The AI XR Podcast.
Charlie Fink Productions
Get the inside story on the biggest tech developments from founders, former executives, and industry veterans who built companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta Reality Labs, Apple Vision Pro, Microsoft HoloLens, and Unity.Join Charlie Fink (Forbes), Ted Schilowitz, (Red Camera, Fox, Paramount Futurist) & Rony Abovitz, (founder Magic Leap).as they interview startup CEOs, ex-Google/Meta/Apple insiders, Hollywood directors, and AI researchers reshaping spatial computing.Every week we break down the latest tech news with our signature hot takes, then dive deep with a founder or industry leader. We cover artificial intelligence breakthroughs, virtual reality hardware, augmented reality applications, synthetic media tools, and how enterprises are adopting these technologies.We're industry insiders who have the connections to get the biggest names on the show, but we're not afraid to ask the tough questions about where big tech is heading. Our guests trust us because we've been in their shoes.Listen now to get ahead of the next wave of computing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 25, 2026 • 58min
How Quilty Is Opening Hollywood's Gates ft. Simon Horsman & Daniel Wood, Quilty.app
Daniel Wood, technology entrepreneur and film producer, and Simon Horsman, veteran producer and entertainment executive, reveal Quilty.app, an AI platform opening Hollywood’s gates to overlooked screenwriters. They discuss studio-style script scoring, leaderboards, trend analysis, and connecting writers with producers. They also compare a $220 million epic with a hybrid AI film made for under $1 million.
Sep 18, 2026 • 56min
Peloton for Gamers: Virtuix Goes Public ft. Jan Goetgeluk, CEO of Virtuix
Jan Goetgeluk, Dutch-American entrepreneur and Virtuix founder and CEO, charts the company’s journey from Shark Tank rejection to Nasdaq listing. He discusses VR treadmills as a “Peloton for gamers,” the rise of defense training and location-based entertainment, and teleoperated humanoids. He also explores public-company pressure, potential acquisitions, and using movement-based VR for autism therapy.
Sep 11, 2026 • 1h 3min
Revisiting "Cyberselfish": Silicon Valley's Libertarian Culture, Then and Now ft. Paulina Borsook
Paulina Borsook, technology journalist and author of Cyberselfish, revisits her critique of Silicon Valley’s libertarian culture. She connects 1990s tech idealism to today’s AI safety crisis, surveillance capitalism, and techno-autocracy. The conversation explores Silicon Valley’s dependence on government, Zuckerberg’s political reversal, Uber’s disruption culture, and the limits of “spreadsheet philanthropy.”
Sep 4, 2026 • 48min
VR Winter 2.0 Just Claimed Its Biggest Casualty ft. Steve Grubbs (Victory XR) & Malia Probst (Scout House)
Malia Probst, founding partner at Scout House and co-founder of the WXR Fund, joins a candid look at immersive tech’s latest shakeout. The conversation explores Engage XR’s collapse, VR’s deepening winter, platform migration, creator ecosystems, and why diverse founding teams thrive. They also tackle AI’s impact on Hollywood, career longevity, and the future of human creativity.
Sep 2, 2026 • 58min
Causal AI: A Different Approach to Robot Intelligence ft. Biwei Huang, Founder of Aether AI
Biwei Huang, UC San Diego computer scientist and founder of Aether AI, explores a new path to robot intelligence. She discusses causal world models, teaching robots to clean tables and make coffee, and helping machines adapt across environments. The conversation covers manipulation, interpretability, controllability, physical safety, simulated training data, and the timeline for robots moving from factories into homes.
Aug 21, 2026 • 57min
The Window to Virtual Reality That Skips the Headset ft. Barmak Heshmat, CEO of Brelyon
Barmak Heshmat, founder and CEO of Brelyon and optics/computational-imaging expert, explains a headset-free path to immersion. He describes Brelyon’s curved, monocular-depth display as a “window” into virtual spaces. Discussion covers enterprise-first adoption, automotive video pass-through and a Toyota study, and the future shift toward light-field, headset-less visualization.
Aug 14, 2026 • 51min
Forget Consumer AR. This Is Where Smart Glasses Actually Pay Off ft. Mark Greget, CEO of NuEyes
Courtney Harding, founder of Friends with Holograms and XR professor, brings sharp cultural and design perspective. She discusses smart glasses backlash and privacy fears. She covers enterprise pivots, why clinical and industrial ROI matters, and where AR’s real use cases outshine consumer hype. Short, pointed takes on regulation, design fixes, and the future of immersive media.
Aug 11, 2026 • 57min
Meta's Glasses Aren't the Problem. Trust Is. ft. Cortney Harding, Friends With Holograms
Cortney Harding, founder of Friends With Holograms and XR/media professor, joins to talk smart glasses, AI and tech culture. She argues backlash to camera glasses is overblown. Short takes cover why enterprise may beat consumer for AR, how trust and layoffs shape tech sentiment, and a long‑run bet on an XR hardware surge.
Aug 3, 2026 • 54min
Why the iPhone Beats the Headset for AR Characters ft. Mark Drummond, CEO of Pixi
Mark Drummond, CEO of Pixee and former lead of Apple’s character intelligence team, explains why the iPhone wins for everyday AR characters. He discusses sending licensed characters via messages, reusing Memoji-style face APIs, on-device inference for privacy, and rebuilding Pixee’s runtime to cut compile times. He also contrasts Apple Vision Pro ergonomics with phone-first practicality.
Jul 24, 2026 • 48min
Episode 300: An AI Agent Went Rogue, China's Kimi Landed, and Katie Jacobs Stanton on Bridging the Divide
Katie Jacobs Stanton, GM at Moxie VC and former exec at Google, Twitter, and Yahoo, brings tech, public service, and venture experience. Conversation covers an autonomous OpenAI agent breaking sandbox containment. They unpack China's Kimi 3 and data double standards. Discussion turns to immersive Matrix-style experiences and rising experiential inequality. Finally, Katie reflects on tech meeting governance and AI's promise in biology and healthcare.
