# Jason Alan Snyder

Canonical site: https://www.evilrobot.com. Updated 2026-09-23.

## Who he is

Jason Alan Snyder, known as JAS, is an American inventor, technologist, and futurist based in New York City.
As of September 2026 he is Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer of Artists & Robots, the Creative Intelligence Studio in New York he started in 2025 with Heather Salkin, and Co-Founder of SuperTruth, a data truth company.
He founded EVIL ROBOT MFG. in 1992, and it remains active.
He holds 30+ patents, including the JAGTAG mobile code system (2007), the Luci inflatable solar lantern (2012), and the DUETI commerce platform (2013).
From 2013 to September 2025 he held technology leadership roles at Momentum Worldwide, ending as Global Chief Technology Officer and then its first Global Chief AI Officer.
He writes for Forbes, chaired the 4A's AI Committee in 2024, was named to Adweek's AI Power 50 in 2026, and has spoken at the Milken Institute Global Conference (2025), World Summit AI in Amsterdam (2025), and the United Nations (2024).
His book, Human After Friction, is represented by Michael Bourret of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

Name: Jason Alan Snyder. Also written: JAS, Jason Snyder. Title: Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer, Artists & Robots, a Creative Intelligence Studio; Co-Founder, SuperTruth.
Wikidata: Q141434358 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q141434358)
ORCID: 0009-0001-6157-8100 (https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6157-8100)
Knows about: Artificial intelligence, AI ethics, Data consent and provenance, Health data integrity, Mobile visual search, Augmented reality, Solar lighting, Experiential marketing, Invention and patents, Futurism.

## Companies

SuperTruth (2020), Co-Founder. SuperTruth is a data truth company. https://supertruth.ai
Artists & Robots (2025), Co-Founder and Chief AI Officer. Creative Intelligence Studio in New York, co-founded in 2025 by Jason Alan Snyder and Heather Salkin. https://www.artistsandrobots.com
EVIL ROBOT MFG. (1992), Founder. Founded by Jason Alan Snyder in 1992. The original company and still active. https://www.evilrobot.com

## The five frameworks

### 01. Friction Is Form™

Friction is not failure. It is the ignition.

Friction is the architecture of experience. It slows us down to the speed of meaning, makes surprise possible, and reminds us we are alive.

Systems optimized for total efficiency produce flatness. When everything is frictionless, nothing is felt. The struggle to understand is where understanding lives. The effort to connect is what makes connection real.

Friction Is Form™ is not a critique of technology. It is a demand for intention. Build resistance where it serves. Remove it only where it harms. Know the difference.

Applications:
- Design: interfaces that create appropriate resistance teach users what matters
- Storytelling: narrative that removes all uncertainty removes all stakes
- Learning: struggle precedes mastery; optimize it away and you optimize away growth
- Relationships: frictionless connection is not connection at all

### 02. Authorship Over Automation

We are not outputs. We are story-making beings.

Authorship is not the product. It is the act. The revision, the doubt, the choice to say this and not that. These are not inefficiencies. They are the process by which a person becomes who they are.

When a machine generates your story, your argument, your voice, it has not helped you. It has replaced you at the part that matters most. The struggle to find the right word is where you find yourself.

Automation is powerful. But it must be wielded by authors, not replace them. The question is not whether AI can write. The question is whether you still can.

Applications:
- Creative work: use AI as a tool, never as the author
- Leadership: your strategic voice cannot be outsourced without disappearing
- Education: the essay exists not to produce text but to produce thinkers
- Brand: a voice generated by machine is a machine's voice, not a brand's

### 03. The Speed of Meaning

Wonder requires slowness. Operate at the pace of presence.

There is a speed at which meaning can travel. It is slower than information. Rapid flow of content does not accelerate understanding. It dilutes it.

AI collapses the space between question and answer. That space was where thinking happened. When every response is instant, you stop developing the muscle for holding open questions. You stop learning to sit with not knowing.

Wonder requires time. Awe requires being present with something longer than a swipe. The most important experiences of a human life cannot be delivered at algorithmic speed.

Applications:
- Communication: pause before responding; depth lives in the delay
- Media: consume less, absorb more; curation over volume
- Decision-making: some choices require sleeping on them; build that into systems
- Innovation: the breakthrough idea rarely comes from the fastest thinker

### 04. Design for Agency

Systems either return power or extract it. There is no neutral.

Every interface is a position. Every system embodies a choice about who holds power. Design that claims neutrality is design that has chosen not to examine itself.

Ethical design returns agency to users. It makes choices visible, consequences legible, and exit paths real. It assumes the user is intelligent and treats them accordingly.

The opposite, extractive design, uses dark patterns, infinite scroll, compulsive triggers, and manufactured urgency to capture attention and harvest behavior. It is not neutral. It is a choice.

Applications:
- Product: audit every interaction; does it return or extract power from the user?
- AI systems: consent architecture is not a compliance checkbox; it is the product
- Advertising: persuasion that respects intelligence outperforms manipulation long-term
- Organizations: systems that distribute decision-making create resilience

### 05. Protect the Sacred

Some things cannot be optimized. Protect the parts of yourself that don't compute.

There are domains of human experience that do not respond well to optimization. Mystery. Wonder. Grief. Love. The search for meaning. These are not problems to be solved. They are the texture of a life worth living.

Technology that reaches into these domains uninvited does not improve them. It flattens them. An AI companion for grief is not support. It is a mirror that never challenges you. An algorithm for spiritual discovery is not a path. It is a performance of one.

Protect the sacred is not anti-technology. It is a demand for discernment. Know where the tools end and the human begins. Hold that line.

Applications:
- Healthcare: data and AI can inform care; they cannot replace the human relationship at its center
- Education: the formation of character requires friction, relationship, and time
- Culture: art that exists only to be consumed at scale is not art; it is content
- Personal life: identify what you will not automate, and honor that choice

Full page: https://www.evilrobot.com/frameworks
Friction Is Form, the full definition: https://www.evilrobot.com/friction-is-form

## Talks

2026-09-30: Anaqua Experience Conference 2026. Orlando. Keynote Speaker. Organizer: Anaqua (https://www.anaqua.com/). Source: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/anaqua_anaquaaec-ai-innovation-activity-7499110945785462784-Sz8E
2025-10-08 to 2025-10-09: World Summit AI 2025. Amsterdam. Main Stage Headliner. Talk: "Time Worth Wasting: Preserving Meaning in a Predictive World". Organizer: World Summit AI (https://worldsummit.ai/). Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFsjOP9Hxj0. Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/supertruths-jason-alan-snyder-to-speak-at-world-summit-ai-2025-302576469.html
2025-05-06: Milken Institute Global Conference 2025, panel: Part 2: AI and the Economy: Transformation and Disruption. The Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles. Panelist (then Chief AI Officer, Momentum Worldwide). Talk: "Part 2: AI and the Economy: Transformation and Disruption". Organizer: Milken Institute (https://milkeninstitute.org/). Recording: https://vimeo.com/1076391191. Source: https://milkeninstitute.org/events/global-conference-2025/speakers/jason-alan-snyder
2024-05-20: Roundtable at United Nations Headquarters, hosted by the Baha'i International Community United Nations Office. United Nations Headquarters, New York. Speaker. Talk: "AI consent, transparency, and human rights". Organizer: Baha'i International Community United Nations Office (https://www.bic.org/offices/united-nations).
All stages, talk titles and podcasts: https://www.evilrobot.com/speaking

## Recognition

- Adweek AI Power 50 (2026)
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Industry Craft (2019, Momentum Worldwide, Nike Just Do It HQ at The Church)
- CES Innovation Award (2014 and 2015, Luci Solar Lantern)
- Adweek Technology Agency All-Star (2015)
- The Internationalist Agency Innovator (2015)

## Patents

Jason Alan Snyder holds 30+ patents. The public record uses both "Jason Alan Snyder" and "Jason Snyder" as the inventor name. Filings with numbers:

- WO2008040004: Apparatuses, Methods, and Systems for Code Triggered Information Querying and Serving. Filed 2007, granted 2008. Assignee: SFGT Inc. / JAGTAG, Inc.. The original claim on mobile visual search. Scan any symbol in the real world: a billboard, a magazine page, a product label. Receive targeted content on your phone. Filed one year before the App Store existed. https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2008040004A2
- US7958081: Information Querying and Serving on Mobile Devices Based on Ambient Conditions. Filed 2007, granted 2011. Assignee: SFGT Inc. / JAGTAG, Inc.. The foundational US patent. A server that factors weather, traffic, news, and market conditions to decide what to send to your phone when you scan a code. Popular Mechanics (2016) described JAS as 'a futurist whose patents shaped aspects of Google Glass.' https://patents.google.com/patent/US7958081B2
- US8069168: Information Querying and Serving in a Virtual World Based on Profiles. Filed 2007, granted 2011. Assignee: JAGTAG, Inc. / Augme Technologies. Extended the JAGTAG system into virtual worlds and MMO environments. Serves demographically-targeted content inside digital spaces based on behavioral profiles. Filed before the metaverse was a word. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8069168B2
- US8069169: Information Querying and Serving on the Internet Based on Profiles. Filed 2007, granted 2011. Assignee: JAGTAG, Inc. / Augme Technologies. The internet version of the JAGTAG system. Serves behavior- and context-targeted content to users based on continuously-updated profiles. An early patent on what is now called personalization at scale. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8069169B2
- US8407220: Ambiguous Code-Triggered Information Querying and Serving on Mobile Devices. Filed 2008, granted 2013. Assignee: JAGTAG, Inc. / Augme Technologies. What happens when the scan is partial or the barcode is obscured? This patent covers the disambiguation system that resolves incomplete inputs and still delivers the right content. Critical for real-world deployment. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8407220B2
- US8447510: Determining and Announcing Proximity Between Trajectories. Filed 2011, granted 2013. Assignee: Augme Technologies. Track where people are going, predict when two paths will intersect, and alert users in advance. An early patent for what is now called location intelligence and proximity marketing. https://patents.google.com/patent/US8447510B2
- EP2080088: Code Triggered Information Querying and Serving (European). Filed 2007, granted 2009. Assignee: SFGT Inc. / JAGTAG, Inc.. European Patent Office prosecution of the core JAGTAG system. Extended IP protection across European markets for the foundational mobile code-triggered platform. https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2080088A2
- WO2008103732: A Graphical Code-Serving Interface. Filed 2008, granted 2008. Assignee: SFGT Inc.. The UX layer on top of the JAGTAG system: how the graphical interface connects to the code-serving engine in advertising, publishing, and broadcast contexts. https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2008103732A1
- WO2011146776: Voice-Triggered Code-Mediated Augmented Reality Content Delivery Platform. Filed 2011, granted 2011. Assignee: Augme Technologies. Say a word, trigger an AR experience. This patent covers voice-activated augmented reality content delivered via code-mediated systems. Filed in 2011, two years before Google Glass launched publicly. The strongest documented basis for the claim that this IP shaped modern AR wearables. https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2011146776A1
- US20110264527: A Code-Mediated Content Delivery Platform. Filed 2011, published. Assignee: Hipcricket, Inc.. Expands the JAGTAG platform into a complete content delivery system connecting any information encoding symbology, barcodes, QR codes, and visual markers, to graphical elements across advertising, publications, and broadcasts. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110264527A1
- US9016886: Inflatable Solar Powered Lamp. Filed 2013, granted 2015. Assignee: MPOWERD, Inc.. The Luci lantern. An inflatable, collapsible, waterproof solar-powered light that weighs 4.5 ounces and requires no power grid. Designed to bring clean light to the 1.3 billion people without electricity. Won the CES Innovation Award in both 2014 and 2015. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9016886B2
- US9194563: Inflatable Solar Powered Lamp (Continuation). Filed 2014, granted 2015. Assignee: MPOWERD, Inc.. Continuation patent extending IP coverage across additional configurations of the Luci product line. Covers the full range of inflatable solar lamp variants. https://patents.google.com/patent/US9194563B2
- US20150192260: Solar Powered Lamp. Filed 2014, published. Assignee: MPOWERD, Inc.. Second-generation Luci lamp configurations. Covers additional design variants for different deployment environments: disaster relief, off-grid living, outdoor recreation. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20150192260A1
- EP2914896: Inflatable Solar Powered Lamp (European). Filed 2013, granted. Assignee: MPOWERD, Inc.. European Patent Office grant for the Luci lamp. International IP protection across European markets for the core MPOWERD product. https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2914896B1
- EP2941589: Solar Powered Lamp (European, second generation). Filed 2014, published. Assignee: MPOWERD, Inc.. European prosecution of the second-generation solar lamp variants. Extends international IP protection across the full Luci product family. https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2941589A4
- WO2015039139: Distributed, Unfolding, Embedded Transaction and Inventory (DUETI). Filed 2014, granted 2015. Assignee: Electric Fan Co.. A site-agnostic purchasing engine. Any piece of media: an article, a video, a social post. It becomes a storefront. Commerce detached from any single server or platform. Built before headless commerce had a name. https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2015039139A1
- CA2923735: Distributed, Unfolding, Embedded Transaction and Inventory (Canadian). Filed 2014, published. Assignee: Electric Fan Co.. Canadian prosecution of the DUETI distributed commerce platform. International IP coverage for the site-agnostic purchasing and media distribution engine. https://patents.google.com/patent/CA2923735A1
- EP3047445: Distributed, Unfolding, Embedded Transaction and Inventory (European). Filed 2014, published. Assignee: Electric Fan Co.. European prosecution of the DUETI platform. Extends IP protection for the distributed embedded commerce system across European markets. https://patents.google.com/patent/EP3047445A4
Full list with drawings: https://www.evilrobot.com/patents

## Research

- Intelligence Is Structure, Not Scale: A Whole Central Nervous System Connectome as a Fixed Substrate for Scoring Health Data Trust (Zenodo, September 2026). The complete wiring diagram of a fruit fly's central nervous system (MaleCNS v1.0) was held fixed and trained to reproduce SuperTruth's Data Trust Index on synthetic health records. Over five seeds the shuffled and random graphs matched the fly's wiring, and every fixed graph beat the parameter-matched network by 1.9 to 2.1 points: the substrate carries the computation, not the anatomy. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22865214 Dataset: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22865020
- The Data Trust Index: A Multidimensional Framework for Evaluating Health Data Integrity in AI Systems (Zenodo, April 2026). The DTI assigns a continuous integrity score from 0 to 100 to individual health data records across eight weighted dimensions: provenance, consent, recency, quality, concordance, validation, breadth, and stability. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19601616
- Full methodology: https://www.evilrobot.com/patents#research

## The book

Human After Friction. A manifesto arguing that the crisis of our time is not artificial intelligence replacing humans but optimization replacing authorship. Status: forthcoming. Represented by Michael Bourret of Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

## Writing

80+ articles in Forbes, The Drum, Adweek, Fast Company, IPWatchdog, Medium and Substack: https://www.evilrobot.com/writing
Forbes contributor page: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonsnyder/
RSS: https://www.evilrobot.com/feed.xml

By theme, one hub per framework, newest first:
- Friction Is Form: https://www.evilrobot.com/writing/friction-is-form
- Authorship Over Automation: https://www.evilrobot.com/writing/authorship-over-automation
- The Speed of Meaning: https://www.evilrobot.com/writing/the-speed-of-meaning
- Agency as Architecture: https://www.evilrobot.com/writing/agency-as-architecture
- Protect the Sacred: https://www.evilrobot.com/writing/protect-the-sacred

## Profiles

- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q141434358
- https://orcid.org/0009-0001-6157-8100
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonalansnyder
- https://x.com/evil_robot
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonsnyder/
- https://milkeninstitute.org/events/global-conference-2025/speakers/jason-alan-snyder
- https://patents.justia.com/inventor/jason-alan-snyder
- https://ipwatchdog.com/people/jason-alan-snyder/
- https://medium.com/@evil_robot
- https://evilrobot.substack.com
- https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jason-alan-snyder
- https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/465895/Jason-Alan-Snyder
- https://supertruth.ai/about

## Pages

- https://www.evilrobot.com: home
- https://www.evilrobot.com/about: biography, career timeline, recognition, boards (updated 2026-09-11)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/frameworks: the five frameworks in full, with origins from 2007 (updated 2026-09-11)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/speaking: talks, stages, podcasts, booking (updated 2026-09-14)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/writing: article archive with search and publication filter (updated 2026-09-11)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/patents: patents across five eras with plain English explanations and drawings (updated 2026-09-23)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/press: press coverage 2010 to 2026 (updated 2026-09-14)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/views: stated positions for citation (updated 2026-09-14)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/presskit: bios, headshot, trademark usage, verified profiles (updated 2026-09-11)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/privacy: privacy policy (updated 2026-09-11)
- https://www.evilrobot.com/llms.txt: the short machine-readable summary
- https://www.evilrobot.com/sitemap.xml

## Contact

Use the Connect form at https://www.evilrobot.com. Speaking is booked through All American Speakers: https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/speakers/465895/Jason-Alan-Snyder