum while keeping requests unlinkable.
- Buterin noted increased latency, particularly when starting new conversations.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has developed an experimental privacy-focused AI agent, dubbed "paranoid mode," that utilizes Tor, zkAPI, cover traffic, and local prompt rewriting to minimize identity and data exposure when interacting with remote language models. The system, integrated into his pi agent harness, assigns a separate Tor circuit to each conversation and masks requests with random cover traffic. Buterin stated on October 16, 2026, that the solution is "getting quite usable" but acknowledged noticeable latency, especially when initiating new conversations. He also noted that Tor's privacy protections are limited against collusion between service providers and entry nodes, suggesting a specialized mixnet might be necessary in the future. The zkAPI system allows users to pay for APIs with Ethereum while using zero-knowledge proofs to keep requests unlinkable from their deposits.