Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Founder of Atari, Chuck E Cheese.
LinkedIn | X

AI in Education : Amplified Intelligence through Games
Nolan Bushnell

Artificial intelligence and game-based learning are converging and transforming education by making learning more efficient, personalized, and engaging. This talk will discuss how AI-driven adaptive learning systems can improve knowledge retention and problem-solving by tailoring content to individual learners.


Drawing from his vast and storied experience in both video games and educational technology, Bushnell will explain how gamification, real-time feedback, and AI-driven pattern recognition enhance learning outcomes. He will break down the key mechanics that make games effective learning tools and how these principles can be applied to education.


This talk will provide insights for educators, technologists, and innovators looking to use AI to improve educational methods and outcomes. Bushnell will explore the future of AI in learning and how interactive technology can better support cognitive development.

About Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell is a pioneering engineer and entrepreneur, best known as the founder of Atari, Inc. and the creator of Chuck E. Cheese's. In 1972, he co-founded Atari, revolutionizing the video game industry with the release of Pong, one of the first commercially successful arcade games.


In 1977, Bushnell established Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre, merging dining with arcade entertainment, which became a nationwide family destination. Over his career, he has founded more than 20 companies, including Catalyst Technologies, one of the first business incubators, and Brainrush, an educational software company leveraging game-based learning.


A recognized industry visionary, Bushnell has been inducted into both the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame. He is also known for Bushnell’s Law, which states that great games should be "easy to learn and difficult to master."


Bushnell’s work has left a lasting impact on the gaming, technology, and entertainment industries, shaping interactive experiences for generations.

Cryptographer, Harvard University Professor
Website

AI and Trust
Bruce Schneier

Trusting a friend and trusting a service are fundamentally different. The former is personal and intimate, while the latter is impersonal and can scale to all of human society. The companies behind the current generative AI systems are poised to exploit that difference. Their intimate conversational nature will cause us to think of them as friends when they are actually services, and trusted confidants when they will actually be working against us. Like much of the internet, these systems will collect our personal data behind our backs and try to manipulate our behavior. Enabling trust in AI systems will require two things. The first are foundation models that are not controlled by corporations and the profit motive. The second is government regulation of the industry. Democratic governance is how we create social trust in our society.

About Bruce Schneier

Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a "security guru" by the Economist. He is the New York Times best-selling author of 14 books -- including A Hacker's Mind -- as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter Crypto-Gram and blog Schneier on Security are read by over 250,000 people. Schneier is a fellow at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, a Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and AccessNow, and an advisory board member of EPIC and VerifiedVoting.org. He is the Chief of Security Architecture at Inrupt, Inc.

Founder, Mimik, Edge AI Expert
LinkedIn | Mimik

The 5th Element: Operationalizing the Agentic Economy
Fay Arjomandi, Mimik

This talk explores the transition to conscious, dynamic systems and business models in the era of intelligence. By rethinking how workflows, compute, and context flow seamlessly, we move beyond the band-aid approach of containerized apps forced to orchestrate. Instead, we embrace dynamic, natural, adaptive continuums that form the foundation for equitable, scalable, and sustainable agentic ecosystems. Highlighting the diversity of AI, expanding beyond LLM-generated responses from a single vendor to a butterfly effect triggered by events that transcend the physical world and flow across the digital realm to achieve meaningful outcomes. This approach establishes Knowledge-as-a-Service (KaaS) business models as the cornerstone of future value creation, unlocking the full potential of the agentic economy.

About Fay Ajromandi

Fay Arjomandi is the Founder, CEO, and Board Member of mimik, a pioneering hybrid edge cloud company. She previously served as CEO of NantMobile and Vodafone xone, leading digital health, AI, and innovation initiatives. A serial entrepreneur, she co-founded three technology startups, including Mobidia and mimik. Fay holds multiple patents in telecommunications, edge computing, and mobile networks. Recognized as a Top 20 Canadian Tech Titan (2022) and Edge Woman of the Year (2020), she is a Forbes Technology Council member and advises startups and enterprises on digital transformation. A sought-after global speaker, she is passionate about digital equity and decentralized cloud technology. Fay holds a B.A.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University and has worked across North America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Open Source Author, Editor of Linux Journal
LinkedIn | Website

Personal vs. Personalized AI
Doc Searls

Your AI should be as personal as your pants, your car, and your PC. It should be yours and not a suction-cup on the tentacle of a corporate giant. We don't have that yet, but we will, And when we get it, the greenfield will be infinitely large—unless we settle for the personalized kind. Doc will explain the difference and how we can make sure personal AI wins.

About Doc Searls

Doc Searls is a journalist, author, and leading figure in the open source movement, serving for 24 years as an editor for Linux Journal, finishing as editor-in-chief. He is co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, and author of The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge, both of which have inspired pioneering open source development efforts, including Kwaai, which he serves as Chief Intention Officer.

Open Source Evangelist, Security Advocate at Intel
LinkedIn | More SCALE22x Talks

The Freedom to Create: Open Source Frameworks as the Foundation of Personal AI
Katherine Druckman, Intel

In an era where generative AI technologies are rapidly transforming our digital landscape, open source frameworks have emerged as crucial guardians of innovation, interoperability, and individual autonomy. This talk will demonstrate how community-driven development approaches are essential to ensuring that AI remains accessible, adaptable, and aligned with human values.

As proprietary AI ecosystems continue to expand, the risk of vendor lock-in and data centralization threatens the personal nature of our relationship with technology. We will show how open source frameworks provide the necessary counterbalance by enabling transparency, fostering collaboration, and preserving user choice in how AI systems are deployed and utilized.

We will explore open source projects, including OPEA (Open Platform for Enterprise AI), and illustrate how organizations can help foster an ecosystem where AI development remains democratized and responsive to diverse needs rather than limited by single-vendor solutions. Join us as we demonstrate practical pathways toward a future where AI augments human potential through freedom of choice, meaningful control, and unwavering respect for personal boundaries.

About Katherine Druckman

Katherine Druckman is an Open Source Evangelist at Intel, where she enjoys sharing her passion for a variety of open source topics. She currently combines her enthusiasm for software security and emerging AI technology as the OPEA Security Working Group Lead and Co-Chair of the OpenSSF Marketing Advisory Council and Developer Relations Community. She is a long-time open source advocate, developer, and podcaster, and is currently the host of Open at Intel and co-host of the FLOSS Weekly and Reality 2.0 podcasts. Previously, Katherine spent over a decade at Linux Journal.

Operationalizing Solutions: From Microservices to Agentic
[Hackathon Workshop Keynote]
Michel Burger, Mimik

This workshop explores the transformative journey from microservices to fully operationalized agentic solutions. In this session, Michel Burger, CTO of mimik, dives into the challenges of traditional cloud-centric AI, such as latency, privacy risks, and scalability issues, and introduces the concept of agentic AI at the edge. Michel explains how mimik’s Hybrid Edge AI enables devices to operate as autonomous agents, performing local execution, contextualization, AI-to-AI communication, and dynamic choreography. Participants will discover how mim OE empowers developers to deploy microservices effortlessly, enabling secure, offline-first, and self-organizing AI systems. This workshop is a deep dive into the tools and principles required to build agile, scalable, and intelligent edge solutions that reshape the future of AI.

About Michel Burger

Michel Burger is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at mimik Technology Inc., where he leads the development of hybrid edge cloud and agentic AI solutions. With extensive experience in edge computing, cloud architecture, and IoT, Michel has been at the forefront of transforming traditional cloud-based AI into scalable, decentralized, and autonomous systems.


In his work, Michel focuses on solving challenges such as latency, privacy risks, and scalability limitations in AI. He champions Hybrid Edge AI, enabling devices to act as autonomous agents that perform local execution, AI-to-AI communication, and dynamic self-organization. Under his leadership, mimik’s hybrid edge platform empowers developers to deploy secure, offline-first AI systems that redefine the future of computing.


As an active thought leader and technologist, Michel shares his expertise on microservices, edge AI, and agentic architectures, helping businesses and developers build agile, intelligent, and scalable AI ecosystems.

AI Workforce That Thinks and Works Like Humans
[Hackathon Workshop Keynote]
Katelyn Pucci, Personal AI

In this workshop, Katelyn will share her insights into API-driven AI integration, helping developers optimize their workflows and leverage Personal AI’s technology to its full potential.

About Katelyn Pucci

Katelyn is an AI Integration Engineer passionate about creating seamless, efficient workflows using APIs and automation. With a strong background in operations and marketing, she excels at building strong client relationships and implementing tailored AI solutions that drive results. At Personal AI, Katelyn ensures that AI integrations work flawlessly within client systems—if something isn't functioning as expected, she’s the first to fix it.

A Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure for AI agents
[Hackathon Workshop Keynote]
David Grantham, Cryptid Technologies

This talk explores a new design for maintaining portable and verifiable key histories that enable secure key updates creating a self-healing p2p PKI system. This is perfectly aligned with autonomous AI agents that need to do cryptographic operations and maintain a key history and stay up-to-date on the keys of other agents and oracles. Come bend your brain for 20 minutes and learn about new breakthroughs in key management.

About Dave Grantham

Dave is a 30 year veteran of open source projects focused on privacy, security, and decentralization. He has worked on Second Life, Tor Project, Firefox, Hyperledger, and various applied cryptography projects. His recent research in decentralization opens up new possibilities in self-healing peer-to-peer networks that exist without any fixed infrastructure. He is currently the CEO of Cryptid and the libp2p Community Architect.


Kasm On-Demand AI workspaces
[Hackathon Workshop Keynote]
Jaymes Davis, KASM Workspaces

This workshop will explore how Kasm Workspaces leverages containerized environments to provide secure, scalable, and instantly accessible AI development platforms. This session will demonstrate how on-demand cloud-based workspaces streamline machine learning, data science, and research workflows while enhancing security, collaboration, and resource efficiency.

About Jaymes Davis

Jaymes Davis is a seasoned and visionary product leader with over 25 years of experience in the computer industry, specializing in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and composable enterprise architecture. As the Chief Technical Evangelist at Kasm Technologies, he leads the product strategy and innovation team that delivers cutting-edge solutions for secure and scalable remote work environments.

Personal AI Speakers

Companion Intelligence: Powered by your Digital Memory
Liam Broza, Companion Intelligence

The ability to retain, understand, and act on personal data is key to building truly intelligent assistants. In this talk, Liam Broza introduces Companion Intelligence, a platform that leverages Digital Memory to give users control over their data while enabling AI-powered deep personalization and contextual awareness. He will explore the evolution of Companion Intelligence, its role in shaping embodied AI agents, and provide a demo of how these systems can enhance productivity, security, and autonomy in the digital world.

About Liam Broza

Liam Broza is an engineer and multi exit founder in AI and XR. Notable projects include Ethereal Engine, BitScoop Labs, LifeScope and Laguna Labs. Companion Intelligence originated from project LifeScope in 2015 with the goal of building an open platform for anyone to personal digital memory database. In 2019, the LifeScope Time Machine was released to give anyone access to global travel into their history through AR and VR. In 2020 Laguna Labs founded Ethereal Engine with a core community of WebXR engineers building the most powerful 3D web engine. After exiting Ethereal Engine to Infinite Reality in 2024. Liam restarted the dream of Companion Intelligence and is now offering CI Private Servers allowing individuals and businesses to use personal private agents with confidence, trust, and control.

Kwaai Personal AI Assistant Vision and Roadmap
Greg Spektor, Kwaai

As AI evolves, the need for truly personal, user-controlled AI is more critical than ever. This talk will provide an in-depth look at the Kwaai Personal AI Assistant, outlining its core vision, technological foundation, and development roadmap.


Greg will discuss the challenges of building an open-source AI ecosystem, the importance of privacy and autonomy in AI design, and the key milestones ahead. Attendees will gain insight into how Kwaai is redefining AI ownership, empowering individuals to control their data while leveraging AI’s full potential. The session will also explore opportunities for developers, contributors, and organizations to participate in shaping the future of personal AI.

About Greg Spektor

Greg Spektor is a program management leader, Six Sigma Greenbelt, and AI product strategist with expertise in engineering, product delivery, and operational process re-engineering. With a background in finance and organizational transformation, he specializes in driving efficiency, aligning KPIs with business goals, and advising C-suite leaders on execution strategies.


Currently serving as Product Team Lead at Kwaai, Greg is spearheading the early-stage vision and MVP definition for the Kwaai Personal AI Assistant, helping establish rigorous product management processes in an open-source AI environment. His skill set spans agile methodologies, budget oversight, stakeholder engagement, and delivery excellence, making him a key player in advancing scalable and efficient AI solutions.

pAI Hackathon for Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery
Jon Connors, Kwaai

As Personal AI technology advances, its potential applications extend far beyond convenience—transforming emergency response, and real-world problem-solving. This talk explores Kwaai’s ongoing work and developing use cases for how pAI can empower individuals, institutions, and communities through intelligent, decentralized AI systems that prioritize privacy, autonomy, and adaptability.


Jon will highlight the work of the Personal AI Hackathon focused on emergency response and fire resilience, where pAI can assist in real-time decision-making, disaster communication, and situational awareness. Leveraging offline-capable, distributed AI, first responders and affected communities can access critical information and coordination tools without being overly reliant on fragile infrastructure services.

About Ruth Rassool

Ruth Rassool is a COC and UCLA Alumna. Her degrees focus on literature, particularly British, American, and Comparative. Ruth has incorporated GenAI into her course content by participating in Kwaai’s Beta project. Integrating Penny, the Virtual Teacher’s Assistant, as a resource for students has refined the course content and given students 24/7 access to relevant material. When she is not teaching at College of the Canyons, Ruth Rassool enjoys being at home in Santa Clarita or traveling - especially back to England; she is an English English instructor

About Jon Connors

Jon Connors, founder of restore-a-thon, brings together developers and AI enthusiasts to create solutions for real world social challenges. Through these high-energy hackathons, he helps technologists leverage artificial intelligence for action and policy innovation. Connors also co-founded Tax Free Gains, a startup tax advisory and serves as an AI advisor to early-stage startups, combining his passion for technology with sustainable business growth.

AI Research Speakers

Graph/RAG Frameworks for Accurate Drug Side Effect Retrieval in Large Language Models
Dr. Diego Galeano, Kwaai

Drug side effects are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, highlighting the need for improved detection and analysis methods. Large language models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful tools for generating human-like text. Yet, their knowledge is limited by black-box training data, they are prone to hallucinations, and they often lack domain-specific knowledge. Here, we propose two architectures integrating domain knowledge about drug side effects into a Llama 3-8B Language Model through Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and GraphRAG. Our extensive evaluations on 21,765 associations between 1,106 marketed drugs and 3,903 unique side effect terms show that GraphRAG achieves an accuracy of 99% in drug side effect retrieval. This suggests that our framework could be useful in providing accurate information on drug side effects in the context of Large Language Models.

About Diego Galeano

Dr. Diego Galeano is a Machine Learning Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Nacional de Asunción (FIUNA) in Paraguay. Dr. Galeano’s research focuses on developing machine-learning models for applications in drug discovery and medicine. He has contributed to studies on predicting drug side effects and developing ML frameworks for pharmacological countermeasures on the impact of space radiation on human health.

Making AI Faster with State Space Models
Daryle Serrant, Kwaai

State Space Models (SSMs) are emerging as a powerful alternative to the transformer-based architectures that dominate today's language models, offering greater efficiency and scalability for modern AI applications. This talk explores how SSMs are transforming AI by reducing computational overhead while maintaining strong performance. Attendees will gain insights into the fundamental principles of state space models, their real-world applications, and the cutting-edge research being conducted at Kwaai to further enhance their capabilities.

About Daryle Serrant

Daryle Serrant is a research scientist at Kwaai and a seasoned software engineer and data science professional with over 12 years of experience working on software development, analytics, and AI projects for startups and large tech companies. He is also an educator and course author on Generative AI and Data Analytics, sharing his expertise with professionals and aspiring learners worldwide.

Technical Learnings of Building Distributed and Decentralized AI
Balaji Lakshmanan & Brian Ragazzi, Kwaai

AI systems created and maintained by open-source communities are a natural counterbalance to corporate-owned AI systems. Similarly to SETI@Home, everyone can take some of the unused computing time on their devices, and contribute to a larger system. In this case, it forms a decentralized fabric to replace the storage and computation currently requiring expensive cloud resources from corporate providers.

About Balaji Lakshmanan

Balaji Lakshmanan is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Studiobit.io, driving innovation in cloud-based conferencing and live-streaming technologies. With over 20 years of experience, he has earned four patents for his work on cloud switch architectures and ultra-low latency audio/video systems. His expertise spans AI integration, cybersecurity, digital transformation, and global project execution, making him a key player in delivering scalable, future-ready solutions.


Balaji is also a key advisor to Kwaai, where he developed the Lumi in early 2024, the first Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-assisted agent designed to answer questions about Kwaai. Over the past two years, he has shared his expertise through podcasts, volunteer efforts, and LinkedIn content exploring AI advancements and prototyped use cases. Currently focused on AI-infused workflows, Balaji leverages this experience to design systems that enhance enterprise efficiency, automate processes, and drive innovation across industries.

About Brian Ragazzi

Brian Ragazzi is a technology leader, entrepreneur, cloud architect, and distributed systems engineer specializing in data management, AI/ML security, and privacy. With a deep background in mathematics and computing, he has led critical initiatives in AI, cloud infrastructure, and distributed systems across multiple industries.


As Distributed Systems Lead at Kwaai, Brian focuses on building decentralized AI training and inference systems with an emphasis on privacy, security, and performance. Previously, he has held key roles at companies and systems integrators architecting cloud-native solutions, automation frameworks, and AI-driven platforms, including a provably accurate medical technology infrastructure.


A passionate advocate for open-source technology, Brian co-founded the San Fernando Valley Linux User Group (SFVLUG), fostering a community of engineers, developers, and technology leaders. His commitment to AI and real-time computing dates back to SCALE5X in 2007, where he and his team demonstrated an AI-powered real-time voice agent—a testament to his long-standing contributions to the field.

AI Policy Speakers

Ethical Learnings of Building Distributed and Decentralized AI
Steve Vitka, Kwaai

AI systems created and maintained by open-source communities are a natural counterbalance to corporate-owned AI systems. Similarly to SETI@Home, everyone can take some of the unused computing time on their devices, and contribute to a larger system. In this case, it forms a decentralized fabric to replace the storage and computation currently requiring expensive cloud resources from corporate providers.

About Steve Vitka

After Running the world's first co-working hacker- space in the 90's, Vitka has a career throwing events from raves to unconferences, while working on alternative economies and organizing direct action. He believes the personally-owned digital twins may the post-hierarchy  solution he has long sought.

Governing AI for Autonomous Humans
Richard Whitt, Glia Foundation

As ethically-minded technologists build out advanced AI applications and platforms, often the missing component is a governance layer that builds authentic trust and agency for humans. Meet the head of GliaNet Alliance, a coalition of companies creating an ecosystem of Net fiduciaries and Personal AI agents.

About Richard Whitt

Richard Whitt is a public policy attorney, technology strategist, business advisor, and entrepreneur with over three decades of experience shaping telecom, internet, and AI policy. He spent 11 years at Google (2007–2018), including four years as Corporate Director for Strategic Initiatives, leading efforts on digital governance, open internet policy, and emerging technologies. More recently, he served as Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy at Twilio (2022–2024) and was a Senior Fellow in Residence at the Mozilla Foundation (2018–2022). His career also includes leadership roles in tech and telecom policy at MCI Communications (1994–2006) and legal practice at Washington, DC-based technology law firms (1988–1994).


In 2018, Richard founded the GLIA Foundation, launching GliaNet, a trust-based Web overlay designed to reshape the digital landscape. His book, Reweaving the Web, outlines a vision for ethical AI and internet governance. He currently leads the GliaNet Alliance, a coalition of technology companies advancing Net fiduciaries and Personal AI agents, and runs NetsEdge, a consultancy advising Silicon Valley startups on ethical governance models.


Richard holds a Juris Doctor (cum laude) from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) from James Madison University. He is a Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Technology Law and Policy. Originally from Washington, DC, he now resides in Emerald Hills, California.

Open Source Personal AI with pAI-OS
Matt Small, Kwaai

AI is becoming an integral part of our daily lives, assisting with everything from organization to decision-making. But if we're not careful, personal AI will once again be locked behind proprietary platforms, exposing users' most sensitive information to privacy and security risks. As the performance of personal AI systems improves with more (and more recent) data, maintaining complete control has never been more important.


This session will explore why open-source AI is essential for ensuring personal AI remains private, working for you rather than commercial vendors. We’ll discuss the risks of proprietary AI, the growing need for data sovereignty, and how open-source AI offers a secure, customizable alternative. We will also introduce pAI-OS, our own open-source personal AI operating system, designed to empower users with AI they can trust.


About Matt Small


Matt Small is a founding Officer and Board Member of Kwaai.ai, an open-source AI lab focused on personal AI empowerment. He is an avid community builder and technology enthusiast. As a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience at pioneering cloud technology and AI ventures. He has held leadership roles at Flexera, Pulumi, Tackle.io, VMware, Bitnami and RightScale, specializing in cloud strategy and digital transformation. As the Founder & CEO of Stable Pathways Group and Co-Founder of Lucid Cradle, Matthew is at the forefront of legal psilocybin services and mental health innovation in Oregon. 


Matt enables technology, business and personal transformation, he leads tech and philanthropy communities in Bend, Oregon, and speaks globally on cloud, AI, and ethical technology.

Host Speakers

Introduction to Kwaai and the Personal AI Community
Reza Rassool, Kwaai

Reza is Chair of Kwaai. Prior to Kwaai, as the CTO of RealNetworks, he guided their technology pivot from streaming media roots to becoming a leader in AI. His pioneering innovations range from digital movie editing systems that earned Technical Oscar and Emmy awards, the world’s first VOD server, to cochlear implants and bionic eyes. His serial start-up career includes two exits to Google. Reza gained a B.Sc. in Physics from King's College London, has numerous patents, several papers published and remains a significant code contributor.

Fireside Chat with Norman Bushnell, Panelist
Ruth Rassool, Kwaai

Ruth Rassool is a COC and UCLA Alumna. Her degrees focus on literature, particularly British, American, and Comparative. Ruth has incorporated GenAI into her course content by participating in Kwaai’s Beta project. Integrating Penny, the Virtual Teacher’s Assistant, as a resource for students has refined the course content and given students 24/7 access to relevant material. When she is not teaching at College of the Canyons, Ruth Rassool enjoys being at home in Santa Clarita or traveling - especially back to England; she is an English English instructor!

Welcome and Introduction to the Kwaai Summit, Event Emcee, Panel Moderator
Matt Small, Kwaai

Matt Small is a founding Officer and Board Member of Kwaai.ai, an open-source AI lab focused on personal AI empowerment. He is an avid community builder and technology enthusiast. As a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience at pioneering cloud technology and AI ventures. He has held leadership roles at Flexera, Pulumi, Tackle.io, VMware, Bitnami and RightScale, specializing in cloud strategy and digital transformation. As the Founder & CEO of Stable Pathways Group and Co-Founder of Lucid Cradle, Matthew is at the forefront of legal psilocybin services and mental health innovation in Oregon. 


Matt enables technology, business and personal transformation, he leads tech and philanthropy communities in Bend, Oregon, and speaks globally on cloud, AI, and ethical technology.