Bruce Yang

Bruce Yang has spent his career building at the edge of major technology shifts, from the early social and platform era to today’s race to shape AI. Born in China, educated in Singapore and at UC Berkeley, and now leading one of Singapore’s leading homegrown AI companies, he brings a genuinely international perspective to a field too often framed around just a few power centres. That perspective now drives Agnes AI, the company he founded to make advanced AI more accessible, affordable, and usable far beyond the usual circles of technical insiders and heavily funded markets.

Bruce studied Computer Science and Mathematics at Berkeley and is now pursuing a PhD in AI at the National University of Singapore. Before founding Agnes, he built inside companies that defined an earlier era of tech growth, including Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Fitbit, and also founded startups of his own. Those experiences gave him a clear view of both what high-growth technology can do and who often gets left out of it.

That gap sits at the centre of his work today. Bruce talks about building “AI for the other 99.5%” — a vision that reflects both the scale and the practicality of what Agnes is trying to do. Under his leadership, the company has grown to nearly 10 million users globally and nearly $20 million in ARR, with products spanning search, productivity, and multimodal generation. Its proprietary Agnes Claw model series has recently ranked #7 and #12 globally in PinchBench, outperforming models from much larger AI companies, while the company’s multi-model architecture is designed to deliver roughly 90% of top-tier capability at around 10% of the cost. That combination of performance, cost discipline, and real-world usability is central to Bruce’s belief that AI infrastructure should be neutral, flexible, and built for broad adoption.

As Agnes expands into enterprise-grade API services and works toward a potential SGX listing by the end of 2026, Bruce is focused on proving that globally competitive AI can be built from Singapore with both technical ambition and a wider sense of responsibility.

As a podcast guest, Bruce brings a rare mix of technical depth, founder experience, and a grounded perspective on how AI can serve far more people.