Culture & Code

Virtual Humans: The Impact of Advanced Intelligence and Technology The integration of advanced intelligence and technology into retail and consumer-facing experiences is revolutionizing the way we shop, interact with brands and their online support, and make purchasing decisions. As virtual humans and AI-powered systems become more sophisticated, they're transforming customer service, product recommendations, and even in-store navigation. This panel will explore the current state of the art in virtual human technology and its impact on the retail and complex online interaction, as well as examine future trends and challenges in this rapidly evolving field.

This show is a conversation with Natalie Monbiot was head of Strategy for Hour One, an AI avatar and synthetic video company based in Israel. Natalie focuses on synthetic media and the virtual human economy, in which real people create and profit from their digital selves. Natalie and I are going to explore the virtual human economy through the examples of AI twins made for business leaders like Reid Hoffman and Jensen Huang. We'll touch on how AI twins are poised to transform life, work, and play as people not only offload tasks onto them, but expand their possibilities with them. We'll drill into what the virtual human economy could mean for content creators, and where listeners can learn more about this burgeoning field.

This show is a conversation with Jose Aragon, an international fashion photographer and AI artist based in Madrid, Spain. As his work has appeared in magazines like Elle, Vogue Italia, Vogue UK and Vogue Japan, and was most recently featured in Synthetix, Brazil's leading journal for art and artificial intelligence. Jose and I collaborated on a generative AI story project called the Naruto Whirlpools, which will make his public debut later in 2024. We'll draw a lot of this conversation from that experience, talking about how two people from different creative disciplines work together in the context of generative AI. We're coming together with different skills and mentalities, but with the common thread of using AI to do things we couldn't do before.

This show features Helen Todd, who focuses on AI and creativity. She's not just talking about the future. Helen Tod is building it via her podcast, newsletter and YouTube channel called Creativity Squared. In this show, Helen and I will explore why the nexus of creativity and AI is such a critical area to cover from both a professional and a social point of view. We'll drill into what people mean when they discuss creative uses of AI, including digital cloning, storytelling and the next iteration of the metaverse. So you put all that together, and you've got a spicy cocktail for talking about the future of creative work in an AI environment.

This shows a conversation with Kate Baucherel, who is a speaker, author and consultant specializing in blockchain, crypto and emerging technologies. Kate has spoken at events across the world and online as a keynote, a panelist, a mentor and chair, and regularly appears on BBC radio and TV as a blockchain expert to provide straightforward commentary on news stories. Kate lectures at Teesside University in both the International Business School and the School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies.

This is a conversation with Guy Gadney, of charisma AI, a company that enables rapid creation of story driven experiences with digital avatars for web, mobile and VR platforms. Charisma AI has collaborated with Hollywood studios, global brands and universities, delivering award winning campaigns and educational content built on their ethical AI technology stack. We'll dive into creativity and technology, the cutting edge work at charisma AI, and his views for the future of storytelling powered by AI.

This is a conversation with Oskar Serrander, a co-founder of Wondercraft.AI, an AI powered creative platform dedicated to audio. Wondercraft launched in 2024 to democratize audio Oskar and I will explore the intersection of AI and audio through the lens of Wondercraft. We'll focus on the obstacles and opportunities that inspired his launch, and how AI helped make that dream become a reality. Then we'll move to the bigger picture, which is how AI audio will impact podcasting and other media sectors going forward. We'll wrap up by covering things that audio creators and publishers can do today to help thrive in that new environment.

This is a conversation with Ian Beecraft, who is the CEO of Signal and Cipher, an innovation and design agency helping companies navigate the impact of AI to drive the future of work. Previously responsible for innovation departments at some of the largest ad agencies in the world, Ian has advised brands including Samsung, Intel, Coca-Cola and dozens more about the impact of emerging technologies on their business. Ian is a classically trained musician, a strategist and keynote speaker, and was the first person ever to host a news segment as a synthetic human, streaming to over 100 million devices around the world. At SXSW 2024 Ian gave a featured presentation called Billion-Dollar Teams The Future of the AI Powered Workforce. We'll explore some of the insights offered in that keynote, with special emphasis on AI's impact creative professionals.

This is a conversation with Alvin Wang Graylin, who has over 30 years experience driving innovation in the AI, XR and semiconductor industries. As China President of HTC between 2016 and 2023, Graylin elevated the company to a prominent global position in the virtual reality and augmented reality spaces. Currently, Alvin is global VP for Corporate Development, HTC, vice chair of the Industry of Virtual Reality Alliance and the president of the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance. We're focusing on his new book co-written with Dr. Louis Rosenberg, “Our Next Reality: How the AI Powered Metaverse Will Reshape the World.” I asked him if he could apply its core learnings, storytellers, artists and others who create culture as part of their profession. What does the AI powered metaverse mean for creators? Where do they start and how do they thrive?

This show is a conversation with Rishad Tobaccowala, a genuine big thinker who helps organizations stay relevant and innovative during times of great change. His bestselling book, Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data, ricocheted across c-suites and boardrooms with his message of how to be smart with data while staying true to human values. His newsletter, called The Future does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past, is read by over 30,000 global leaders each week. Rishad is also host of the What Next podcast, where he speaks with leaders across business, technology, academia and the arts on how to make sense of the change is transforming us all. In this show, Rashad and I will explore the impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries as a leading indicator of what's in store for the rest of society. We'll use a three-part framework that we drew from one of his newsletters. Roots & Wings, Story & Spreadsheet, and Core & Edge Power to explore how individual creators and organizations can move beyond the hype surrounding AI, and focus on the real changes it brings.