Bach, who now runs a West Coast research nonprofit and whose ties to Epstein were less high-profile than other MIT faculty’s, declined to speak with investigators reviewing the school’s connections to Epstein for a report released in 2020. The report, which was commissioned by MIT and carried out by a law firm, found “collective and significant errors in judgment” that precipitated the school’s decision to accept Epstein’s donations.
In an email sent to Epstein in July 2016, Bach asserted that Black children trail behind white children intellectually because of biological factors.
“In the US, black children outperform white children in motor development, even in very poor and socially disadvantaged households, but they lag behind (and never catch up) in cognitive development even after controlling for family income,” he wrote.
Bach wrote in a statement to the Globe that peer-reviewed research published in 2006 from academics at Harvard University and the University of Chicago seemed to provide support for his claims on childhood development.
But he said his views have since changed. “Race is itself not causal in cognitive differences of course, and later research brought me to my current view that race is NOT causal for differences in development, and race is NOT a determinant of IQ in children or adults,” he wrote to the Globe.
In another email, sent to Epstein about two weeks later in 2016, Bach claimed that women “tend to find abstract systems, conflicts and mechanisms intrinsically boring” and attributed gender disparities in scientific involvement to this.
“Most women in computer science do not write programs because they enjoy solving puzzles, but because they want to help people, get approval etc,” he wrote. “There are almost no women in math, because it does not help people or yield social attention.”
He also drew further generalizations about the differences between racial groups and mused about fascism, describing it as “probably the most efficient and rationally stringent way of governance,” but adding that it “makes romantic doo-gooders like me very uncomfortable.”
Bach, an artificial intelligence researcher from Germany, worked at the Media Lab from April 2014 to October 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile. His time there was made possible by Epstein, who had been a convicted sex offender since 2008.
According to the MIT report on Epstein’s interactions with the institute, Epstein introduced Bach to Ito, the Media Lab leader, in 2013. Bach was hired by the lab “in large part because Epstein subsidized the cost,” the report said. Epstein made donations in November 2013, July 2014, and September 2014 totaling $300,000 to support Bach’s research, according to the report.
Bach wrote in his statement to the Globe that “multiple highly respected academics” had recommended Epstein as a source of funding for his research.
“They acknowledged his past crimes but assured me he was reformed,” he wrote. “Since researchers far more senior and famous than me were accepting such funds, so as a young person just getting started, I took my cue from them on this.”
Kimberly Allen, a spokeswoman for MIT, declined to comment on Bach’s emails. She pointed the Globe to the university’s report on its Epstein connections.
“Following that review, MIT took a number of steps, including enhancements to our gift acceptance processes and donating to four nonprofits supporting survivors of sexual abuse,” she wrote.
Epstein also introduced Bach to Martin Nowak, a professor of mathematics and biology at Harvard University, according to the school’s report into its connections to Epstein. (Like MIT, Harvard commissioned a review into the university’s connections to Epstein and released the findings in 2020.)
Nowak, who led Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, which was funded by a multimillion-dollar gift from Epstein, was sanctioned by Harvard in 2021. He was barred from leading new research projects and taking on advisees for two years, and the program was shut down.
Nowak gave Bach access to the program’s offices from 2014 to 2019, and the program listed Bach as a research scientist on its website, according to the Harvard report. The report said Harvard did not pay Bach or provide funds to support his research. After leaving MIT in 2016, Bach continued to intermittently use the program’s office space, including to meet with Epstein, according to the report.
A Harvard spokesperson declined to comment on Bach’s emails but sent a statement: “The University is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted.”
Bach went on to hold AI-related roles at several companies, including as an advisor to Cambridge startup Liquid AI, which was founded by MIT scientists in 2023, according to his LinkedIn page. The company is seeking to develop a new type of AI model that uses a fraction of the energy used by ChatGPT, Gemini, and other leading models.
A Liquid AI spokesperson said in a statement that Bach’s comments did not reflect the company’s values. “When we recently became aware of them, we terminated our relationship effective immediately,” the spokesperson wrote.
Bach now works as the executive director of the California Institute for Machine Consciousness, a San Francisco-based nonprofit founded this year with the stated goal of developing testable theories of machine consciousness.
He has gained an online following for his views on AI, cognitive science, and philosophy. “The goal is integrity, not conformity,” reads his biography on X. He has appeared several times on MIT research scientist Lex Fridman’s podcast, conversations that have collectively drawn millions of views. Fridman is known for his multi-hour discussions on science and technology, often with high-profile guests; he has brought Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Benjamin Netanyahu onto his show, among others.
Near the conclusion of Bach’s second 2016 email, he commented on Epstein’s indifference to prevailing social norms.
“I find your ‘political incorrectness’ very fascinating,” Bach wrote. “In the beginning, I thought it is a form of costly signaling, but now I think you are simply entirely unconstrained in your thoughts.”
He added, “I wonder what kind of person you want to transform into.”
Graphics by John Hancock of the Globe staff.
Kate Selig can be reached at kate.selig@globe.com. Follow her on X @kate_selig.