Path toward deAGI

Dr. Ben Goertzel is a pioneering scientist, entrepreneur, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on artificial general intelligence (AGI). He introduced the modern use of the term “AGI” in his landmark 2005 book and has since led many of the field’s most ambitious open-science initiatives. Ben is the founder and CEO of SingularityNET, the first large-scale decentralized AI network, and CEO of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance, a multi-project ecosystem building open, beneficial superintelligence. His current Hyperon project is the world’s largest AGI initiative outside Big Tech—and the largest not driven solely by deep neural networks, designed from the ground up for decentralized deployment.

Ben has authored 25+ books—including Artificial General Intelligence, The AGI Revolution, and The Consciousness Explosion—and over 200 scientific papers spanning AI, cognitive science, and complex systems. A globally recognized voice on AGI, decentralization, and transhumanism, he advocates for building benevolent superintelligence that benefits all beings.

Owner, Not Renters

Raffi Krikorian is Chief Technology Officer at Mozilla, where he leads the organization's strategy to increase adoption and usage of open source AI throughout the world. He has spent his career scaling systems that serve millions - as Vice President of Platform Engineering at Twitter, as Director of Uber's self-driving car program, as the first CTO of the Democratic National Committee, and as CTO of Emerson Collective, where he focused on technology for social good. Raffi also created Technically Optimistic, a podcast exploring technology's impact on society that reached #2 on Apple's tech charts. His work centers on a core belief: that powerful AI tools should be transparent, open, and owned by the people who use them - not rented from corporations.

Decentralized Trust Graph

Drummond has spent over three decades in Internet identity, security, privacy, and trust infrastructure. He is currently leading the First Person Project. From 2021 to 2025, he was Director of Trust Services at Gen (formerly Avast) after their acquisition of Evernym, where he was Chief Trust Officer. He is co-author of the book, Self-Sovereign Identity (Manning Publications, 2021), and co-editor of the W3C Decentralized Identifiers (DID) 1.0 specification. He currently serves as Governance Lead for the Ayra Association. He is founding board member of the OpenWallet Foundation and Trust Over IP (ToIP), where he serves as co-chair of the Technology Stack Working Group, the Concepts and Terminology Working Group, and the Decentralized Trust Graph Working Group. In 2002 he received the Digital Identity Pioneer Award from Digital ID World, and in 2013 he was cited as an OASIS Distinguished Contributor.

Richard Whitt’s career spans over three decades as a public policy attorney, technology strategist, business advisor, and entrepreneur. He spent over eleven years with Google (2007-‘18) in its Washington DC and Mountain View offices, including serving for four years as corporate director for strategic initiatives.

More recently, Richard was senior vice president for government relations and public policy with Twilio Inc (2022-‘24), and served as senior fellow in residence with the Mozilla Foundation (2018-‘22). Richard also led tech and telecom public policy teams at MCI Communications (1994-2006), and worked as an associate at several large Washington DC-based technology law firms (1988-‘94).

In 2018, under the auspices of his non-profit GLIA Foundation, Richard launched the GliaNet initiative, a trust-based Web overlay. His new book, Reweaving the Web (September 2024), presents a robust theory of change and action plans for bringing the GliaNet ecosystem to life. Richard currently heads the GliaNet Alliance, a coalition of technology companies building new markets anchored by Net Fiduciaries and authentic Personal AI agents. In addition, his NetsEdge consultancy works with tech startups in Silicon Valley to develop ethical governance structures.

Richard received his Juris Doctor degree cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center, and his Bachelor of Science degree magna cum laude from James Madison University. He is currently a senior fellow with the Georgetown Institute for Technology Law and Policy.

Born and raised in the Washington DC area, Richard now resides in Emerald Hills, California.