Blockchain technology在过去几年的公共和私营部门的原因有很多已经发生的兴奋 - 为通常被称为智能合同自动执行合约突出的一个是支持。但是，尽管聪明的合同要简化许多业务流程的潜力，全自动化是不是在可预见的未来很可能随时随地。
"Smart contracts are a combination of some certain binary actions that can be translated into code and some reference to plain language like we have today that is open to litigation if you mess up," says Antonis Papatsaras, CTO of enterprise content management companySpringCM，专门从事合同工作流程自动化。“我认为这将永远走。”
智能合约的历史开始与自动售货机
Computer scientist Nick Szabo proposed the phrase "smart contracts" in 1994, describing it as a "computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract." He further elucidated the idea in his 1997 paper,Formalizing and Securing Relationships on Public Networks：“聪明的合同背后的基本想法是，多种合同条款（如抵押物，粘接，界定产权，等等）可以嵌入在硬件和软件，我们处理，以这样的方式，以使违约为破障合同昂贵（如果需要的话，有时令人望而却步）“。
Szabo suggested that the humble vending machine should be considered a primitive ancestor of the smart contract. It takes in coins, in exchange for which it dispenses product and change according to the displayed price.
“自动售货机是承载的合同：任何人只要有硬币可以参加与供应商交流，”他写道。“的锁箱等安全机制保护存储硬币和内容从攻击，足以让在各种各样的领域的自动售货机的盈利部署。”
The smart contract Szabo described would be a significant leap beyond that, capable of embedding "contracts in all sorts of property that is valuable and controlled by digital means."
Blockchain makes smart contracts smarter
这些日子以来，blockchain技术 - 安全，分布式总账，可以保证数字交易的完整性 - 已成为一个平台，使可行的（智能合同虽然不无hiccups).
Essentially, smart contracts are executable code that act only when specific conditions within the blockchain are met. This allows a blockchain to automate activity like payment transfers when a task is completed, or even a partial payment when a milestone is achieved.
This has the potential to blow the doors off in areas like licensing and digital rights management. In the music industry, for instance, performers, songwriters, producers, publishers and labels could all hold rights to a particular track in various percentages. In many cases, those rights are described in a contract (or numerous contracts) locked in a drawer somewhere. When an entity seeks to license a track, determining who holds what rights can be a nigh insurmountable task. Several blockchain-based services have proposed creating a centralized ledger of digital rights that would automate the process, immediately distributing payment to all rights-holders in the correct percentages whenever a transaction occurs.
The problem, as Papatsaras describes it, is that unlike vending machines, most contracts aren't binary. Consider, for example a service-level agreement (SLA) in which a service provider declares that it will make every reasonable effort to restore service in the event of an outage.
“现在试着翻译成代码，” Papatasaras说。“试图找出什么触发赔付或违反合同，那是很难的条款。在现实，人的角度，我可以停止支付，并把你告上法庭，而不是，而自动合同将代替支付。”
“我不认为你永远不会创建智能的合同，将覆盖的使用情况100％。”他补充道。“我不认为人类，至少在未来10到15年，对于非二进制交易，将被从合同过程中消除。一旦合同到位的约定，那么也许这用来交易涉及法律纠纷将通过减少歧义被淘汰“。
Fully automated smart contracts may be pie-in-the-sky for now (at least in areas that can't be reduced to binary transactions) in Papatsaras' view, but even partial automation with smart contracts can pay huge dividends.
“我认为，随着物联网和越来越多的设备，我们将进入我们的工作场所和家庭，甚至汽车互联网，智能合同将成为真正的生活在几年内，”他说。“我们正在缩小差距有技术，它依赖于人类，并移动到下一个步骤，这是技术本身写入之间。”
在此期间，Papatsaras相信聪明的合同生命周期管理杠杆机器学习将在法律领域唾手可得。
“获取合同批准并签署达成交易是每一个销售周期的一部分，但它可以拖上什么永远看起来，”他写. "There are a number of variables that can cause delays, including losing track of where the contract is; content clarity; compliance with the organization's practices; confusion about the most recent version; interdepartmental politics and bureaucracy."
"The common factor causing all this havoc: humans," he adds.
CRM就是答案
His answer? Contract management software that integrates with your customer relationship management (CRM) platform and includes a clause library based on clauses that have been tested in past litigation.
"Imagine you're a corporation and you're creating a new contract with one of your suppliers," he says. "That contract has a paragraph or clause (which will be written in code in the future), that has led you to litigation in the past. Some human is entering that clause into a contract without the historical understanding that this clause is going to put your organization at risk. Now imagine you have contract management software that can understand the meaning of the contract, compare it with learning and data that you have within your business from previous business and encounters with vendors and alert you and automatically substitute language to reduce the risk to your business."
这个故事，“为什么聪明的合同不能完全自动化的”最初发表CIO .