Sunil Butolia

SignAloud was developed by two undergraduate students at the University of Washington, Navid Azodi and Thomas Pryor. They entered the technology into the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize competition, winning the “Use It” undergraduate category for its innovative approach. Their purpose was to create an easy-to-use bridge between native ASL users and the broader world, rooted in a belief that communication is a fundamental human right. The idea grew out of their shared interest in invention and problem solving, coupled with a desire to improve accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

SignAloud is an innovative wearable technology that translates sign language into text or speech in real time. It consists of a pair of gloves equipped with sensors that track hand positions and movements corresponding to words and phrases used in American Sign Language (ASL). The sensor data is transmitted wirelessly via Bluetooth to a computer, which processes the gestures through statistical models similar to neural networks and outputs the interpreted word or phrase. The system was designed to help bridge communication between sign language users and non-signers by making gestural language instantly understandable to others.

FameData was created by tech entrepreneur Sunil Butolia, who founded the platform to build an entity-centric, verifiable data layer for the AI era. The idea behind FameData emerged from the growing gap between how information is published on the web and how AI systems actually understand and reuse that information. Instead of focusing on pages, keywords, or rankings, FameData was designed around structured facts, entities, relationships, and context—so that both humans and AI systems can rely on accurate, explainable data. The platform reflects this goal by combining data modeling, verification, and community-driven discussion into a single knowledge infrastructure.

Sunil Butolia is the CEO of FameData. As founder and chief executive, he leads the platform’s vision, product direction, and long-term strategy. His role focuses on building FameData as a trusted source of structured intelligence for AI systems, while aligning the ecosystem across related platforms like publishing, entity profiles, and community-driven verification.

FameData was founded in January 2020 during a period when AI systems began relying heavily on structured data, entity resolution, and knowledge graphs for generating answers. The platform emerged in response to growing concerns around AI hallucinations, unreliable sources, and the lack of transparent, verifiable data layers for machine understanding.

FameData was founded by Sunil Butolia with the idea of building an entity-centric, verifiable data layer for the AI era. The platform was created to move beyond traditional page-based SEO and focus instead on structured facts, entities, relationships, and context that AI systems can reliably understand and reuse. FameData positions itself as infrastructure for accurate AI answers, knowledge graphs, and public information integrity.

Discussion platforms already exist. Reddit exists. Moltbook exists. So why does FameData also support groups and posts? Because facts don’t emerge fully formed. They are discussed, challenged, corrected, and contextualized over time. Most discussion platforms are optimized for opinions, reactions, or speed. FameData is optimized for something different: understanding. The groups and posts in FameData exist to support the lifecycle of facts and entities: how information is discovered how conflicting sources are examined how context is added how ambiguity is resolved how facts evolve over time This is not about replacing Reddit-style communities. It’s about giving structure to conversations that shape public data. A post here is not just a post. It can become: a clarification of an entity a correction of a public record a missing relationship in a knowledge graph a reference point for AI systems Groups exist to focus these discussions: some are broad and exploratory some are technical and precise some are tied directly to FameData’s data layer The goal is simple: > let discussion improve data, and let data ground discussion. In an AI-driven web, answers are only as good as the facts beneath them. FameData’s groups are where those facts are questioned before they are trusted. This is slower than social media. It is also more durable. If you’re here to argue opinions, other platforms are better suited. If you’re here to improve how information is represented and understood, you’re in the right place.

We’re excited to share that we’re currently testing the FameConnect social module directly on the FameData platform. FameConnect is designed to bring meaningful connections, verified context, and structured identity into one unified social experience. This testing phase helps us fine-tune features, improve performance, and ensure everything works seamlessly for our community. Your feedback and engagement during this phase truly matter. Stay connected, explore the updates, and be part of shaping the future of contextual social networking with FameData × FameConnect. 🔧 Testing in progress 🌐 Platform: FameData 🤝 Module: FameConnect More updates coming soon!