Draft:Jonathan Gropper
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Jonathan Gropper | |
|---|---|
| Education | New Jersey Institute of Technology (BS) Rutgers University School of Law (JD) |
| Occupations | Legal scholar, entrepreneur, author |
| Known for | AI governance, The Synthetic Outlaw, TrueHOA |
| Awards | Fulbright Specialist Program (2025) Taiwan Employment Gold Card |
| Website | www |
Jonathan Gropper is an American legal scholar, entrepreneur, and author whose work focuses on artificial intelligence governance, legal theory, and institutional design.
Early life and education
[edit]Gropper attended the New Jersey Institute of Technology's Albert Dorman Honors College, graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Business Management, and Applied Mathematics.[1] He earned a Juris Doctor from Rutgers University School of Law, where he served as technology editor of the Rutgers Journal of Law & Public Policy.
Gropper was selected to the Fulbright Specialist Program by the U.S. Department of State for his work at the intersection of law and AI.
Career
[edit]Early entrepreneurship
[edit]In 2010, Gropper founded BeerRightNow.com, an on-demand alcohol delivery service operating in U.S. cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.[2][3] In 2009 and 2012, Gropper petitioned the Florida and D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Boards to update delivery regulations for his startup, BeerRightNow.com.[4] He also founded OnlyOpenHouses.com, a real-time aggregator of open house property listings, which was later acquired.
Blockchain and Web3 advisory
[edit]Gropper has held executive and advisory roles for projects backed by Animoca Brands and has secured institutional grants for Ethereum-related projects from the Web3 Foundation and MakerDAO.[5]
TrueHOA and Verified Governance
[edit]He is the founder of TrueHOA, a platform that uses blockchain technology (specifically Coinbase's Base network) to provide digital voting and governance for homeowner associations. In 2026, the company launched Verified Governance, a trademarked standard for audit-ready election records.[6][7][8]
Taiwan and the Employment Gold Card
[edit]In 2023, Gropper published an op-ed in CommonWealth Magazine about Taiwan's Employment Gold Card titled "Hey Taiwan, It's Me Your Gold Carder. We Need to Talk,".[9] The piece was subsequently referenced in coverage by Taiwan News, the Taipei Times, and the South China Morning Post.[10]
Academic work and publications
[edit]The synthetic outlaw framework
[edit]Gropper's paper The Birth of the Synthetic Outlaw argues that traditional legal constructs like legal personhood and jurisdiction are insufficient for regulating highly autonomous agents.[11][12] He expanded this argument in a February 2026 essay published in CommonWealth Magazine, describing AI systems that produce prohibited outcomes while remaining nominally compliant as Synthetic Outlaws. In 2025, Gropper published Beyond Asimov: a paper proposing a Moral Covenant for AI.[13]
The Synthetic Outlaw concept has been cited in Wikipedia articles on the 2010 flash crash and existential risk from artificial intelligence.
Selected publications
[edit]- Agency without Liability: Rule-Evading Optimization, the Deterrence Gap, and the Synthetic Outlaw in AI-Mediated Management (SSRN 6156746).[14]
- Illusions of Control: Why Today's AI Safety Plans Court Catastrophe (SSRN 5395753).[15]
- Blockchain's Last Stand: Governing AGI When All Else Fails, proposing a blockchain-native architecture for artificial general intelligence governance.[16]
- The Synthetic Outlaw: Governing the Ungovernable (forthcoming), on artificial intelligence governance and rule-evasive AI systems.
- The Theater of Control: On the gap between the appearance of control and its exercise, on the gap between oversight mechanisms and the actual exercise of institutional power.[17]
Patents
[edit]Gropper is the inventor of U.S. Patent 9,168,274, granted in 2015. The patent covers a method to reduce alcohol intoxication in humans using a probiotic formulation of Acetobacter aceti to metabolize ethanol in the digestive tract before absorption.[18]
References
[edit]- ^ "Albert Dorman Honors College 20th Anniversary — Alumni Stories". New Jersey Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Stephanie Miles (2016-07-05). "10 Reasons That On-Demand Services Fail". Street Fight Magazine. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ "BeerRightNow.com: Alcohol Delivery Without Leaving Home". Cook In / Dine Out. 2015-05-27. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ "Vol. 35, No. 48 (12/04/2009), Florida Administrative Register". ELaws US. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
- ^ "Ubiquity DAO - Taking a crypto project from $0 to $200 Million". International Business Times. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
- ^ "As HOA election disputes rise, TrueHOA introduces audit-ready governance solution". The AI Journal. 2026-02-14. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ "VERIFIED GOVERNANCE — Trademark Registration". USPTO.report. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Ann Valdez, Kris. "America's HOAs are broken. This startup is trying to fix them". Fast Company. Retrieved 9 June 2026.
- ^ Jonathan Gropper (2023-01-08). "Hey Taiwan, it's your Gold Carder. We need to talk". CommonWealth Magazine. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Billy Wu (2025-11-21). "Can Taiwan keep the talent it invites?". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Jonathan Gropper. "The Birth of the Synthetic Outlaw". PhilArchive. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ "Gropper on The Birth of the Synthetic AI Outlaw". AI Law Blawg. 29 January 2026. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
- ^ Gropper, Jonathan. "Beyond Asimov: The Moral Covenant for Artificial Intelligence. A Universal Manifesto for Embedding Ethics in Machines". PhilPapers. Retrieved 8 March 2026.
- ^ Jonathan Gropper. "Agency without Liability". SSRN. SSRN 6156746. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Jonathan Gropper (2025-08-27). "Illusions of Control: Why Today's AI Safety Plans Court Catastrophe". SSRN. SSRN 5395753. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Jonathan Gropper. "Distributed Sovereignty: Blockchain's Role in Governing Autonomous Intelligence". PhilArchive. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
- ^ Gropper, Jonathan. The Theater of Control: On the gap between the appearance of control and its exercise. Jonathan Gropper. Retrieved 2026-05-07.
- ^ "US9168274B1 — Method to reduce intoxication from ethanol in humans". Google Patents. Retrieved 2026-02-25.
External links
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