The AI XR Podcast

This week Charlie and Ted are joined by Michael Murray, CEO of Kopin (NASDQ: KOPN), a leading developer of microdisplay and optical technologies for military and enterprise applications. Meta needs a hit entertainment franchise for its platforms, so they've made a deal with filmmaker James Cameron, to make one for them. With Elon Musk at the elbow of the President, does his competitor, OpenAI, who Musk is suing, have anything to worry about? Xreal released their new Xreal One Series of assisted reality smart glasses, or screen extenders, which now feature one touch screen anchoring. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this week's pod the hosts discussed big tech's investment in Trump, Australia's move to regulate social media, and Google's accidental preview of Jarvis, which will be the Android answer to AI Siri, and may even launch sooner. They also highlighted a company called Mawari, which is working on tokenizing streaming XR content, aiming to simplify the distribution of spatial content without the need for apps. Our guest is Alex Masharov, founder of Higgsfield, who shared his journey from Russia to Silicon Valley. He discussed his previous success with an AI company sold to Snap, which developed real-time face filters that went viral. Now, with Higgsfield, Alex aims to revolutionize video content creation by focusing on personalized, AI-generated dramas. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week the hosts are in full force. Rony talks about his AI startup, Synthbee. It's earnings week, so we got a look at just how much money tech companies are making and their projected investments in AI. OpenAI's ChatGPT search is coming for Google. Inbrain Neuroelectronics raised $50M, and Spot AI raised $31M to turn those janky security cameras into AI-driven video assistants. Our guest is Shara Senderoff, Co-Founder of Futureverse. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week our guest is Deniz Özgür, co-founder, co-CEO, Spacerunners. Space Runners is a fashion-tech platform that operates at the intersection of digital fashion, blockchain technology, and the metaverse. Deniz was named a Forbes 30 under 30 CEO last year. Spacerunners uses AI to help brands bring their products to new markets, like the Metaverse. Rony is off for the Jewish holiday Sukkot. Slow news week, unless you're Perplexity AI search, doubling your valuation with another $500 M raise. Microsoft's Army HoloLens, or IVAS, continues its slow death. In another defense story that should surprise no one, the USAF is recruiting from the Drone Racing League, an acknowledgment that the Top Gun of the future may not be piloting a plane. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week our guest is Joaquin Cuenca Abela, co-founder and CEO of Freepik. Rony is off for the Jewish holiday, Sukkot. Earlier in the week, he launched his new company SynthBee with $20 million dollars of VC money. Also in the news, Nvidia enters software with a high-performing open source AI model, competing with its biggest customers. Our sponsor Zappar now has got a deep-pocketed backer with an exit strategy, Infinite Reality. Freepik CEO Joaquin Cuenca Abela joins us to share the story of his company, Freepik, which started out as an ad-supported search site for free pictures. Today Freepik makes around $100M a year in subscription revenues from their seven hundred and fifty million month unique visitors. For the past two years, Freepik has been leaning heavily into generative AI, and is adding new features, like text-to-video, which he hinted may be coming soon. Freepik hit our radar last year when it acquired the AI upscaling tool Magnific. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week the hosts are here in full force to welcome Justin Maier, co-founder and CEO of Civitai. Elon Musk of Tesla revealed of the Robotaxi and its accompanying Robobus and Optimus robots. The nobel prize in Physics went to John Hopfield and Geoff Hinton, the AI Scientist who "retired from Google" warning the NY Times about the dangers of AGI. RIP Spacetop computer with its wearable AR monitor. Edward Berger’s immersive short film Submerged is now available on Apple’s Vision Pro. Justin Maier explains how Civitai is about to revolutionize generative AI content creation with an enhanced, consolidated workflow which will run on their Buzz token. You can see why Andressen invested in this young AI company.  Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ted and Charlie welcome Antony Batt, Neville Spiteri, co-founders of Wevr, creators of "The Blu," one of the first experiences created for the HTC Vive in 2016. Rony is off for the holiday (Happy New Year to those who celebrate). In the news, Future Trash, an LA creative studio, scores $5M to make experiences for Fortnite. Runware AI Raises $3M for super fast AI image generation. Infinite Realty buys Super League. Antony and Neville give a VR history lesson as they are also genuine VR OGs, having survived not one but two "VR winters." Today Wevr is thriving, and more focused on location-based VR. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Charlie, Rony and Ted welcome Yonatan Tal, CEO of Supersocial. First up is the flurry of announcements from Meta Connect, including the unveiling of their see-through AR headset, dubbed Orion, and more broad updates about AI. Rony shares intimate details of his conversation with Mark Zuckerberg at the prestigious Allen & Company invitation-only in Sun Valley. Yonatan Tal shares details of his Metaverse construction studio, Supersocial, and how they make Roblox experiences. The company is a combination of an agency and a Roblox game developer, making it a sought-after partner for big brands seeking to reach that prized youth audience. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join John Attanassio and Luisa Huang, co-founders of Toonstar, an AI-assisted animation company transforming digital storytelling. They share their inspiring journey from traditional animation backgrounds to creating viral hits like 'Stephen and Parker' on YouTube. The duo discusses how AI is reshaping animation and the creator economy, enabling new voices in a previously exclusive industry. Expect insights into their innovative tools that lower barriers for creators and the impact of platforms like TikTok on modern narratives.

This week all three hosts are back in force with a great guest, Zhen Feng, Head of International for Roblox. Rony and Ted talk about a new hush-hush optics technology for XR which they believe is coming to headsets soon. It's a slow news week, but we did talk about iOs 18, Apple Intelligence (or lack thereof), and Google Shopping's virtual try-on. Zhen Fengs shares her unique journey from Microsoft to early Facebook, where she spent 13 years, and now her role at Roblox, which made us all want to go work there. Thank you to our sponsor, Zappar!Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!https://linktr.ee/thisweekinxr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.