Cortina | Max Versace

As the debate on hashtag#AI is raging…. our identity is somehow under threat. Are we just machines – about to be overcome – or is there something more to

About

I am the co-founder and CEO of Neurala Inc., a Boston-based company building Artificial Intelligence emulating brain function in software. Neurala’s deep learning tech makes robots, drones, cars, consumer electronics, toys and smart devices more useful, engaging and autonomous. Neurala stems out of 10 years of research at Boston University Neuromorphics Lab, where as AI Professor I have pioneered the research and fielding of brain-inspired (also called Deep Learning, or Artificial Neural Networks) algorithms that allow robots and drones to perceive, navigate, interact and learn real-time in complex environments.

Over my academic and industrial career, I have lectured and spoken at dozens of events and venues, including TEDx, keynote at Mobile World Congress Drone Summit, NASA, the Pentagon, GTC, InterDrone, Los Alamo National Lab, GE, Air Force Research Labs, HP, iRobot, Samsung, LG, Qualcomm, Huawei, Ericsson, BAE Systems, AI World, Mitsubishi, ABB and Accenture, among many others.

My work has been featured in TIME, IEEE Spectrum, Fortune, CNBC, The Boston Globe, Xconomy, The Chicago Tribune, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Nasdaq, Associated Press and many other media.

Career and company awards include: CB Insights 100 Most Promising AI Companies, Draper Venture Network Most Innovative Company, Disruptor Daily 100 Most Disruptive Companies, Edison Award Best New Product in Social Innovation.

In 2026, I was induced to the Space Foundation Hall of Fame for his seminal work on AI applied to robotics.

I am a Fulbright scholar, hold several patents and two Ph.Ds: Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University; Experimental Psychology, University of Trieste, Italy.

TEDx Cortina: Unlocking the AI Mirror

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