David Stout

David Stout is an entrepreneur and AI scientist known as the co-founder and CEO of webAI, a private artificial intelligence platform based in Austin, Texas. Stout founded Ghost House Technology, an AI software startup that served as an early incubator for on-device AI concepts that contributed to the development of webAI. His interest in artificial intelligence stemmed from the idea of running advanced models on consumer hardware. With a small team, Stout ported the YOLO-based Darknet model to an iPhone, a prototype that initiated years of work on AI-native infrastructure, including custom runtimes, device-level quantization, and a communication layer enabling models to interact across devices.

Stout co-founded webAI with Tyler Mauer and Ethan Baird to create AI systems that operate directly on devices, addressing privacy concerns associated with cloud computing. WebAI is recognized as an end-to-end private AI platform, allowing enterprises to integrate artificial intelligence with their data and develop specialized intelligence trained on proprietary knowledge. The platform supports sensitive applications in sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, and military operations, where local processing ensures resilience, privacy, and data ownership. The company's flagship products, "Navigator" and "Companion," enable teams to deploy private AI solutions without the need for infrastructure coding.

Under Stout's leadership, webAI has secured significant commercial traction, completing a Series A funding round and raising its total capital to $60 million at a $700 million valuation. The company expanded its board of directors with technology industry veterans and has established partnerships with organizations such as ŌURA, the maker of the Oura Ring smart wearable, to advance on-device AI processing and enhance data privacy. Enterprises in retail, logistics, and aviation use webAI's local models to improve operational efficiency, including monitoring retail traffic, optimizing logistics workflows, and enhancing airport gate performance.

Stout is recognized as a thought leader in decentralized and sovereign AI. He has spoken at international conferences, including London Tech Week and the SCSP AI Expo. Stout's philosophy emphasizes that AI should be specialized, sovereign, efficient, and sustainable, focusing on practical solutions rather than increased computational demands. With webAI named to the CB Insights AI 100 list, Stout and his team advocate for an era of artificial intelligence defined by measurable impact, risk mitigation, and efficiency, envisioning billions of specialized models embedded in essential systems worldwide.