Ben Wu is a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of multiple ventures in the artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain sectors. He is the co-founder of Pin AI, a company that develops personal AI solutions and user-controlled data wallets. His earlier work includes co-founding Raven Tech, a voice AI company that participated in the Y Combinator accelerator program and was later acquired by Baidu. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Ben Wu completed his undergraduate studies at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He later attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), obtaining a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. His graduate coursework at MIT included subjects such as entrepreneurship, innovation, product design, manufacturing systems, supply chains, and management in engineering. Wu also holds a graduate certificate in the management of technology from the National University of Singapore and participated in a leadership enrichment and regional networking exchange program at Nanyang Technological University. In 2015, he took part in the Winter batch of the Y Combinator accelerator program with his company, Raven Tech. ^{[3] [2]}

Career

Wu began his career in 2012 as a founding team member at DevTech Hub, an organization that worked on applying Israeli technology to challenges in developing regions. During the same year, he interned as an operations management consultant at Applied Materials, where he focused on production planning methods to shorten lead times and improve manufacturing capacity. From 2012 to 2014, Wu worked as a software engineer at Oracle, where he contributed to the development and enhancement of Network File System (NFS) products and related industry standards. ^[4]

In 2014, Wu co-founded Raven Tech, a voice AI company. The company was accepted into Y Combinator's Winter 2015 batch. Raven Tech was acquired by the Chinese technology firm Baidu in 2017. Following his work with Raven Tech, Wu shifted his focus to the financial technology sector. In 2015, he co-founded S Financial, an enterprise fintech solutions provider, and served as its CEO until 2017. From 2018 to 2020, he continued with the company in the role of chairman and co-founder, overseeing its operations in China. ^{[4] [2]}

Between 2020 and 2022, Wu co-founded Prisma Technology Limited, a studio focused on blockchain technology. He then co-founded GAlpha.ai, where he worked from 2023 until early 2024. In 2024, he co-founded EdgeAI Technology Limited, a venture concentrated on developing personal and privacy-oriented AI systems, which serves as the entity behind his current initiative, Pin AI. ^[4]

Pin AI

Wu is the co-founder of Pin AI, a company building a network for personal AI. The project's stated mission is to address the problem of fragmented personal data by enabling users to aggregate information from various digital platforms into a secure "data wallet" that they control. The platform is designed to power on-device and privacy-preserving AI systems, placing users at the center of the AI economy. The founding team includes individuals with backgrounds from organizations such as Ethereum, Google Brain, Stanford, and MIT. ^{[1] [5]}

In September 2024, Pin AI announced it had raised $10 million in a funding round. Key investors included Hack VC and a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), with participation from angel investors and firms such as Big Brain Holdings, Symbolic Capital, Foresight Ventures, and G20 Ventures. ^{[1] [6]} By May 2025, Wu reported that the platform had grown to several million users and was handling millions of daily agent interactions. ^[5]

The company's products include a mobile application for data aggregation and real-time transcription, as well as a Telegram-based mini-app called "Hi PIN," which launched in October 2024. Pin AI's technical architecture utilizes a hybrid computation model, dynamically shifting inference tasks between a user's device (edge) and the cloud to balance performance and privacy. The system also incorporates hardware-based Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and cryptographic proofs to secure user data. ^{[1] [6]}

Public Appearances and Views on AI

Wu has spoken at industry events about his vision for the future of artificial intelligence, focusing on themes of decentralization, user data ownership, and the evolution of AI agents.

BASSLite Devcon 2025 Presentation

In a presentation titled "Coordination Layer for Personal AI" at BASSLite Devcon in February 2025, Wu and Pin AI's Head of Engineering, Regan Peng, discussed the trajectory of personal AI. Wu questioned whether the future of personal AI would remain centralized within large technology companies like Apple and Microsoft or shift toward more decentralized models. He argued that large platforms face "structural and regulatory constraints" due to data silos and a lack of interoperability, which creates an opportunity for alternative approaches. He outlined a vision centered on user control over personal data and the use of locally deployed AI models. Peng then detailed the project's ecosystem architecture, explaining how user data, connectors, and intent-matching mechanisms interact through defined protocols to execute tasks.

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The presentation concluded with a discussion of the company's plans to support additional third-party AI agents and encourage broader developer participation in the ecosystem. The event was co-hosted by the Stanford Blockchain Club's BASSLite initiative and Pin AI. ^[7]

Consensus 2025 Interview

In May 2025, Wu was interviewed by Ian Khan at the Consensus conference, where he discussed the development of Pin AI. He reiterated that the project's goal was to address fragmented personal data by aggregating it from multiple digital platforms to power personal AI systems and data wallets. During the interview, he defined his view of "agentic AI" as task-specific software designed to reduce repetitive work. Wu compared the state of AI at the time to the early, uncertain stages of the internet, noting parallels in public and industrial adjustment. He also described his expectation that personal AI would evolve from reactive tools into proactive assistants capable of offering contextual recommendations for work, travel, and decision-making.

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At the same conference, Wu was scheduled to speak at two sessions: "Meet Your Super Intelligent Personal Assistant" and "PIN AI: Your AI, Your Data." ^{[5] [2]}

Awards and Recognition

Wu was included on the Forbes China 30 Under 30 list for his work as an entrepreneur. ^[2]