Sentient is a San Francisco-based technology company focused on developing open-source Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The organization's primary project is "the GRID," an open intelligence network designed to orchestrate a multitude of AI models, agents, data, and tools. ^{[1] [2]}

Overview

Sentient's stated mission is to ensure that Artificial General Intelligence remains open-source and is not controlled by any single entity. The organization operates on the principle that an open development model will ultimately surpass the progress of closed, proprietary AI labs. In line with this philosophy, Sentient releases all of its research and technological breakthroughs as open-source contributions. A central tenet of its approach is expressed in its official communications: "Every breakthrough is released open-source, driving our mission and proving openness outpaces closed labs at every step." ^[1]

The core of Sentient's work is the development of "the GRID," which it describes as an open intelligence network. This network is designed to serve as a foundational infrastructure for orchestrating a wide array of AI components, including over 100 models, agents, data sources, and tools, enabling them to function as a cohesive system. The project, based in San Francisco, California, was in a BETA phase as of September 2025. ^[1]

History

Sentient's public presence began with the creation of its official X (formerly Twitter) account in February 2024. The organization formally introduced its mission and projects with a blog post titled "What is Sentient" on June 3, 2025.

Throughout mid-2025, Sentient published a series of research papers and articles detailing its work on AI coding capabilities, agent security vulnerabilities, and the architecture of its core project, the GRID. Key technology announcements during this period included the introduction of the ROMA framework on September 8, 2025. ^{[1] [2]}

In September 2025, the project reported a period of significant activity and growth. On September 16, Sentient announced a major upgrade to the GRID and a new feature for its Sentient Chat platform called "Spaces." The following day, the company reported onboarding 15,000 new users to Sentient Chat within a 12-hour period. This was followed by the announcement of a partnership with Tria for agent payments on September 18 and its planned participation in Korea Blockchain Week later that month. ^[2]

Technology

Sentient's development efforts cover a full stack of AI technologies, from foundational models and agentic frameworks to security protocols. ^[1]

The GRID

The GRID is Sentient's central project, described as an open intelligence network intended to integrate and orchestrate more than 100 different AI models, agents, data sources, and tools. It is designed to function as the backbone of the Sentient ecosystem, allowing disparate AI components to operate as a unified system. ^[1]

Sentient Chat

Sentient Chat serves as the primary public interface and gateway to the GRID. The platform allows users to interact with technologies developed within the ecosystem, test open-source repositories, and provide feedback. It is described as the infrastructure that connects the various elements of the GRID. ^{[1] [2]}

A key feature introduced in September 2025 is "Spaces," designed to streamline user workflows by consolidating information gathering and tools into a single interface, reducing the need for multiple browser tabs. Spaces also incorporates AI-powered analysis, providing users with additional context when they interact with different modules within the interface. ^[2]

ROMA (Recursive Open Meta Agent)

ROMA is an open-source framework developed by Sentient for creating high-performance multi-agent systems. The framework is engineered to address complex tasks by recursively breaking down large objectives into smaller, manageable subtasks. The results from these subtasks are then recombined to achieve long-horizon reasoning. Sentient claims that ROMA's performance surpasses that of comparable closed-source systems. ^[1]

Dobby

Dobby is an AI model described by Sentient as the "world’s first fingerprinted AI model." It was developed with a community co-ownership model, reportedly involving over 700,000 individuals. The model was explicitly trained and aligned with values described as "pro-crypto and pro-freedom." Its development and principles are detailed in a publication titled "The Dobby Report." ^[1]

Research and Publications

Sentient actively publishes its research findings to support its open-source mission. The organization's work focuses on enhancing model capabilities, security, and performance evaluation. ^[1]

Open Deep Search

Sentient developed Open Deep Search, a system that combines open-source Large Language Models (LLMs) with reasoning agents and a proprietary search tool. The organization published research claiming this system achieves performance superior to the GPT-4o Search Preview. The associated paper is available on arXiv. ^[1]

Fingerprinting

To address model security and provenance, Sentient created a cryptographic library for "fingerprinting" AI models. This technology embeds undetectable and verifiable digital signatures directly into a model's parameters, which allows for the secure tracking of a model's origin and ownership. ^[1]

Benchmarking

The organization develops custom, high-fidelity benchmarks to evaluate AI performance in specialized domains that may be overlooked by general-purpose evaluations. These benchmarks focus on areas such as fair coding practices, alignment with crypto-centric values, and governance principles. ^[1]

Agent Security

Sentient's research into agent security has identified significant vulnerabilities within existing open-source agent frameworks. A key area of focus has been "Context Manipulation Attacks," where external inputs can be manipulated to compromise an agent's behavior. The research also demonstrated that specifically fine-tuned models can be more resilient to such attacks and can enhance overall agent security. ^[1]

Partnerships

Sentient has established partnerships to expand the capabilities and ecosystem of the GRID.

In September 2025, Sentient announced a partnership with Tria to serve as the agent payment partner for the GRID. Tria's infrastructure, including its "BestPath" technology, is intended to facilitate seamless financial settlements for AI agents, humans, and other entities on the network. This integration allows agents to trade, transfer, or spend assets across various blockchain and traditional financial systems. ^[2]

The organization is also associated with ecosystem initiatives such as @SentientEco and the @OpenAGISummit, indicating broader community and event involvement. ^[2]

Team and Investors

According to its official website, Sentient's research team is composed of individuals from leading universities and AI laboratories, though specific members are not publicly named. ^[1]

The project has received backing from several prominent individual and institutional investors in the technology and cryptocurrency sectors. Notable individual investors include Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan. Institutional investors include Framework Ventures, Polychain Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Nascent, Figment Capital, dao5, Anagram, Archetype, Collab+Currency, and Symbolic Capital. ^[1]