Peter Voss is a trailblazer in Artificial Intelligence, credited with coining the term Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in 2001 alongside fellow AI visionaries. With a deep-rooted passion for intelligence both human and artificial he has spent decades pioneering advancements to bring human-level AI to reality.
Peter Voss is a globally recognized thought leader in Artificial Intelligence and Artificial General Intelligence. A highly sought-after speaker, he has delivered keynote addresses at major industry events, including the CIO Conference in Southern California, where he spoke to an audience of 400 CIOs and SXSW 2025 on the Future of AI among others. An engineer at heart, a scientist by curiosity, and an inventor by nature, Peter has founded multiple AI companies, each pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. His lifelong mission is to develop AGI that not only mimics human cognitive abilities but actively enhances human potential, driving innovation for human flourishing across industries.
Peter began his career in electronics engineering but soon discovered a deep passion for software. His first major success came from developing a comprehensive ERP package, propelling the company from its inception to a 400-person IPO in just seven years.
Driven by the inherent lack of intelligence in software, Peter spent the last two decades exploring the nature of intelligence how it develops in humans and the evolving capabilities of AI. His unique background and curiosity led him to deeply study cognitive science, epistemology, psychology, philosophy, ethics, theory of mind combined with small amounts of data and coding, all of which wrapped under a robust Theory of Intelligence. With this background, he founded Adaptive AI Inc. in December 2001 with the goal of researching and developing a commercially viable general-purpose AI engine. In 2006, he successfully commercialized an earlier iteration of his work through SmartAction.
He is able to integrate his insights from the following areas that are crucial for rapid progress in Artificial General Intelligence supported by a robust Theory of Intelligence: • Rationality, as a means for knowledge. He’s largely sympathetic to the philosophy of Objectivism, and has done quite a bit of work on developing a rational approach to (personal & social) ethics. • Health (quality): physical, financial, cognitive, and emotional (passions, meaningful relationships, appreciation of art, etc.). Psychology: IQ & EQ. • Longevity (quantity): general research, CRON (calorie restriction), and cryonics. • Environment: economic, social, and political systems conducive to Optimal Living. These interests logically lead to an interest in Futurism, in technology for improving life – overcoming limits to personal growth & improvement. The transhumanist philosophy of Extropianism best embodies this quest. Specific technologies that seem to hold most promise include AI, Nanotechnology, and various health & longevity approaches mentioned above.
Peter authored Essentials of General Intelligence: The direct path to AGI, Calorie Poisoning: Civilization’s Exploding Killer Disease, True Morality – Rational Principles for Optimal Living, The Nature of Freewill, Advanced Intelligence: SI, IA, and the Global Brain, Why Machines will become Hyper-Intelligent before Humans do, SIAI’s Guidelines for building “Friendly” AI, Metaphysics – it’s simpler than you think, De-scription versus Pre-scription – and other Ethical Confusions, Longevity – Major Factors Determining Life-Span, and Extropy NOW! Cognitive Science – intelligence starts with cognition (human-like, human-level) Philosophy/ epistemology – understanding the true nature of knowledge. Psychology (including developmental & psychometric) for analysis of cognition and especially theory of mind, general conceptual intelligence. Computer science – self-modifying systems, combining new connectionist pattern manipulation techniques with “traditional” AI engineering. His other big passion is for exploring what he calls Optimal Living: Maximizing both the quantity & quality of life. He sees personal responsibility and optimizing knowledge acquisition as key. Specific interests include:
