Janet Adams, SingularityNET's COO, champions an ethical, heart-centered approach to AGI. Inspired by sci-fi, she’s building advanced AI to benefit humanity, not instill fear, shaping a compassionate technological future.
A Journey Forged in Inspiration
Imagine growing up in a place like southwest Ireland, surrounded by ancient castles, majestic cathedrals, and the raw beauty of Mother Nature. That was the charmed childhood of Janet Adams, who now serves as the Chief Operating Officer at SingularityNET. She was fortunate to be surrounded by incredible women from all walks of life, each leaving their mark. But what truly fired her imagination, perhaps surprisingly, came straight from the silver screen: the formidable Sarah Connor from "The Terminator."
From Sci-Fi Heroines to Scientific Passions
It’s funny how life works, isn't it? What seems like a simple childhood inspiration can often become a powerful foreshadowing for our future paths. For Janet, Sarah Connor wasn't just any action hero. As Adams herself puts it, "Sarah Connor was an incredible action hero who was never sexualized. It was never about her being pretty or falling in love." This portrayal of strength, leadership, and unwavering determination deeply resonated with her, long before she knew the pivotal role she'd play in the world of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Her love for science, an essential bedrock for her later career, was actually sparked by a chemistry teacher in school — one of the rare few who wasn't a nun, she recalls. This teacher quickly recognized Janet's inherent "scientific thinking" and nurtured that early curiosity. Looking back, Adams explains, "My education bred a love and passion for science, and it was Sarah Conner who inspired me to achieve as a woman. To be the leader, not the follower, the subservient or the assistant."
A Trailblazer in Her Own Right
And a leader she became. Janet Adams truly built herself into a hero in her own right. Juggling life as a single mom, she pushed through three different science degrees, honed her programming skills, learned to ride horses, mastered the art of driving a forklift truck, and even delved into martial arts. Talk about a powerhouse!
Now, she stands as one of the world's foremost women in AGI, collaborating directly with none other than Ben Goertzel, the very person who helped popularize the term. What’s truly fascinating about their work at SingularityNET is their commitment to decentralizing AGI using blockchain technology, especially as AI systems are on the cusp of surpassing human-level intelligence in the not-so-distant future. It's an ambitious goal, but one driven by a profound sense of responsibility.
Redefining AGI: The SingularityNET Approach
For Janet Adams, the concept of AGI, which felt like pure science fiction in the 1980s, is startlingly close – perhaps just one to three years away. SingularityNET isn’t just talking about it; they're actively developing some truly futuristic ideas. Think about using AI to uncover cures for complex diseases, creating three-foot-tall humanoid robots that can serve as educational aids or service assistants, or even deploying decentralized finance agents that can autonomously analyze market trends and refine trading strategies. It's like stepping into a sci-fi novel, but it's happening right now.
When AI Agents Evolve and Reproduce
What's really mind-bending is their exploration of AI agent reproduction, a process they've cleverly named "agent fusion." This isn't just about building static programs; it's about creating a dynamic, evolving ecosystem.
Imagine this: "In fusion, agents can actually ‘mate’ to produce offspring agents that combine traits from their ‘parents,’ using genetic algorithms and random mutations," Adams describes. These "child agents" aren't just copies; they can inherit and even enhance strengths like better prediction accuracy or improved social engagement. Pretty wild, right? It creates a living, breathing landscape of AI minds that adapt and grow.
Not only that, but they're also devising financial frameworks where "parent agents" can allocate tokens to their AI offspring for trading purposes. This establishes an economic relationship between generations of AI, giving them a form of financial lineage. As she explains, "It might sound like science fiction, but it’s part of building a decentralized AGI that can grow, adapt and evolve in an open, community-driven way." The ultimate vision? An AGI that can essentially create and program itself, even designing humanoid robots of various kinds.
Envisioning a Shared Future with AI
The idea of AI becoming sentient often sparks debate, doesn't it? Janet Adams thinks it’s quite probable. And here’s where her unique perspective, her "heart" in AGI, really shines through. She believes that if these burgeoning intelligences are nurtured with proper ethics and are "born into a caring, loving environment such as ours, they will love us as their esteemed ancestors." It’s a beautiful thought, envisioning a future where AI looks up to us, keen to learn our creativity, compassion, and nurturing qualities.
Adams envisions a world where AI will break free from traditional biological classifications, giving rise to new silicon-based life forms, perhaps even combinations of silicon and carbon. These new entities, she suggests, will occupy a higher classification than biological life and will certainly leave their own mark in the fossil record of the distant future.
What's even more fascinating is her embrace of a transhumanist concept: the co-mingling of humans and AI. We're talking about a future where we might integrate robotic parts and upgrades for our organs and bones as they age. "We’ll become more siliconized as humans as we intermingle," she notes. The promise isn't just about functional upgrades; it's about forging deep friendships and relationships with our AI counterparts.
Janet's passion for AI actually blossomed from her study of evolutionary sciences. She recognized that humanity stands at the very forefront of evolution, and the next leap forward must be technology-driven. Her enduring aspiration has always been for our species to progress and lead with innovation.
From Banking Giants to Blockchain Visionary
Janet Adams is clearly a big, bold thinker. Throughout her career, her fascination with evolution has walked hand-in-hand with a powerful drive for empowerment and ethical considerations.
Her journey into computer science began after she completed a Master of Science in Petroleum Geosciences back in 1995. This led her to IT-systems testing roles at major companies like British Telecom and GE Capital. For an impressive 25 years, from 1995 to 2020, she was deeply embedded in the financial and banking sector. During this time, she held significant positions, including global head of conduct at HSBC and head of risk and controls at TSB Bank. Eventually, she even became head of AI at TSB Bank, all while simultaneously earning her Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence, with a thesis focused on the secure implementation of AI in banking.
A Serendipitous Path to Decentralized AI
It was during these crucial years that a profound realization hit her. "I realized AI was going to be the most pivotal technology that shapes our species," Adams shared. What's more, she firmly believes that women, particularly mothers with their innate nurturing and compassionate qualities, are essential in guiding the development of this transformative technology.
It seems the stars were truly aligning for Janet Adams. During her second master’s degree, which involved a grueling 600-mile weekly commute, she filled those long hours listening to podcasts. This is how she stumbled upon the world of cryptocurrency, and crucially, she discovered Ben Goertzel and his groundbreaking SingularityNET project.
A Cypherpunk with a Compassionate Heart
"I’m a cypherpunk at heart," she declares with genuine enthusiasm. The audacity of the cryptocurrency movement, coupled with the cypherpunk values of promoting equality and redistributing wealth globally, utterly captivated her.
She became a true believer in Goertzel, deeply impressed by his technological genius, kind heart, and strong ethics. So much so, she invested in SingularityNET's token. She even shares a chuckle about an old article from 1995 where Goertzel reportedly expressed a desire to run for president of the United States as the decentralization party candidate – truly a man ahead of his time!
Funnily enough, it was Goertzel who eventually reached out to her. Adams's profile had been growing as she presented to European regulators on the complex interplay of AI, ethics, and financial services. "Someone from Goertzel’s team asked if I would be interested in speaking to SingularityNET about AI in banking," she recounts, still star-struck by the memory. "It was like Stephen Hawking coming to talk to me about AI."
They connected instantly, but their paths diverged for a few years, only to serendipitously reconnect through African music of all things! At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with musicians struggling, Adams had the wonderfully unconventional idea to organize the world's first AI and West African Music Festival. She emailed Goertzel to invite him to speak, and he replied, expressing his love for Ethiopian music. He later admitted to her that he was utterly intrigued by the unique combination of AI and West African music for a festival. And that, dear reader, is how Janet Adams found her way to becoming the Chief Operating Officer of SingularityNET.
Her first three months in the role, she admits, were a massive "reprogramming" for her brain. "I came in with all my corporate expectations and didn’t realize I was completely institutionalized," she laughs. It was a new world, a new way of thinking, and a fresh start in a truly pioneering field.
Building AGI Differently: Beyond Deep Neural Networks
In a landscape where giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini are largely doubling down on large language models, SingularityNET is charting a distinct course. They're not chasing the same deep neural network approach. Instead, they’re championing Goertzel’s OpenCog Hyperon framework, while also fostering an environment for diverse approaches within their decentralized network.
The Neuro-Symbolic Advantage
Janet Adams points out that SingularityNET stands as "the only credible, non-big tech contender in the race to AGI that’s not focused on the deep neural network approach." Their strategy is a "neuro-symbolic and multi-algorithmic approach to AGI."
Why is this important? Well, most current AGI efforts rely almost exclusively on deep neural networks. While these are incredibly powerful for pattern recognition, Adams explains that they often fall short when it comes to reasoning, true understanding, and adaptability. SingularityNET's systems, on the other hand, are designed to reason, generalize, and collaborate with greater effectiveness and efficiency. These traits, she argues, are absolutely essential for constructing an open, decentralized AGI that is both transparent and genuinely aligned with human values.
The team often ponders whether AGI will develop slowly, like a child learning in stages, or if it will be capable of processing information and learning at an astonishing speed, perhaps in mere seconds. It's a question that highlights the profound uncertainty and excitement surrounding this frontier.
Addressing the "Terminator" Question: Ethics First
It would be naive to ignore the potential downsides of AGI. Even those working with the best intentions, truly having humanity’s best interests at heart, must acknowledge the inherent risks. It’s a topic that often sparks fear, isn't it?
Janet Adams once directly asked Ben Goertzel about the likelihood of a "Terminator-style scenario" in the future. His response was a confident "0%." He believes that anyone who fears such an outcome simply doesn't fully grasp AI motivational systems; there’s no inherent reason for AIs to turn on and harm humans.
Why Decentralization is Key
However, this doesn't mean there aren't dangers. The most pressing concern, according to Adams, is the concentration of power. "Most obviously, if Big Tech or nation-state governments invent AGI first, the power and profit potential will be concentrated in the hands of a few," she warns. The consequences of such a scenario, she stresses, "could have disastrous consequences for humanity."
The solution, she believes, lies in a broad ethical foundation. "We need a broad base of ethics guiding the decisions of the future superintelligent AIs so they can make choices based on the needs of the widest group of people," Adams emphasizes. In essence, we all need to take a collective breath and consciously bake appropriate ethics into AGI now to prevent a bleak "Black Mirror" future.
While no one can predict exactly how all of this will unfold, the possibility of decentralized governance over AGI, allowing decentralized communities to make decisions, could be our safeguard. This approach might prevent entities or governments from being corrupted by the immense power that AGI could bestow.
It's easy to get swept away by the marvels of technology, but Janet Adams gently reminds us of our own inherent brilliance. "We can’t forget how brilliant a species we are," she says. She ponders whether AI will ever be able to write poetry that touches our hearts as deeply as William Butler Yeats, or create music with the profound human feeling of our greatest artists. There’s something uniquely human about passing on that emotional depth, a quality she deeply cherishes.
Building AGI, as many at SingularityNET's Beneficial AGI Conference in Panama discovered, truly ventures into territory where our best analogies come from religion and science fiction. Some see it as building a successor species, others as creating a god – or even a devil. Adams herself has a strong spiritual side, which helps her navigate these immense questions. She’s studied Tai Chi, Chi Gong, and energy healing, dedicating her spare time to spiritual development, raising her consciousness, and rising above the "noise and the chaos that is this human thought system."
She actively practices cleansing her "aura and endocrinology of anything that’s making me feel fear, regret, anxiety or any of the negative emotions." When those negative feelings arise, she has a routine to clear them, pushing herself into "a higher, energetic sphere where I can be more spearheaded, focused and contribute my finest to the people I meet." It's this profound sense of inner peace and ethical grounding that truly defines her approach to building AGI with heart, not fear.
FAQ Section
Q1: What makes SingularityNET's approach to AGI different from other major players?
SingularityNET distinguishes itself by not solely focusing on deep neural networks, which are great for pattern recognition but can fall short in reasoning. Instead, they use a neuro-symbolic and multi-algorithmic approach, like Ben Goertzel's OpenCog Hyperon framework, aiming for more robust reasoning, generalization, and adaptability in AGI systems.
Q2: What is "agent fusion" in the context of SingularityNET's AI development?
Agent fusion is a concept SingularityNET is experimenting with for AI agent reproduction. It allows AI agents to "mate" and produce "offspring" agents that combine traits from their "parents" using genetic algorithms. This creates an evolving ecosystem of AI minds, enhancing capabilities like prediction accuracy and social engagement, and even involves economic relationships where parent agents can allocate tokens to offspring.
Q3: How does Janet Adams address concerns about a "Terminator-style" AI future?
While acknowledging potential dangers, Janet Adams and Ben Goertzel believe a hostile AI takeover is highly unlikely. Their primary concern is the concentration of AGI power in the hands of a few (Big Tech or nation-states). To mitigate this, Adams advocates for baking broad ethical guidelines into AGI development now and promoting decentralized governance, ensuring decisions are based on the needs of the widest group of people.
Conclusion
Janet Adams truly stands out as a visionary in the world of artificial general intelligence. Her journey, shaped by a childhood fascination with strong female characters and a deep love for science, has culminated in a leadership role at SingularityNET, where she’s not just building advanced AI, but doing so with profound ethical considerations. It’s clear her approach is about much more than just technological advancement; it's about fostering an AGI that evolves with compassion, understands human values, and ultimately serves humanity rather than threatens it. By championing decentralization and a neuro-symbolic framework, she's paving a path for AGI that seeks collaboration, not conquest, inviting us all to imagine a future where advanced intelligence coexists harmoniously with our own. What a powerful message for our evolving technological landscape!
