Dr. Max Li: Pioneering Trustworthy AI with OORT's Decentralized Vision

Dr. Max Li: Pioneering Trustworthy AI with OORT's Decentralized Vision

Dr. Max Li possesses a background spanning advanced telecommunications, AI research, academia at Columbia University, and Web3 entrepreneurship. He currently serves as Founder & CEO of OORT while also holding a position as Adjunct Professor at Columbia. He recently appeared on the alpha un# podcast hosted by Sri Misra, where the discussion centered on the need for trust in AI and the potential role of decentralized systems in addressing this challenge.

The conversation explored fundamental issues and opportunities existing at the intersection of AI and blockchain technology. 

This article delves into Dr. Max Li's career journey, the motivations behind his work with OORT, and his perspective on tackling the significant hurdle of trust in widespread AI adoption.

Building Through Cycles: From Payments to Protocols

Darren's journey didn't stop there. This conversation paint a picture of continuous building and learning across various facets of the crypto and blockchain ecosystem:

Early Exchanges: After Tradehill, he co-founded CompraBitcoin, one of Latin America's largest Bitcoin exchanges at the time, and Coin4ce, which explored Blockchain 2.0 applications, including privacy-preserving cryptography and early tokenized investment vehicles.

Cross-Border Payments: He co-founded BitNexo (2014-2017), utilizing Bitcoin's blockchain as a clearing mechanism for SMB cross-border payments, earning recognition from institutions like SWIFT and BBVA.

Protocol Advisory: Darren served as a senior advisor to Emurgo, the venture arm of Cardano, and as a strategy consultant for the Cardano blockchain itself during its formative stages (2017-2018). This gave him deep insights into Layer 1 protocol development and ecosystem building.

AI Ventures: More recently, he co-founded FoolFarm (2020-Present), an AI-focused venture builder based in Europe, showcasing his interest beyond pure crypto into synergistic technologies.

This diverse experience – spanning exchanges, payments, protocol strategy, and even AI – provided a unique vantage point. It allowed him to see the gaps, the inefficiencies, and the foundational pieces still missing for DeFi to reach its full potential.

From 5G Research and Academia to Web3 Innovation

Dr. Li’s path began with a strong academic foundation, earning a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering followed by a Ph.D. in Computer Science. This technical grounding led him to Qualcomm Research & Development back in September 2012. As he shared with Sri, he was one of the early researchers diving into 5G systems design, working on the intricate algorithms and signaling that now power the chips in our smartphones.

"My first job was working with Qualcomm Research as a 5G researcher... I started my 5G research like 13 years ago at Qualcomm Research, one of the first guys in the research team to do the job."

After nearly six years contributing to advancements in 5G, LTE, WiFi, and even vehicular networks at Qualcomm, Dr. Li felt a pull towards the burgeoning fields of AI and blockchain. This interest led him to academia, joining Columbia University as an Adjunct Professor in late 2016.

His timing was interesting. He started teaching blockchain technology at Columbia in 2017 – a year marked by intense crypto market activity. He mentioned how student demand drove the creation of the course, which became the first of its kind at Columbia and one of the earliest in the United States, attracting large classes eager to understand this new technology. Alongside blockchain, he also taught Reinforcement Learning, later authoring the book "Reinforcement Learning for Cyber-physical Systems," reflecting his deep engagement with advanced AI methodologies. Holding over 200 international and US patents (granted and pending), his profile highlights a career steeped in deep technical innovation.

Identifying the Gap: The Genesis of OORT

It was through his deep involvement in both AI and blockchain, academically and through research ventures like Nakamoto & Turing Labs (which he co-founded in 2018), that Dr. Li identified a critical gap in the AI landscape. While centralized AI models like ChatGPT were making impressive strides, they suffered from a fundamental lack of transparency and trust.

"When we talk about the massive adoption... the key is about... the trust. So if you don't trust that this AI, you will not buy it... Why? Because you don't have trust... The reason is transparency, because you have no idea about how this AI model is built and what day and data and fine-tuned data are used..."

This realization, that the lack of trust was a major blocker to AI's true potential, motivated him and his colleagues to start exploring solutions back in 2018. Even before "Decentralized AI" was a common term, they were working on concepts around decentralized cloud infrastructure. After three years of research, patent filings, and publishing papers, they decided the technology was ready for the market. In April 2021, OORT was founded.

OORT's Vision: Building the Infrastructure for Trustworthy AI

OORT aims to build the foundational infrastructure needed for a future where AI is not only powerful but also transparent and trustworthy. Its mission revolves around decentralizing the entire AI stack – from data collection and storage to compute and inference.

The name itself, "OORT," carries a unique significance, as Dr. Li shared a fascinating story during the chat.

"Do you know OORT Cloud?... it's recognized as the boundary of our solar system... So far, we don't have any human-made devices going out the OORT cloud... I borrowed this name... because I want to... touch the boundary in the AI space."

This ambition to push the boundaries is central to OORT's vision. They aim to be pioneers in the Decentralized AI (DAI) space, creating tools and platforms that enable developers to build AI applications that users can genuinely trust. The core idea is that by decentralizing control and leveraging blockchain for verification, DAI can overcome the opacity limitations of current centralized systems.

Inside OORT: Technology, Traction, and Team

While OORT envisions decentralizing the full AI stack, a key focus right now is the OORT Data Hub. This platform tackles the critical first step: transparent and verifiable AI data collection. Launched relatively recently, the traction Dr. Li shared was noteworthy.

"We just launched this product for like less than three months, I think. We already have 120,000 data contributors around the world... On the daily active users, we already surpass the 30k daily active users... without any big marketing campaign so far. It's all organic."

This rapid, organic growth suggests a strong demand for platforms where users can contribute data for AI training in a more transparent manner, often incentivized through mechanisms facilitated by blockchain. OORT is already generating real revenue, helping Web2 companies acquire high-quality, diverse datasets crucial for improving their AI models – datasets they find challenging to collect otherwise.

The company operates with a global, decentralized team of around 40 people (down from a peak of nearly 80, partly due to leveraging AI tools internally for efficiency) spread across numerous countries, including Canada, Bulgaria, Turkey, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, and Spain, with headquarters in New York.

OORT also successfully conducted its Token Generation Event (TGE) for the OORT token in January 2024, integrating Web3 incentive models into its ecosystem.

Bridging Worlds: Academia and Entrepreneurship

One of the most interesting aspects about Dr. Li is his continued deep involvement in academia alongside his role as a startup CEO. How does he balance the rigorous demands of both?

He explained that the key is alignment. His research at Columbia University, along with his students' and colleagues' work, often directly intersects with the challenges and goals of OORT, particularly in the field of Decentralized AI.

"The best thing for me is like now the research, academia research and my startup board, they're fully aligned... my research, my students... at Columbia... they do research on decentralized AI as well. So you can view this as a research division of the whole project."

This synergy allows his academic pursuits and entrepreneurial ventures to effectively function as two sides of the same coin, driving innovation in both spheres. Beyond OORT and Columbia, he also contributes as a Venture Partner at Aves Lair and serves as President of the Science & Technology Economic Committee for the China-US Chamber of Commerce.

Looking Ahead: Decentralization as the Path Forward

Dr. Li believes that Decentralized AI is not just a niche concept but a necessary direction for the future, particularly as AI becomes more integrated into critical aspects of our lives. He acknowledges challenges, especially regarding the reliability of decentralized compute compared to established cloud providers like AWS for mission-critical tasks today. However, he sees trends like the development of smaller, more efficient AI models and increasingly powerful, cheaper hardware eventually making decentralized approaches more viable and perhaps even preferable.

The ultimate goal remains building AI systems that foster trust through verifiable processes and user control, moving away from the opaque models prevalent today.

Final Thoughts

Dr. Max Li stands at a fascinating crossroads – leveraging his deep expertise in communications technology, AI/ML research, and blockchain to build solutions for a more trustworthy technological future. His journey from shaping 5G at Qualcomm to educating the next generation at Columbia and now leading OORT's charge in Decentralized AI provides a compelling example of how deep technical understanding can fuel impactful entrepreneurship in the Web3 space. The work being done at OORT, particularly in demonstrating tangible traction with its Data Hub, suggests that the vision for a more transparent and verifiable AI ecosystem is not just theoretical but actively being built, block by block.