A company focused on integrating brain based AI into language learning apps
to maximise learning effectiveness.
Chris Lonsdale
Chris Lonsdale is a psychologist, linguist, and course designer with over 40 years of experience in Asia.
He has worked with leading global clients such as Coca-Cola, JP Morgan, and AIA, delivering accelerated corporate training programs that achieve results in days — not months.
His TEDx talk “How to Learn Any Language in 6 Months” has been viewed over 36 million times and remains in TEDx’s Top 10 most-watched for 12 consecutive years.
In 2010, Chris developed Kungfu English — a brain-based language acquisition system built on neuroscience and accelerated learning principles.
This method has been used by learners across Greater China, Singapore, Korea, and beyond.
SpeechGenie represents the next evolution of his method, integrating cognitive AI to adapt to each learner’s unique language development process.
Chris is the author of The Third Ear (in English), and How to Learn Any Language in 6 Months (originally written in Chinese and published across China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea).
John Ball
John Ball is a cognitive scientist, AI systems architect, and the founder & CTO of Language Parent Inc. He has spent many years developing the Cognitive AI that is the core inside Speech Genie. This is NOT a Large Language Model, but something very different. It is language understanding for machines the way people understand language.
John is the creator of Patom Theory — a brain-based model of natural language understanding (NLU) that enables machines to process language like the human brain.
His approach to language understanding does not rely on statistical models but instead uses pattern-based reasoning grounded in cognitive science. His system has been tested across nine languages, enabling truly conversational AI interactions based on meaning rather than probability.
John has been working in IT his entire career and spent over 20 years working in senior technical and leadership roles at major global companies including IBM, CSC, and Telstra.
John holds a BSc in Computer Science and Pure Mathematics from the University of Sydney, an MSc in Cognitive Science from UNSW, and an MBA from Macquarie Graduate School of Management. He is also the author of How to Solve AI with Our Brain (2024), and a frequent speaker on cognitive AI at international academic conferences.