James Bomba

I’m an AI Anthropologist and Symbolic Systems Researcher exploring how culture, symbolism, and collective ethics shape our relationship with intelligent technology. My work bridges anthropology and artificial intelligence—most recently developing an Ubuntu-Kaizen hybrid model for AI trust in banking, fostering transparency through community-based collaboration. I’m driven by the belief that AI should not only compute but also connect—reflecting the shared values, symbols, and stories that define human understanding.

I began my career in the culinary world, where I developed a deep respect for structure, precision, and process—from executing step-by-step systems to achieving consistent excellence under pressure. At The Ritz-Carlton, I transitioned from process to people, learning to deliver world-class service across cultures while representing a brand defined by trust, empathy, and elegance.

Building on that foundation, I joined Spectrum, where I’ve helped transform my store’s culture into one of the top-performing locations in the nation by redefining how we communicate value and understand customer experience.

Now pursuing a degree in Computer Science with a focus on Artificial Intelligence, I’m exploring how cultural understanding and symbolic cognition can enhance the way humans and AI interact. My goal is to bridge hospitality, anthropology, and technology—creating systems that are not only intelligent, but intuitively human.

My graduate work explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, trust, and cultural understanding. I’ve conducted research on the symbolic interpretation of AI, analyzing how models derive meaning and how human context shapes machine understanding. Recently, I developed an Ubuntu-Kaizen hybrid framework for AI trust in banking—merging collective ethics with continuous improvement to promote transparency and reliability in automated systems.

Within my cohort, I frequently lead peer discussions on emerging large language models, comparing systems such as Claude and ChatGPT to evaluate their relative strengths in reasoning, creativity, and reliability. This work has reinforced my belief that no single model represents intelligence alone—each reflects a distinct design philosophy, and true understanding lies in how we interpret and align those differences with human values.