Power broker, financier, and convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein provided funding to Artificial Intelligence (AI) researcher Ben Goertzel, while he also helped him secure government grants in Hong Kong.
A report by the South China Morning Post has said that the Epstein Files, released by the US Department of Justice, show that Epstein committed at least $113,000 to support Goertzel's open source AI project over a period of five years. He also helped the researcher secure at least HK$8.9 million in government grants, while Goertzel worked in Hong Kong in the 2010s.
Thus far, there has been no evidence of Goertzel being linked to Epstein's crimes. The latter was convicted as a sex trafficker and died in a US jail in 2019.
What Do We Know About Ben Goertzel?
Goertzel, a Jewish American computer scientist, is an AI researcher and an entrepreneur known for his contributions to artificial general intelligence (AGI).
He is the founder and the CEO of SingularityNET, leads the OpenCog Foundation, and the AGI Society, which organises the annual Artificial General Intelligence conference.
Goertzel is known to have published 25 books and approximately 150 technical papers covering AI, AGI, and related fields. He has also served as the chief scientist at Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong Based firm known for the development of the humanoid robot Sophia.
He lists himself as a permanent Hong Kong resident, but has since moved back to the States.
The Epstein Funding:
According to the SCMP report, the scientist's relationship with Epstein goes back to 2001, when the latter funded his research fellowship. Moving on, between 2010 and 2015, Epstein is said to have channeled at least US$ 113,000 through the US non-profit Humanity+, further directing the money to Goertzel's company, Novamente.
Industry sponsors are required to fund 10% of project costs in Hong Kong to make a company eligible for public money, and that is exactly what the Epstein funding helped Novamente to achieve.
SCMP reports that Novamente then went on to receive a combined HK$ 8.9 million between 2010 and 2016. Further, the Epstein files reveal that Goertzel repeatedly asked Epstein for financial help.
In one 2011 message, Goertzel wrote, “Let me know if you're game to donate the additional $1oK. If not, I will explore other options…I really cannot afford $10K personally now.”
Even During The Storm?
In the year 2015, while Epstein was already in the eye of the storm and there was renewed attention on his offences, Goertzel did not stop asking for money. He requested another $25,000.
Goertzel even called the allegations against Epstein, “idiotic negative publicity”, the SCMP has reported.
“I have seen the spate of utterly idiotic negative publicity in the news, and I'm sorry you guys have to deal with that,” Goertzel wrote, “If any incidents had taken place, they may have involved reasonably mature people who mutually consented at the time.”
Goertzel was told by an assistant of Epstein that funding would be paused, “due to the current environment,” but the transfer was later approved by Epstein.
Goertzel Defending Himself
SCMP has reached out to Goertzel for comments, and he has regretted the association with Epstein, asserting that he was unaware of Epstein's illegal activities at that time, and had only limited contact with him in person.
“Looking back, I regret knowing the guy, or taking his money, or having anything to do with the guy,” Goertzel has told the SCMP, adding that the reason any scientist dealt with Epstein was very simple: “getting research money is hard.”
ALSO READ: Epstein Aftershocks: Goldman Sachs' Top Lawyer Steps Down in Growing Controversy
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
