Core Team

At the core of the Cortex project is a team of developers with deep roots in both AI and blockchain. We seek to build a strong open-source AI on Blockchain ecosystem by enabling on-chain AI inference and decentralizing AI models.
Ziqi Chen
Co-Founder / CEO
At USCS, the birthplace of AdaBoost and Online Learning, Ziqi was advised by Prof. David P. Helmbold in theoretical machine learning and various algorithm applications, including the Go algorithm. Before that, he served as Principal Research Scientist at SFTC and was responsible for finite element mesh network generation methods, which were used in aerospace. Seasoned serial-entrepreneur, founder of Cortex Labs.
Ziqi Chen
Co-Founder / CEO
At USCS, the birthplace of AdaBoost and Online Learning, Ziqi was advised by Prof. David P. Helmbold in theoretical machine learning and various algorithm applications, including the Go algorithm. Before that, he served as Principal Research Scientist at SFTC and was responsible for finite element mesh network generation methods, which were used in aerospace. Seasoned serial-entrepreneur, founder of Cortex Labs.
Jia Tian
Co-Founder / CTO
Jia worked at Baidu and Alibaba as architect of large recommender systems and so.com, a search engine with over 100 million daily active users. He went on to co-found multiple tech startups. His first company, Wolong Cloud, was acquired by Alibaba. He then joined Beijing Machine Learning Information Technology Co. as the CTO, where he led projects in recsys, chatbot, medical imaging etc. He later joined Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle unicorn startup.
Jia Tian
Co-Founder / CTO
Jia worked at Baidu and Alibaba as architect of large recommender systems and so.com, a search engine with over 100 million daily active users. He went on to co-found multiple tech startups. His first company, Wolong Cloud, was acquired by Alibaba. He then joined Beijing Machine Learning Information Technology Co. as the CTO, where he led projects in recsys, chatbot, medical imaging etc. He later joined Pony.ai, an autonomous vehicle unicorn startup.
Amy Chen
COO
Chen is a tech startup investor and serial entrepreneur with business presence in North America, Asia, and South Africa. With more than 8 years of experience, Chen is an expert in renewable energy systems, sharing economy, and sustainable development. In 2016, Chen discovered the value of integrating blockchain technology into the renewable energy field. Chen has been invited to be the panelist and guest speaker at difference conferences and universities to promote AI smart contract adoption and sustainable development via distributed ledger technology.
Amy Chen
COO
Chen is a tech startup investor and serial entrepreneur with business presence in North America, Asia, and South Africa. With more than 8 years of experience, Chen is an expert in renewable energy systems, sharing economy, and sustainable development. In 2016, Chen discovered the value of integrating blockchain technology into the renewable energy field. Chen has been invited to be the panelist and guest speaker at difference conferences and universities to promote AI smart contract adoption and sustainable development via distributed ledger technology.
Technical Team
  • Yang Yang
    Chief Blockchain Engineer
    Yang is an expert in distributed databases with more than 10 years of experience in Java and C ++ backend development. He previously worked at British Telecom and IBM. He also has deep expertise in blockchain source code, cryptocurrency development, security encryption technology, and cloud computing.
  • Wentao Tian
    Head of Blockchain and AI
    Wentao is a C ++ expert with extensive AI and blockchain experience. He has won numerous competitions including the gold medal in ACM China 2009 and ACM Asia 2010, silver medal in the KDD data mining competition, first place in the international OSS competition, and fourth place in the Chinese Data Mining Competition.
  • Jie Zhang
    AI Chip Expert
    Jie has extensive experience engaging in the development of communication algorithms and the design of microprocessors. Before joining Cortex, he worked at Fujitsu China R & D Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Electronics, and NXP China.
  • Zhen Li
    Head of on-chain DNN
    Zhen is an expert in deep learning algorithms on the blockchain. He is responsible for designing blockchain algorithms for AI chips. He was the silver medalist in the National Informatics Olympic Finals.
  • Kaihuo Zhang
    Head of OpenCL Development Technology
    Before joining Cortex, Kaihuo worked on GPU parallel computing optimization at Sensetime. He won the first prize in the Western Division of the China Parallel Application Challenge and top 10 in the AMD Heterogeneous Development Competition.
  • Longtao Wang
    Full-stack AI blockchain engineer
    Longtao has years of experience in smart contract and blockchain development. He is responsible for the implementation of AI models on the blockchain and building the ecosystem.
  • Ao Zhang
    Head of AI Blockchain Algorithm
    Ao has deep research experiences in AI and blockchain algorithms. He is currently responsible for software architecture of zero-knowledge proof algorithms. He was a bronze medalist in ACM-ICPC Changchun Station.
  • Liqing Wang
    Smart Contract Engineer
    Liqing graduated from Massey University with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Technology. He is responsible for developing smart contracts.
  • Ruoyang Tang
    AI Research Developer
    He has great experience in deep neural network quantization techniques.
    He is one of major contributors to the generalized quantization framework of CVM model representation tool.
  • Lianqiang Mao
    Senior Blockchain Engineer
    Lianqiang has three years of fundamental blockchain development experience. He is proficient in C++, Python, Nodejs etc. Previously, he was the technical director of the blockchain payment company Wyre.
  • Oscar Wei
    Full-Stack Blockchain Engineer
    Oscar has extensive knowledge in web development and digital analytics. He is responsible for technical documentation and blockchain development.
  • Gary Lai
    Blockchain Development Engineer
    Gary graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor's degree in Physics. He is proficient in Python, Javascript, C++ etc. He is responsible for blockchain development.
  • Junji Li
    Blockchain Engineer
    Junju is familiar with complex algorithms and data structures. He has strong learning ability and can learn quickly in different technical fields. He mainly focuses his work in back-end development using C/C++.
  • Hengzhi Wang
    Blockchain Engineer
    Hengzhi won second place in the National College Students Mathematics Competition (non-mathematical category). He has a solid mathematical foundation and knowledge in distributed systems, cryptography, and machine learning.
  • Kun Yuan
    Blockchain Engineer
    Kun has been actively doing research in deep learning and computer vision. He has multiple machine learning project experience, and has strong learning ability.
Operation Team
  • Yongze Wang
    Operating Business Developer
    Yongze has worked at Bitauto. He has implemented multi-channel online marketing and marketing programs for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford. He is responsible for content planning and marketing within China.
  • Chunxue Yang
    New Media Operations (China)
    Chunxue is experienced in user analysis, community management, online/offline event orginizing, customer satisfaction, and social media operation.
  • Sim Gina
    Korean Business Operation Manager
    Master degree in Directing from Chung-Ang University, South Korea. Program director for China Central Television and Beijing Television.
    Served as the director of business and new media in a media company.
    Currently responsible for the business and operation management of the Korean team.
  • Yeong Lee
    Overseas operations (Korea)
    Yeong is fluent in Korean and Japanese. She has worked as a translator in international political conferences, business meetings, books, and media. She is responsible for the operation of the Korean community and new media.
  • Inga Nikolaeva
    Overseas operations
    Inga graduated from Tsinghua University with a master's degree in Industrial Engineering. Prior to Cortex, she was a digital Marketing Specialist in Paper Planes Consulting Agency.
  • Mekhri Aliev
    Overseas operations
    Mekhri held a master's degree from Tsinghua University in Industrial Engineering. He was the student representative during the Putin and Xi's meeting in Beijing.
  • Sheng Qi
    Art Designer
    Sheng has extensive experience in UI, product, and fashion design. He is responsible for all design with Cortex.
Prof. Whitfield Diffie
Academic Advisor
An eminent mathematician, cryptographer, computer scientist and author, Whitfield is the winner of the Turing Award (recognized as "Nobel Prize of Computing") in 2015 and known for his pioneering work in public-key cryptography. He provides Cortex with support in trusted computing encryption technology.
As a world-renowned expert in cryptography and cybersecurity, he joined Sun Microsystems Laboratories in 1991 where he served as the Chief Security Officer and Vice President until November 2009.
After a long career at Sun Microsystems, where he became a Sun Fellow, Diffie has worked as visiting scholar and consulting scholar at various research institutions and labs including Stanford University, Zhejiang University, Cryptic Labs, and ICANN.
Prof. Whitfield Diffie
Academic Advisor
An eminent mathematician, cryptographer, computer scientist and author, Whitfield is the winner of the Turing Award (recognized as "Nobel Prize of Computing") in 2015 and known for his pioneering work in public-key cryptography. He provides Cortex with support in trusted computing encryption technology.
As a world-renowned expert in cryptography and cybersecurity, he joined Sun Microsystems Laboratories in 1991 where he served as the Chief Security Officer and Vice President until November 2009.
After a long career at Sun Microsystems, where he became a Sun Fellow, Diffie has worked as visiting scholar and consulting scholar at various research institutions and labs including Stanford University, Zhejiang University, Cryptic Labs, and ICANN.
Kris Singh
Strategic Advisor
Currently a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Kris is advising Cortex on the blockchain economy and chip manufacturing design.
Kris is the founder of the global organization SRII which provides advisory services to major industry and government organizations regarding innovation in the digital economy. He has worked as a senior executive in Silicon Valley for more than 30 years, working with companies such as IBM, Intel and AMD. He was an Industry Fellow in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley and an adjunct professor in the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science department at Santa Clara University, California.
Kris Singh
Strategic Advisor
Currently a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Kris is advising Cortex on the blockchain economy and chip manufacturing design.
Kris is the founder of the global organization SRII which provides advisory services to major industry and government organizations regarding innovation in the digital economy. He has worked as a senior executive in Silicon Valley for more than 30 years, working with companies such as IBM, Intel and AMD. He was an Industry Fellow in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley and an adjunct professor in the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science department at Santa Clara University, California.
Heting Shen
Business Advisor
Retired CEO and Chairman of China Metallurgical Group Corporation.
Heting Shen
Business Advisor
Retired CEO and Chairman of China Metallurgical Group Corporation.
Vincent Zhou
Strategic Advisor
Founder of FBG
Vincent Zhou
Strategic Advisor
Founder of FBG