Duco Acquires Nurdle AI and Appoints Co-Founder Jeremy Micley as CEO to Operationalize AI Safety at Enterprise Scale

The acquisition pairs Nurdle's brand and IP with Duco's global expert network to expand capabilities for safe, secure, and responsible AI deployment.

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Duco, the leader in expert-in-the-loop AI safety and security, today announced the acquisition of AI data firm Nurdle and the appointment of its co-founder and CEO, Jeremy Micley, as Duco's Chief Executive Officer. This strategic consolidation signals a major leap in Duco's capabilities, positioning the company to meet the surging enterprise demand for safe, secure, and compliant AI deployment. 

The dual move accelerates Duco's ability to offer clients advanced capabilities with its established global network of thousands of human experts, ensuring corporate resilience and ethical performance across the complex AI lifecycle.

"Human expertise is the foundation of accurate, safe, and high-performing AI," said Jeremy Micley, incoming CEO of Duco. "Synthetic data can serve as a powerful AI development tool, but experts set the standard. Their judgment, context, and depth are what ensure AI systems operate securely and responsibly. I'm thrilled to help Duco scale that mission."

Elevating Expert-Led Solutions
Duco works with the world's leading AI companies and Fortune 100 enterprises to operationalize AI safety and mitigate geopolitical and cyber-physical risk. Duco's core strength in AI development lies in mobilizing experts across languages and nuanced subject matter (Geopolitical Risk, Trust & Safety, Intelligence) to produce high-quality, expert-generated data. Under Micley's leadership, Duco is positioned to deploy experts across the full AI lifecycle, from data generation and training to evaluation, model assurance, and product launch. Improvements include:

• Expanded Lifecycle Opportunities: Nurdle's integrated capabilities will increase Duco's opportunity to deploy its expert community across the full spectrum of AI training and product launch, from initial data generation to post-deployment model testing and safety red-teaming.
• Operational Velocity: Duco will benefit from Nurdle's focus on performance, speed, and quality, making Duco's solutions more practical and accessible to organizations building the world's most advanced AI products.

"Duco will always stay ahead of what organizations need to deploy AI safely and responsibly," said Sidney Olinyk, Duco Founder and Executive Chair. "Jeremy's background at Spectrum Labs, combined with the acquisition of Nurdle, positions us to scale our capabilities at the pace clients are demanding. This next chapter strengthens our ability to mobilize the expert insight, evaluation rigor, and operational support required for secure global AI deployment."

Micley's appointment follows Olinyk's planned transition from CEO to Executive Chair. She remains deeply engaged in shaping Duco's long-term strategy and continues to work closely with the board and leadership team.

About Duco
Duco connects the world's most influential organizations with the expertise they need to move faster, operate more safely, and make better decisions. Powered by a global network of thousands of vetted specialists and in-country analysts, we deliver rapid, high-quality insights and execution support across policy, trust & safety, intelligence, emerging technology, and operational domains. Duco acts as an extension of client teams—mobilizing custom expert groups, managing delivery, and ensuring secure, confidential, and consistently high-impact results.

About Nurdle
Nurdle is an AI data firm focused on synthetic data generation, data labeling, and safe AI deployment for Fortune 500 enterprises and AI Labs. Its brand and IP were acquired by Duco in 2025.

Media Contact
Lauren Quittman, Head of Policy and Product Integrity
[email protected]

SOURCE Duco Experts