Jordan Gray is the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of PublicAI. His work focuses on the intersection of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, and design, with a stated mission to redefine how technology empowers global communities. ^[1]​

Education

Jordan Gray’s education includes training in both traditional practices and formal academic programs across technical and creative fields.

Between 2015 and 2019, he completed the Dayan Qigong Teacher Training Certification in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese Herbology at Wen Wu, El Cerrito. Dayan Qigong is a meditative system with a documented lineage spanning 29 generations. Its structure is comparable to Tai Chi in form, though it is oriented toward internal regulation rather than martial use. The practice does not require specialized equipment and may be performed in standard clothing. It consists of a fixed sequence of 64 movements and is commonly associated with physical coordination, balance, and mind body awareness. In applied settings, it has been used for general wellness purposes, including relaxation, sleep regulation, and energy management, as well as in contexts related to pain management and blood pressure control.

From 1999 to 2003, Gray earned a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) from the University of Minnesota, with an emphasis on Computer Science, Journalism, and Studio Arts through the ICP program. The curriculum combined coursework in computing with studies in communication and visual arts, resulting in a multidisciplinary academic profile. ^[6]

Career

PublicAI: Decentralizing AI Data

As the Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of PublicAI, Jordan Gray leads the strategy for a project aiming to fundamentally alter how data for artificial intelligence is sourced and validated. ^[1] PublicAI is structured as a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN), a model that uses token incentives to build and maintain real-world infrastructure in a distributed manner. In this case, the "infrastructure" is a global network of human contributors who perform data-related tasks such as annotation, labeling, and verification. The project's mission is to create a more equitable system for AI development by providing "meaningful earning opportunities" to a global workforce, circumventing the geographic and financial barriers of traditional employment. ^[1]​

The core technological and philosophical concept behind PublicAI is "Distributed Human Intelligence." Gray has explained that this system is not meant to replace large-scale AI but to complement it, particularly at the "inference" stage. Inference is the process where a trained AI model makes real-time predictions or decisions based on new data. Gray identifies this as the critical juncture where "AI meets business" and where human feedback is essential to ensure the quality, reliability, and ethical standing of AI outputs. By integrating a layer of human oversight, PublicAI aims to address the "black box" problem of AI and provide auditable accountability. ^[2]​

The PublicAI network operates using several blockchain-native mechanisms. It uses a blockchain as a coordination layer to manage tasks and a payment rail to distribute compensation, often in stablecoins, to its international contributor base. To maintain high data quality and prevent manipulation, the system includes:

• Reputation Systems: A mechanism to track the historical performance and reliability of each contributor, allowing their input to be weighted accordingly.
• Staking Mechanisms: Contributors may be required to "stake" or lock up a certain amount of cryptocurrency as collateral, creating an economic incentive for honest participation and disincentivizing spam or malicious activity.
• Tiered Governance Roles: The network includes a hierarchy of roles, such as "contributors" who perform initial tasks, "validators" who review their work, and "judges" who resolve disputes. This structure is designed to function as a decentralized quality assurance pipeline. ^[2]

The network has demonstrated rapid growth, with a reported contributor base of over 500,000 in early 2025 growing to over 1.6 million by August of the same year. ^{[1] [2]} A significant development occurred on September 17, 2025, when Gray announced that PublicAI was collaborating with Abaka AI (2077.ai) through a $10.24 million fund. This partnership aims to expand the network to over 3 million "Data Builders" across more than 200 countries. Gray framed this expansion with the declaration "DECENTRALIZE OR BUST," positioning PublicAI directly against the centralized models of large tech companies. PublicAI also has a strategic partnership with Nexus, a distributed compute provider. Gray describes this collaboration as combining Nexus's "distributed compute" with PublicAI's "distributed intelligence" to build a more human-centric technological future. ^{[3] [2]}​

A use case provided by Gray illustrates the system in action: a client required a clean, trusted dataset of dog nose photos to train a pet biometric identification model. The PublicAI network was tasked with this goal. Contributors had to first pass a qualifying quiz. They then submitted original photos from specified angles. These submissions were subjected to both automated mechanical checks and peer review by other network participants. This multi-layered verification process resulted in a high-quality, validated dataset that was delivered to the client within days, with all participating contributors being compensated for their work in stablecoins. ^[2]​

Previous Roles and Technical Background

Gray's work at PublicAI builds on a career spanning design, decentralized infrastructure, and growth marketing. At NEAR Protocol, he served as the DAO Infrastructure Lead. In this role, he was responsible for the systems governing Decentralized Autonomous Organizations built on the NEAR blockchain, which collectively secured over $2 billion in assets. This experience gave him deep insights into decentralized governance, coordination, and on-chain treasury management, all core components of the PublicAI model. ^[1]​

His connection to the NEAR ecosystem extends beyond his formal role. He remains an active advocate and participant, particularly within its NFT community. In April 2022, he tweeted, "NEAR NFTs are bigger than I thought," signaling his recognition of the ecosystem's burgeoning creative scene. He has used his platform to promote NEAR-based NFT projects such as El Cafe Cartel and is known for using a PFP from the DataBabies333 collection. His long-term commitment was highlighted in a July 2025 post where he humorously declared himself "the undisputed diamond hand king of NEAR NFT." ^[3]​

Before his deep dive into web3, Gray was a Manager at Google, where he led the company's Material Design System. A design system is a comprehensive set of standards, components, and tools that help manage design at scale. By managing this system, which was used on thousands of Google's marketing pages, Gray gained experience in building and maintaining large-scale, cohesive digital experiences, a skill set relevant to creating a user-friendly and scalable platform for a global network of contributors at PublicAI. ^[1]​

His professional history also points to experience in the fintech industry. Sources suggest he held a growth or marketing position at Bilt Rewards, a fintech startup that created a credit card allowing users to earn points on rent payments. While the exact title and duration of this role are not specified in the provided materials, it indicates a background in user acquisition and market penetration within a competitive technology sector. Additionally, a planned interview with the Medium blog for the NFT marketplace Endemic suggests a past affiliation or recognized expertise in the NFT space, though the content of this interview is not publicly available. ^{[4] [5] [6]}​

CODAME ART + TECH

Gray has demonstrated a long-term commitment to fostering creative communities at the intersection of art and technology. In 2010, he co-founded the non-profit organization CODAME ART + TECH and currently serves as a Director. The organization's mission is to "spark innovation through play," which it achieves by creating inclusive and inspiring environments for artists and technologists to collaborate. ^{[1] [3]}​

Since its founding, CODAME has engaged a community of more than 20,000 individuals through a variety of formats, including workshops, exhibitions, and immersive events. These initiatives encourage experimentation and the cross-pollination of ideas between different fields, celebrating the unexpected creations that arise from playful exploration. Gray's role in co-founding and directing this organization highlights a consistent thread in his career: building communities and platforms that empower individual creators, a principle that extends from the art world to the decentralized economy of PublicAI. ^[1]​

Art and Creative Identity

​Parallel to his professional career, Gray maintains an active practice as an artist. He produces audio-visual art under the open-source friendly "CC-BY AV ART" designation, releasing his work with a Creative Commons Attribution license that permits others to share and build upon it. This aligns with the ethos of open and collaborative creation prevalent in both the web3 and open-source software communities. He also creates music under the handle k9d@merveilles.town, which he shares on the decentralized social media platform Mastodon (part of the Fediverse). ^[3]​

His art, which he began sharing digitally in the crypto space as early as October 2020, demonstrates an early adoption of NFTs and crypto art before the market boom of 2021. Thematically, his work often explores subject matter directly related to his professional interests, including artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D design, and anime aesthetics. This artistic exploration of AI and futuristic themes provides a creative counterpart to his technical work in building AI infrastructure. His public persona is a blend of these technical and creative worlds, represented by his alias "starpause," his Chinese name 乔丹 (Qiáodān), and his Yat identity, 🔮💦🐣💦🔮.y.at. ^[3]​

Public Appearances and Commentary

Gray is a frequent speaker at industry events and a vocal commentator on the future of AI and decentralization.

Conferences and Media

Gray has been featured as a speaker at Consensus, a major global conference series for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. On February 19, 2025, he spoke at Consensus Hong Kong on a panel titled "Inspiration from DeepSeek Success for Web3AI." His co-panelists included Joelly Gloria of Meta, Jeff Ren of OKX, and spark_ren. He is also scheduled for a speaking engagement at the following year's Consensus Hong Kong conference, to be held from February 18-20, 2026. ^{[1] [3] [4]}​

On August 6, 2025, Gray appeared as a guest on Episode 2 of the Exponential: A Nexus Podcast. He used the platform to provide a detailed overview of PublicAI's mission and mechanics. He argued that as the "AI work revolution happens," proactive steps must be taken to ensure human contributors are fairly compensated. He explained that a decentralized model is uniquely suited for this, noting, “If you want to do distributed human intelligence, you need a way of paying people that works globally and web3 is perfect for that.” He also formalized the partnership narrative with Nexus, stating that the two projects "dovetail perfectly" to create a "more human, happier vision of the future.” ^[2]​

Philosophy on Decentralized AI

Gray's commentary consistently advocates for decentralized systems as a necessary counterbalance to the centralizing forces of big tech in AI development. His philosophy is perhaps best encapsulated by his September 2025 post on X.com, made in response to news of layoffs of AI trainers at xAI and Google. He posted: "⛔️ xAI fires 500 trainers ⛔️ Google fires 200 trainers ✅ joins , bringing new opportunities to 3M+ Data Builders in 200+ countries through a $10.24M fund 🤝 DECENTRALIZE OR BUST". This statement positions PublicAI not just as a technology but as a socio-economic alternative. ^[3]​

Further insights from his public statements reveal a pragmatic yet principled approach to system design:

• On the moral imperative of system design: “Unless somebody is taking tangible steps toward building a future where human participation is valued, it’s very easy to spiral into passive dystopian outcomes.” ^[2]
• On accountability in AI: “The AI itself can’t be held accountable for decisions… ultimately a human is still in control when it comes to important, impactful decisions.” This highlights his belief in maintaining human agency and oversight within automated systems. ^[2]
• On the nature of decentralized systems: “When you’re talking about decentralized coordination… what you build winds up looking a lot like governance.” This reflects his experience from NEAR Protocol and his understanding that technical infrastructure for decentralized projects is inseparable from social and political structures. ^[2]

Interviews

Why AI Models Need Human Data #01

In an interview published on December 18, 2025, on the YouTube channel Tech Ascent, Jordan Gray, Co Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of PublicAI, discusses his views on the role of human generated data in the development and deployment of AI models used in production environments.

During the interview, Gray describes PublicAI as a platform designed to connect organizations that require human generated datasets with a distributed network of contributors. According to his explanation, the network includes more than 3.5 million registered participants who submit data in formats such as video, audio, images, and text. He states that this type of data is used to support tasks including model training, validation, and evaluation.

Gray explains that, from his perspective, synthetic data does not fully replace data derived from real human behavior and real world conditions. He associates this limitation with challenges related to data diversity, contextual accuracy, and model performance when systems are deployed outside controlled environments.

He further outlines PublicAI’s data sourcing model, which relies on direct participation rather than indirect aggregation or large scale scraping. According to Gray, this structure allows client organizations to request datasets with specific demographic or contextual attributes. He also notes that contributors are compensated directly for completed tasks, with payment structures differing from those commonly associated with traditional data labeling pipelines.

The interview also addresses platform growth. Gray states that PublicAI expanded its contributor base from fewer than one million users to over 3.5 million within approximately one year. He links this increase to the early integration of Web3 based payment mechanisms, including crypto denominated payouts, which lowered barriers for participation among digitally native communities.

In discussing communication and positioning, Gray explains that PublicAI applies a marketing approach intended to be accessible to both technical and non technical audiences. He describes this approach as emphasizing clarity and relatability while maintaining alignment with enterprise level use cases.

Regarding future development, Gray indicates that PublicAI plans to streamline onboarding processes for organizations, particularly small and medium sized businesses, and to support additional payment options beyond crypto based systems. He presents these initiatives as part of an effort to extend participation and maintain a scalable supply of human generated data for AI related applications. ^[7]