He argues the next wave of AI won\u2019t be won by ever\u2011larger models but by a shared meaning\u2011and\u2011memory layer that preserves context, traces decisions and lets knowledge compound. SekondBrain is building a new layer of AI infrastructure: concept\u2011memory for humans, teams and agents. Its concept graph links information by meaning rather than files or tokens, addressing the problem that today\u2019s tools are fluent but forgetful. Duggal, who previously founded Builder.ai, is now focused on the industry challenge few are tackling: building systems that think in meaning, not just in tokens.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Sachin Dev Duggal doesn\u2019t describe himself as a typical technologist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI started at 11, trying to fix my mother\u2019s computer after I\u2019d managed to blow it up.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>he says with a laugh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That early curiosity, mixed with a gift for mathematics and a restless appetite for hard problems, set him on a path from tinkering with DOS and building his first PC to building trading robots as a teenager and later founding companies that rethink how software serves people.<\/span><\/p>\n Today Duggal is focused on running his startup, SeKondBrain, that aims to do for organizational knowledge what maps did for exploration: turn scattered, forgetful data into a durable, shared memory. If today\u2019s AI is fluent and forgetful, SeKondBrain\u2019s premise is that the next wave will be won not by ever\u2011bigger models but by systems that preserve context, trace decisions and let knowledge compound over time.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to remove the intimidation layer of technology,\u201d<\/span><\/i> Duggal explained to The Saudi Times<\/span>. \u201cPeople get hypnotized by benchmarks and brands. But language models alone don\u2019t \u2018know\u2019, they start from zero every morning. Our most valuable asset is knowledge. If you can map how it evolves, you can compound it.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n A Builder\u2019s Instinct<\/b><\/p>\n Duggal\u2019s career reads like a sequence of problems\u2011driven departures. After a formative education in London\u2019s Imperial College, which emphasized systems thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cMy high school stats teacher, Professor Reza, taught me calculus by asking me to draw boxes\u201d,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/i>He interned on projects that blended robotics, finance and practical software. He founded Builder.ai to simplify software creation. Now his focus is the second brain: a memory layer that works for humans, teams and autonomous agents.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCompanies have institutional dementia,\u201d <\/span><\/i>he says<\/span>. \u201cPeople spend a third of their time looking for things in emails, rebuilding work from scratch. We\u2019re effectively converting scattered information into a digital version of your mind. We build a map of meaning, so we know where things live and how they evolved.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This is the heart of SeKondBrain\u2019s offering. Instead of indexing files or tokens, Duggal\u2019s team constructs a concept graph that links information by meaning, recognizing how ideas shift over time, connecting context across sources, and surfacing the trace of decision\u2011making. The result is not only faster answers but auditable decisions and cumulative organizational learning.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why The Memory Layer Matters<\/b><\/p>\n Duggal calls it the Memory Layer Thesis: context preservation is the critical gap the industry is ignoring. Large language models excel at pattern and fluency, but they do not, by default, retain institutional memory.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cLanguage is a method of transmission,\u201d <\/span><\/i>he says<\/span>. \u201cReasoning is the map. If you want 1 + 1 to equal 3, to allow emergent value, you need systems that hold what came before.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n SeKondBrain\u2019s approach is practical: aggregate across all sources, distill into concepts, and maintain the temporal relationships that show how knowledge has evolved. That means richer briefings, traceable recommendations and tools that actually save time rather than generate more noise.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scaling Lessons and the Love of the Problem<\/b><\/p>\n The transition from Builder.ai to SeKondBrain was less about abandoning success and more about falling in love with the next problem.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u201cYou know it\u2019s time to move when you can\u2019t stop thinking about the question,\u201d <\/span><\/i>Duggal says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Builder made software creation accessible. SeKondBrain aims to make the outcomes, decisions, context, and memory, accessible too. His leadership style reflects that thesis: systems thinking, a focus on long\u2011term infrastructure, and a discipline that prizes clarity over clever prompts.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople spend too much time writing the prompt instead of thinking,\u201d<\/span><\/i> he notes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cComplex ideas require a greater amount of thinking. If you build the bridge, the systems, workflows, memory, the rest follows.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Saudi Arabia as a Proving Ground<\/b><\/p>\n Duggal sees real opportunity in Saudi Arabia\u2019s Vision 2030 push.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cThis isn’t a cosmetic transformation,\u201d <\/span><\/i>he says.<\/span> \u201cIt\u2019s a giant rebuild of capability, people, and infrastructure. Saudi Arabia isn’t just investing in AI that can speak Arabic, it needs AI that understands context, culture, and meaning.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0For Duggal, markets that understand their own context deeply will be the ones to export meaningful innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n He believes cities like Riyadh and Jeddah can think like the next Silicon Valley if they couple ambition with local grounding.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cTalent is evenly distributed, access to intelligence is not. Build with intent, not imitation. Take your context to the world.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n A Message to Future Builders<\/b><\/p>\n Across continents and industries, a single through\u2011line defines Duggal\u2019s work: making intelligence accessible and useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEducation is the modern-day religion,\u201d <\/span><\/i>he says.<\/span> \u201cWe\u2019re entering an age of abundance where access matters more than scarcity. The leaders who matter will not just use AI, they\u2019ll ask better questions, connect different disciplines, and preserve the human fabric around knowledge: values, memory, culture and judgment.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n That human fabric is exactly what SeKondBrain aims to encode. Duggal\u2019s final advice to the next generation of technical leaders is crisp:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBuild with intent. Don\u2019t copy someone else\u2019s valley. Understand your context so deeply you can create something original and take it global.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why Watch Him In 2026?<\/b><\/p>\n Sachin Dev Duggal isn\u2019t chasing headline models or benchmark numbers; he\u2019s assembling a substrate that could make AI genuinely useful for institutions. SecondBrain’s concept\u2011memory vision aligns with the needs of governments, sovereign funds, and corporations that want AI to do more than answer queries, they want it to remember, to explain, and to evolve. That\u2019s why Duggal rightly ranks among the global AI CEOs to watch in 2026: he brings a builder\u2019s conscience to machine intelligence, insisting that technology amplify human memory rather than erase it.<\/span><\/p>\n Sachin Dev Duggal\u2019s work at SeKondBrain points to a simple but powerful truth: AI\u2019s next frontier is not bigger models but better memory, systems that preserve context, culture and judgment so knowledge can truly compound. His vision demands that technology amplify the human fabric of knowledge, turning abundant information into usable wisdom rather than mere noise.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy advice to the next generation is to build with intent, not imitation. The world does not need another copy of Silicon Valley, London, or Shenzhen, it needs people who understand their own context deeply enough to build from it and are ambitious enough to take that meaning to the world. AI will make information abundant, but abundance without context can quickly become noise. The real opportunity is to preserve the human fabric around knowledge, the values, memory, culture, judgment, and nuance that make intelligence useful rather than merely impressive. I think we are moving into an age of the polymath again, where technology, philosophy, design, science, and human behaviour can no longer be separated. The leaders who matter will not simply be those who can use AI, but those who can ask better questions, connect different worlds, and build systems that help people, companies, and nations think with more clarity, trust, and purpose.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n \u00a0– Sachin Dev Duggal<\/span><\/p>\n As artificial intelligence enters a pivotal new chapter, leaders like Sachin Dev Duggal are helping shape its future, not only by driving innovation, but by championing a more responsible and human-centered approach to the technology. His vision aligns closely with Saudi Arabia’s ambition to become a global leader in AI and emerging technologies under Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia, with Vision 2030’s investments in capability, people, and infrastructure, is ready to be the global hub for AI developers. With LEAP 2026 set to welcome thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and some of the world’s most influential technology leaders to Riyadh, the Kingdom is once again preparing to host the global tech community in its capital. As the world’s attention increasingly turns to Saudi Arabia, leaders like Duggal will continue to help shape the conversations that define the future of artificial intelligence and the next wave of technological innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Saudi Times Presents the Global AI tech CEOs to Watch for 2026 By: Boudou Gueffai | Editor-in-Chief Editorial contribution: Jude Albuthi Meet Sachin Dev Duggal, Founder & CEO of SeKondBrain, Duggal is building the concept\u2011memory layer he believes will define the next decade of AI, and Saudi Arabia is a proving ground for context-aware intelligence. He is a serial entrepreneur, best known as co-founder and former “Chief Wizard” of Builder.ai, an AI-powered software development platform. The Saudi Times sat down with him for an exclusive interview. He argues the next wave of AI won\u2019t be won by ever\u2011larger models<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":58941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[228,11194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Sachin](\"https:\/\/thesauditimes.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1.-Sachin-Dev-Duggal-Founder-CEO-SeKondBrain-AI-scaled.jpg\")
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