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Exclusive | Epstein funded AI pioneer, helped him get HK$8.9 million in Hong Kong government grants

US government documents show financier’s funding support for Ben Goertzel, who once led AI and robotics projects in city

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Email exchanges in the Epstein files show that the financier provided at least US$113,000 to the academic’s open-source AI framework for at least five years. Photo: AP
Connor Mycroft
Jeffrey Epstein committed at least US$113,000 to American scholar Ben Goertzel – known for popularising the term “artificial general intelligence” – to help him secure at least HK$8.9 million in Hong Kong government grants at a top city university, a South China Morning Post investigation has found.
The almost two-decade relationship between Epstein and computer scientist Goertzel, who previously built artificial intelligence (AI) architecture at Polytechnic University (PolyU), was disclosed in an SCMP review of nearly 800 pages from the 3 million-page trove of files released by the United States Justice Department on the disgraced financier.
Goertzel was based in the city in the 2010s, where he served as chief scientist with Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, helping to develop its humanoid robot, Sophia. He has since relocated to the US but still lists himself as a Hong Kong permanent resident on his website.
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Email exchanges in the Epstein files showed that the late convicted sex offender provided at least US$113,000 to support OpenCog, Goertzel’s open-source AI framework, for at least five years from 2010 to 2015, and unlocked millions of Hong Kong dollars in government funding.

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What were Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to people in Hong Kong?

What were Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to people in Hong Kong?

In 2015, as Goertzel sought an additional US$25,000 in financing after Epstein’s underage sex activities returned to the headlines, the scientist wrote to the financier that the allegations could possibly be “an occurrence among reasonably mature people who mutually consented at the time”.

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There is no evidence that connects Goetzel with the illegal acts committed by Epstein, who had embedded himself in the worlds of elite politics, academia and science. Rather, the correspondence sheds light on how the scientist curried favour with Epstein to tap into his vast wealth.

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