Dan Mapes is Founder and President of VERSES AI (www.verses.ai)(CBOE NEO exchange: VERS). VERSES has developed a new type of AI called "Active Inference" AI. Gartner calls this "First Principles AI". This AI provides a direct path to a SAFER form of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Active Inference is a form of Natural Intelligence because it is founded on the "Free Energy Principle" which is how sentience emerges in all living things. It is based on the breakthrough research of the world's leading neuroscientist, Dr. Karl Friston, who is Chief Scientist of VERSES. Search under "Active Inference", "Free Energy Principle", "Dr. Karl Friston" VIDEO SUMMARY (https://www.verses.ai/year-in-ai-2023-video) Dan is also Founder and Director of THE SPATIAL WEB FOUNDATION enabling a new Spatial Internet based on the HyperSpace Transaction Protocol - HSTP (Spatialwebfoundation.org) (IEEE Standard P2874). The Spatial Web enables Active Inference AGI to be networked and decentralized globally. This global network functions as an AI ecosystem leading to an ever-evolving "Collective Intelligence". Applications can range from the very general (Climate Management, etc,) to the very specific (individual health and education applications, etc.) which can be developed by individuals, businesses or governments anywhere. "Collective Intelligence" Summary (https://www.verses.ai/rd-blog/executive-summary-designing-ecosystems-of-intelligence-from-first-principles) Dan co-authored the best-selling book - The Spatial Web - and is often a keynote speaker on the impact of AI, Metaverse, Blockchains and the Spatial Web on business and society. Dan was awarded the Flood Fellowship for his PhD studies at UC Berkeley with C.West Churchman (Applied Systems Theory) and Erich Jantsch (Evolutionary Systems Design). He left after two years to apply what he had learned by starting his first company. He is an avid sailor, diver and mountain biker who is also committed to a sustainable environment.