Ben Goertzel
Ben Goertzel is a computer scientist, artificial intelligence researcher, CEO, and founder of SingularityNET, leader of the OpenCog Foundation and AGI Society, and chairman of Humanity+.
Personal Stats
| Age | 56 |
| Source of Wealth | computer scientist, artificial intelligence researcher, CEO, and founder of SingularityNET, leader of the OpenCog Foundation and AGI Society, and chairman of Humanity+ |
| Residence | Hong Kong |
| Citizenship | Brazil, USA, Hong Kong |
| Marital Status | married |
| Education | Bard College at Simon's Rock, NYU Courant Institute, Temple University |
Ben Goertzel Biography
Ben Goertzel was born on December 8, 1966, in Brazil to American parents. His father, Ted Goertzel, is a former professor of sociology at Rutgers University. Ben Goertzel has origins of Eastern European-Jewish ancestry. His great-grandparents once emigrated from Lithuania and Poland to New York.
Since Ben was born in Brazil to American parents, he has dual citizenship: American and Brazilian.
Ben Goertzel Education
After ten years of high school, Goertzel entered Bard College at Simon's Rock at the age of 15 and earned a B.A. in quantitative research. Afterward, Ben accepted a PhD program in applied mathematics at the Courant Institute at New York University. In 1987, Ben moved to Philadelphia and enrolled as a PhD student in the Mathematics Department at Temple University. And by the age of 23, Goertzel had already obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics.Ben Goertzel Career
Immediately after graduating in 1989, Ben and his wife Gwen moved to Las Vegas, where he took a job as a math professor at the University of Nevada. He was deeply involved in his business and traveled around the world a lot. He soon moved to New Zealand, where he lectured in computer science at the University of Waikato.
In 1995, he moved to Perth, Australia to conduct research in cognitive science at the University of Western Australia. A year later, Goertzel and Belgian cyberneticist Francis Heylighen founded Global Brain, a group to study brain function. In 1997, he left the group and moved to New York City.
In New York City, Goertzel started a software company, Intelligenesis Corp. with the goal of creating superintelligent AI. At the same time, Ben taught part of the CUNY system at the College of Staten Island.
Goertzel's activities are believed to have popularized AI. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have written articles on his work.
In 2001, Goertzel did research in the computer science department at the University of New Mexico and founded Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC. A year later, he moved to Washington, DC after finding funding for Biomind LLC. Up until 2007, Ben was focused on the development of Novamente LLC and Biomind LLC, while working on other AI projects, including the development of SingularityNET as a research community. In 2007, he spoke at Google Tech and described his approach to building strong artificial intelligence. A year later, Ben founded OpenCog, an open source SingularityNET project.
In 2009, Goertzel was invited to China, where he started a project using OpenCog to control a humanoid robot. In 2010, he started a joint project with Hong Kong Polytechnic University to apply OpenCog to control intelligent game characters.
Since 2011, Ben has spent a lot of time in Hong Kong developing various AI projects. He also co-founded Aidyia Holdings, a startup that focuses on stock market forecasting. Goertzel obtained permanent Hong Kong citizenship and has been living there ever since.
Since June 2017, Ben has been CEO at SingularityNET, a decentralized network of AI services using blockchain technology.
Ben Goertzel Personal Life
Ben Goertzel is a panpsychist and agnostic. He met his first wife, Gwen Yorgey, while still in college. In 1989, they had their first son, Zarathustra Amadeus, and in 1993, a second son named Zebulon Ulysses. In 1997, the couple had a daughter named Sheherazade Okilani Nastya. After moving to Washington, D.C., in 2002, Ben and Gwen separated.
Goertzel married Isabella Lyon Freire in 2004, but they separated four years later.
Ben Goertzel has traveled extensively around the world, of all places he singles out Perth, the city he would like to return to. In 2008, Ben signed a contract with the cryonics company Alcor to have his body frozen in case of death.
In Hong Kong, Ben spent a lot of time with Ruiting Lian, working on various AI projects. The couple got married in 2012. They have a child named QORXI Aixiphanes Lian.
Ben Goertzel has a large family and many pets. In his free time, he enjoys sci-fi, music, philosophy, and math.
What Is Ben Goertzel Net Worth?
Ben Goertzel's fortune is estimated at $11 million dollars. Goertzel is currently Chief Scientific Officer of Aidyia Holdings, Chairman of Novamente LLC, Biomind LLC, Artificial General Intelligence Society and OpenCog Foundation, Vice Chairman of Humanity+, Scientific Advisor at Genescient Corp, Consultant at Singularity University, Research Professor of Intelligent Systems at Fujian Key Lab, and Consultant at Machine Intelligence Research Institute.
Ben has published a dozen scientific books, more than 100 technical papers, and numerous journal articles. Currently, he is paying more attention to AI development, and considers himself an advocate of friendly artificial intelligence.
