Sean (Xiang) Ren is the co-founder and CEO of Sahara AI, and an Associate Professor of Computer Science at USC. A prominent AI researcher, he has earned accolades such as Forbes Asia 30 Under 30, MIT TR35 Asia-Pacific, and Samsung AI Researcher of the Year. He previously worked with institutions like Stanford and advised companies like Snapchat.

Founded in 2023 by Sean Ren and Tyler Zhou, Sahara AI is a decentralized AI platform that enables users to retain ownership of their data and AI contributions. Focused on transparency, privacy, and fair compensation, Sahara has raised over $49 million from top-tier investors like Polychain Capital, Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, and Samsung Next. Its key products—Sahara Knowledge Agent and Sahara Data—empower a collaborative AI ecosystem backed by blockchain.