Hi!

I'm working on human superintelligence by accelerating brain-computer interfaces, aka bci/acc.

Details: Artificial superintelligence is coming soon. We need a competitive substrate. Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are the most pragmatic path. Therefore, we need to accelerate BCI capabilities and take them to the masses.
    How do we make it happen? We’ll need cognitive-enhancement killer apps for the consumer, to grow market demand, which in turn drive BCI evolution. The net result is human superintelligence.
    bci/acc draws on today’s technologies without requiring big scientific breakthroughs. It’s solarpunk: optimistic and perhaps a little gonzo. And it could be a grand adventure for Humanity.
    We're incubating bci/acc inside Ocean Protocol. Our work combines neurotech, AI, data engineering, and protocols.

Bio (Short)

I've been programming since I was a kid. I've worked on creative AI (1997-2008), AI to drive Moore's Law (1998-2014), early NFTs (2013-2016), decentralized AI (2016-now), and bci/acc (2024-now). I learn, build, and write aiming for high impact. My goal is for humans to have agency in a world of artificial superintelligence.

Bio (Longer)

I started my career by doing AI research for national defense in 1997 & 1998, while still an undergraduate. My supervisor was Dr. Henry Leung (PhD under Geoff Hinton). Here's the papers: [1][2].

Then, in my first startup (ADA), we applied AI to analog circuit design: creative topology synthesis, and large-scale circuit optimization. We started work on ADA in 1998; Synopsys acquired ADA in 2004.

I extended the analog synthesis work in my PhD at ESAT-MICAS, KU Leuven, Belgium from 2004-2008. My supervisor was Dr. Georges Gielen (PhD under Willy Sansen). For my PhD, I found a way to solve the problem of AI hallucinations in creative engineering design. Here's the book: [PDF][Springer version].

In my second startup (Solido), we leveraged large-scale AI for statistical verification of custom circuits, and ultimately to help drive Moore's Law itself (via major foundry customers). Here's the book: [PDF][Springer version]. Since about 2010, Solido software has been used for most modern chip designs. We started work on Solido in 2004; by 2010 we were profitable; Siemens acquired Solido in 2017.

In 2013, I co-invented NFTs and brought them to market with the ascribe platform (and a new company of the same name). We were too early to market, so in 2015-2016 we pivoted to building a large-scale decentralized database, BigchainDB.

By late 2016, I saw how blockchain could help AI. In 2017, we launched Ocean Protocol, to help AI researchers acquire more data. Over the years, we shipped the world's first decentralized data market (Ocean Market), the first decentralized & tokenized access control (Ocean core), and the first decentralized prediction feeds (Predictoor).

Since Since the early 2010s, I'd been asking "how do humans retain agency in an age of ASI?" and similar Q's; I saw BCI as part of the answer and had given short descriptions of how. In 2024, I published bci/acc, my first thorough description on it. The answer: leverage non-invasive portable BCI, max out the bandwidth, and bring it to the masses via killer apps. A bci-powered "third hemisphere" grows our minds from shacks to skyscrapers. In 2025, I formed a team within Ocean Protocol Foundation to build this. The tech got amazing, and the team grew. In fall 2026, we spun out from Ocean as Xtropi. "bci/acc" is our manifesto. Data scale and data flywheels play a large role. Big things are brewing:)


Recent Writings

Until the mid 2010s, I did a lot of technical academic writing (books, papers). Since then, it's been more blog posts. Here are some highlights.

NeuroAI and The Merge

AI, Data Flywheels and Data Markets

AI Swarms, Sovereign AI, and Blockchains

Long-Term Civilization & Technology

NFTs

Token Engineering

Consensus


Past Projects

  • PhD in EE from KU Leuven, Belgium. Awarded #1 thesis worldwide in the field. 2004-2008
  • BE EE and BsC CS from U Saskatchewan, Canada. Awarded #1 final year thesis. 1994-1999
  • Did ML research for Canadian Department of National Defense. 1997, 1998
  • Wrote 2 Books [1,2] on AI/ML, circuits and creativity. Also 35 Papers and 20 Patents on AI/ML [details]. 2004-2012
  • Member of Advisory Group for the e-Residency team of the Government of Estonia. 2016-2019
  • Informally advised Germany, Netherlands, Estonia, and other governments about blockchain & AI strategies. Including public discussions (e.g. this). 2015-2020
  • Ambassador to AI XPRIZE. 2018-2023
  • Member of Advisory Board of Lifeboat Foundation 2020-ongoing
  • Organizational Advisor of California Institute of Machine Consciousness (CIMC) 2026-ongoing
  • Startup/project advisor. Including: Balancer, SingularityNET, Binance Accelerator, Oasis. 2000-ongoing
  • Keynotes & invited talks. Examples: NASA, Stanford, MIT, Columbia, Berkeley, Santa Fe Institute, Jet Propulsion Lab, Sony, Nvidia, Samsung, Foresight Institute, TedX. 2001-ongoing
  • Co-organized workshops on AI/ML and circuits [e.g. 1,2,3,4] 2009-2013. TPC / reviewer for many conferences & journals [e.g. 1,2,3,4,5] 2005-2015. Lecturer at Data Science Retreat [link]. 2014-2016
  • Organized meetup "Singularity Meets Self Improvement" [link]. 2013-2016
  • Created & maintained TokenSPICE token simulator, 2020-2023
  • Member of MetaCartel Ventures, 2020-2024
  • Co-organized Berlin ML meetup 2014-2022
  • More past projects: painting, BCI hacking, hypnosis, video game programming, surfing.
  • Raised in a pig farm in Canada, hacking away on cold winter nights. Wrote a 3D CAD tool, a wordprocessor, and dozens of games.