Jacob Robert Steeves, the co-founder of Bittensor, has made significant contributions to decentralized AI, particularly through his leadership in developing a blockchain network that compensates contributors with TAO tokens for their work on AI models.
Background and Education
A Canadian software engineer, Steeves studied Mathematics and Computer Science at Simon Fraser University from 2011 to 2015, earning his Bachelor of Applied Science. His career began at Knowm Inc. as a machine learning researcher from 2015 to 2016, followed by a position at Google’s Brain team until April 2018, where he focused on large-scale machine learning systems.
Early Development of Bittensor
Steeves conceived the idea for Bittensor around 2015 while researching adaptive computing. He continued to refine the concept during his tenure at Google and committed to the project full-time in 2018. In collaboration with Ala Shaabana, also known as “ShibShib,” he co-founded Bittensor in 2019. The project launched its mainnet in January 2021 through the Opentensor Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to its development.
Leadership Transition and Current Role
In February 2026, Steeves announced his resignation as CEO of the Opentensor Foundation alongside Shaabana, describing the change as a shift in structure rather than in his ongoing activities. He continues to participate in the foundation's operations, such as attending meetings and writing chain code. This leadership shift is part of a 2026 roadmap aimed at enhancing the network's decentralized governance, which includes plans to boost validator competition and implement conviction-based voting for TAO holders.
Alongside his work with Bittensor, Steeves has taken the CEO position at Affine, a subnet focused on reinforcement learning research, reinforcing his commitment to advancing the technology he helped establish. He has actively represented Bittensor at various industry events, including the Proof of Talk Summit in Paris and Korea Blockchain Week 2025 in Seoul.
