Liberatory
Intelligence
Laboratories
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Venture Studio
+ Product Lab
Liberatory Intelligence Laboratories, Co. (LIL Co) is a discipline-led Venture Studio with an integrated Product & Systems Lab.
We operate as a hybrid organization: originating and co-founding ventures through our studio, while applying and testing our discipline through internal and commissioned product + systems lab work.
This structure allows us to sustain deep technical practice through real builds while still pursuing long-horizon, equity-aligned system design.
For organizations, founders, and institutions ready to build.
Venture Studio
/ How we intervene
Product + Systems Development
Designs and builds websites, web applications, and custom software with precision, ethics, and liberatory system design.
Technical Architecture
Designs scalable, resilient, and performant systems that prioritize user autonomy, dignity, and long-term durability.
Creative Engineering
Pushes the boundaries of the modern web, from experimental interfaces to interactive, system-driven experiences.
Visual & Experience Design
Crafts human-centered digital environments rooted in clarity, beauty, and intentional interaction.
Governance Advisory
Explores and advises on governance models, incentive structures, and decision frameworks for complex technical systems.
Human Infrastructure
Facilitates intentional collaborations between partners and Liberatory Intelligentsia, grounded in value-alignment & trust.
Work
/ What we're building
Open Source
/ Repos & tools
Open-Source Operating System for AI-Assisted Software Development
ALIAS
Placeholder — ALIAS project description
Product Lab
/ Products & platforms
On-Chain Ventures
/ Protocols & ecosystems
UPND
Universal Protocol for truth, identity, and digital dignity
CRVCT
A bias-free on-chain Tech & Venture Ecosystem for outliers
Team
/ People & Partners
M.J. Zilla
/ Founder + Chief Architect
M.J. Zilla is the founder of Liberatory Intelligence Laboratories, Co., a founding practitioner of Post-Imperial Systems Intervention & Design (PSID), and the originator of Applied Liberatory Intelligence (ALI).
With over 15 years of experience across advertising design, product design engineering, and socio-technical coordination, M.J.'s work at LIL Co. centers Liberatory Reconstruction: the practice of intervening in how platforms, protocols, and institutional systems reproduce domination at scale, and deliberately redesigning them to preserve human agency, protect civil liberties, and enable collective self-determination.
As Chief Architect, M.J. is responsible for maintaining canonical integrity across PSID and ALI, guiding methodological evolution, and overseeing the design of technologies, protocols, and systems developed across both studio partnerships and internal lab initiatives.
MoCADA
/ Strategic Partner + Fiscal Sponsor
In partnership with The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), a trusted and community-anchored institution in Central Brooklyn, Liberatory Intelligence Laboratories, Co. develops tools, publications, and programs that translate liberatory theory into applied infrastructure.
Together, this partnership supports applied research, public-facing publications, workshops, and AI-enabled workforce pathways for low-income and underrepresented communities. The work directly addresses systemic barriers to economic mobility by establishing a community-rooted pipeline into the technology sector grounded in education, accountability, and long-term institutional trust.
Join LIL Co.
/ A Pathway to Liberatory Reconstruction
We're expanding our collective of creative, strategic and technical talent who share our commitment to Post-Imperial Systems Intervention & Design (PSID) and the practice of Liberatory Reconstruction.
If you're motivated by work that intervenes in real systems, and you bring craft, rigor, or technical fluency as a designer, developer, researcher, strategist, or collaborator, we'd like to hear from you.
Joining LIL Co. represents entry into a formative pathway toward the Liberatory Intelligentsia: a values-aligned collective of credentialed practitioners shaped through applied work.
Advancement within the Liberatory Intelligentsia is earned through demonstrated alignment, contribution, and disciplined application of PSID and Applied Liberatory Intelligence over time.
Technical Roles
Full-stack developers, systems architects, DevOps engineers, and security specialists
Creative Roles
Product designers, UX researchers, visual designers, and design strategists
Systems Roles
Product managers, researchers, community builders, and operations specialists
Let's
Connect
/ Get in touch
hello@lilco.io
New York, NY