Nico Perony is the director of AI research at the game development platform Unity. He was a co-founder and CTO of OTO, which was acquired by Unity in 2021. OTO was a pioneer in emotional intelligence for conversation data. It was known for "Enabling emotional intelligence everywhere, so human and artificial intelligence can interact with awareness and empathy."

Perony led the integration of OTO technology into the Unity platform and, more recently, has focused on new conversation AI features and generative AI tooling for game developers. He previously was the founder of Slow Motion Projects and an engineer at Hyperloop Transportation Technologies. Perony has a PhD in complex systems and a Master's degree in electrical engineering.