Erin McGurk is the Co-Founder and CEO of Egoist Machines, a Y Combinator-backed AI privacy startup building AI Passport, the first permission-based system for securely storing and sharing personal data across AI assistants.

Erin grew up in South Manchester, attended Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, and went on to study Land Economy at St John's College, University of Cambridge, where she met her co-founder Dr. David Khachaturov.

Erin conceived of AI Passport after growing alarm over how her own content was being leveraged by AI systems, driven by a belief that individuals should have full control over their personal data.

Beyond her role at Egoist Machines, Erin built a following of over 1 million across social platforms as @erinmerylstudy, becoming one of the UK's most recognised educational content creators focused on learning, productivity, and neuroscience.

Egoist Machines secured a coveted spot in Y Combinator's Spring 2026 batch, with an acceptance rate below 1%, and launched the AI Passport waitlist to address a market where 82% of consumers view AI data loss-of-control as a serious personal threat.