Independent Research & Development

Technology
built to
last.

BurntBalls Laboratories is an independent software and AI research organization. We design, develop, and deploy technology products across gaming infrastructure, AI systems, and web security.

Project Status Overview
CAPTCHA Finished
2Block In Progress
BioLink for Employees Cancelled
24/7 Live Streams Paused
BurntLLM Public Beta
5
Projects initiated to date
2
Products in active development
1
Product in public beta
8
Full-time employees
Research-driven development
across four domains.
🤖
BurntLLM
Public Beta
We research and develop large language models and AI-adjacent tooling, including BurntLLM — our publicly accessible model currently in beta.
🎮
2Block
In Progress
A next-generation user-generated gaming platform — rethinking how players create, share, and experience virtual worlds. Currently in active development.
🛡️
CAPTCHA
Finished
Our CAPTCHA system demonstrates our commitment to accessible, privacy-respecting security primitives that work for humans and keep bots out.
📡
24/7 Live Streams
Paused
Always-on broadcast infrastructure for Laboratories output — development sessions, demos, and internal events. Currently paused pending new hosting.
🛡️
Finished
CAPTCHA
A fully-shipped bot-detection and human verification system. Designed from first principles to be privacy-respecting, accessible, and highly resistant to automated solvers — without degrading the experience for legitimate users.
🎮
In Progress
2Block
A next-generation user-generated gaming platform — redefining what a social virtual world can look like. 2Block gives creators powerful tooling to build, publish, and monetize experiences, with a rethought social layer built for the modern web.
🪪
Cancelled
BioLink for Employees
An internal identity and profile link platform for Laboratories staff. The project was discontinued following a scope review — the requirements had grown beyond what could be delivered responsibly with our current team capacity.
📡
Paused
24/7 Live Streams
An always-on broadcast platform for live Laboratories output — development sessions, product demos, and internal events. Currently paused following the discontinuation of our free VPS provider, which hosted the stream infrastructure. We are evaluating alternative hosting arrangements.
🧠
Public Beta
BurntLLM
BurntBalls Laboratories' proprietary large language model, developed in-house with a focus on developer-centric tasks and low-latency inference. BurntLLM is now publicly accessible in beta — we welcome user testing and structured feedback.
18 Jun 2025
Announcement
BurntLLM enters Public Beta
BurntBalls Laboratories is pleased to announce that BurntLLM, our proprietary large language model, is now available to the public in beta. The model has completed an extended internal testing period and is ready for broader evaluation. Users can access the beta at beta.burntballs.lab. Structured feedback is welcomed and will be incorporated into subsequent development cycles.
2 Jun 2025
Project Update
2Block: Platform architecture update
Development on 2Block continues on schedule. The team has finalized the core platform architecture, including the creator tooling layer and the experience publication pipeline. 2Block aims to deliver a next-generation user-generated gaming environment — one that gives creators genuine power to build and share virtual worlds. A closed preview is expected later this year.
14 May 2025
Infrastructure Notice
24/7 Live Streams suspended — VPS provider discontinuation
The 24/7 Live Streams project has been suspended following the discontinuation of the free VPS provider that hosted our stream infrastructure. BurntBalls Laboratories is currently evaluating alternative hosting arrangements. We will publish a follow-up notice once a path forward has been determined. We apologise for any inconvenience to viewers and community members.
12 Apr 2025
Project Status
BioLink for Employees — project cancellation notice
Following a formal scope review, BurntBalls Laboratories has made the decision to cancel the BioLink for Employees initiative. The project expanded significantly beyond its original specification, and the team determined it could not be delivered to an acceptable standard within current resource constraints. A full retrospective has been completed internally.
5 Mar 2025
Product Release
CAPTCHA v1.0 — general availability
BurntBalls Laboratories has released CAPTCHA v1.0 for general availability. The system is now production-ready, free to integrate, and fully documented. It operates without user tracking, meets WCAG 2.1 accessibility requirements, and demonstrates significantly improved bot-resistance in independent testing compared to incumbent solutions. Integration documentation is available in the developer portal.
3 Jan 2025
Corporate
BurntBalls Laboratories — formal establishment
BurntBalls Laboratories is formally established as an independent software and AI research organisation. The Laboratories will focus on applied research and product development across gaming infrastructure, artificial intelligence, and web security. This site serves as the official point of record for all project status information and organisational announcements.
Our mission

BurntBalls Laboratories exists to produce technology that is engineered carefully, shipped honestly, and built to endure. We operate as a fully independent organisation — no external investment, no corporate oversight — which allows us to pursue work on the basis of merit and long-term value rather than short-term commercial pressure.

Our projects span a range of domains: artificial intelligence, next-generation gaming platforms, and web security primitives. What unites them is a commitment to quality and a willingness to cancel work that cannot meet that standard.

How we operate

We are a team of six, working across engineering, AI research, game development, security, and operations. Each project is owned entirely by the Laboratories — we do not take on contract work or external mandates. Project status is published publicly and kept current; we consider transparency a professional obligation, not a marketing exercise.

When projects are cancelled — as BioLink for Employees was — we document why. When infrastructure issues arise — as they did with the 24/7 Live Streams project — we communicate promptly and seek solutions without overpromising timelines.

What guides our decisions.
🔬
Rigorous research
Every product begins with a thorough understanding of the problem space. We do not build until we understand what we are building and why it should exist.
📋
Transparent operations
Project statuses, cancellations, and infrastructure issues are communicated promptly and accurately. Our news page is a record, not a marketing channel.
⚙️
Engineering discipline
We hold our work to a consistent technical standard. Projects that cannot meet that standard are cancelled rather than shipped in a compromised state.
6 people. All in.
👤
Chief Executive
Founder & Director
👤
Lead Engineer
Platform & Infrastructure
👤
AI Researcher
BurntLLM
👤
Security Engineer
CAPTCHA & Web Security
👤
Game Developer
2Block Platform
👤
Product & Operations
Strategy & Delivery

Interested in our work?

BurntLLM is currently in public beta and available to test. For all other enquiries, please reach out via our official channels.