“Jason thinks like a philosopher and builds like an architect. He's the person I trust when the work has to be right — not just functional, not just beautiful, but truly right for the people it's meant to serve. I've known him for thirty years and haven't met anyone else who does what he does. The work is always better because he's involved.”
— Mark Nitzberg, Ph.D.
Founding Executive Director, UC Berkeley Center for Human-Compatible AI
Co-founder, International Association for Safe & Ethical AI
I help humans help humans.
Everything we design, build, write, and share is an act of offering — something given by one person or organization to serve another. The quality of that offering depends on two kinds of understanding: knowing what you have to give, and knowing what others truly need.
My work is grounded in the conviction that understanding the human condition — what we experience, what we need, and what we can offer each other — is a discipline that can be studied and practiced with rigor. I draw on studies of cognitive science, psychology, computer science, and design at Harvard; deep training in the Tibetan sciences of mind and medicine, which have investigated the nature of awareness and experience for thousands of years; and three decades of practice as a designer, educator, and health practitioner, which has taught me how to translate what I’ve learned into work that actually serves people.
For 30 years, I’ve helped others discover, articulate, and give form to what they uniquely offer — across the frontiers of AI, robotics, assistive tech, fintech, healthcare, public service, and the arts. I’ve helped organizations of every size become coherent, humane, and effective — advising on strategy, building brands featured on NPR and HBO, developing international nonprofits, cultivating thriving communities, designing products used by hundreds of thousands, and writing grants funded by the NIH.
What is human has never mattered more. We’re living through a time when synthetic intelligence is reshaping how we create, communicate, and relate. The tools are extraordinary. But it is people who know what truly matters. The most important question of our time is not what technology can do, but how we ensure it serves what people truly need.
Select Engagements
Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence
Advised on brand identity for UC Berkeley's pioneering AI safety research center, led by Turing Award-winner Stuart Russell, establishing the public face of AI alignment with human values
Blindsight
Strategic advisor on brand, product design, and grant development for AI-powered assistive technology serving 200,000+ blind and low-vision users; acquired by Amazon
Anybots
Led brand and messaging for iconic Silicon Valley robotics firm created by Y Combinator co-founder Trevor Blackwell; featured in HBO’s acclaimed series Silicon Valley
Viaweb
Customer experience research and design for the pioneering web application company founded by Paul Graham and Robert Morris, widely credited as the first software-as-a-service; acquired by Yahoo, where it became Yahoo! Store
Smartleaf
Branding, messaging, and experience design for fintech firm managing $50B+ in assets, helping make custom portfolio management accessible to all
Creativity Explored
User research, experience design, product and program development, community building, and 10 years of strategic growth transforming a beloved San Francisco art studio into an internationally-recognized champion of creative expression and disability rights
Sorig Khang
Founded, built, and directed Tibetan Medicine nonprofit, brand, messaging, online presence, marketing, and educational programs for an international community of students, practitioners, and patients
If you’re working on something that matters, I’d welcome a conversation.
With my best wishes,
Jason
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.”