The AI XR Podcast.

In this episode, hosts Charlie Fink, Rony Abovitz, and Ted Schilowitz discuss viral AI-generated media and concerns over synthetic content verification. They touch on identity theft issues arising from unauthorized use of voices in AI avatars. The conversation shifts to Infinite Reality’s controversial $3 billion funding claim, which Forbes investigated but found inconclusive. They introduce guest Sam Liang, CEO of Otter.ai, who recounts founding Otter to capture and make human voice data searchable. Liang describes Otter’s early partnership with Zoom, the company’s evolution into a major AI transcription platform, and its competitive advantages in voice data. He highlights Otter’s new AI meeting assistant capable of proactive participation and outlines future plans for multilingual support and independent voice agents.

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In the latest episode of "The AI/XR Podcast," hosts Charlie, Rony, and Ted welcome Adam Draper of Boost VC. First we dive into pressing industry news, including Google’s monopoly verdict and OpenAI’s user base. Adam shared his investment philosophy focused on making small pre-seed bets to minimize risk while highlighting innovative ventures like Prospera, a special economic zone in Honduras fostering biotech advancements. The conversation continued with Adam discussing ethical considerations in tech investments, emphasizing trust and accountability among founders. He concluded with insights on the future of robotics, predicting an upcoming boom fueled by accessibility and affordability of technology for young innovators.

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In the latest episode of "The AI/AR Podcast," hosts Charlie Fink and Ted Schilowitz welcomed John Gaeta to discuss his innovative project, Escape AI, which serves as a platform for emerging creators using cutting-edge technologies like game engines and generative AI. Gaeta described how Neo Cinema represents a new wave of storytelling that gives space to unconventional narratives often overlooked by mainstream streaming services. He outlined the platform's vision, showcasing a curated network of artists and fostering community engagement through social viewing features akin to Crunchyroll's model. With a monetization strategy focused on direct support for creators, Escape AI is set to launch its fundraising round after an initial pre-seed investment of $1.5 million.

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In this episode Charlie and Ted celebrate reaching over a million downloads before diving into news which includes OpenAI’s $40B raise and $300B valuation, Runway’s "paltry" $380M in funding, the fate of TikTok, and the rapid evolution of cinematic AI. Our guest is futurist, producer, and investor Patty Rangel, who recounts her journey from theater to tech, her pioneering work with holography and VR, and her involvement with Singularity University, OpenAI, and the 2045 Initiative. Rangel shares insights on training AI agents, ethical AI development, and the vision of digital immortality through avatars, all while blending theater, space travel, and futurism.

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This week on the AI/XR Podcast, Charlie, Rony, and Ted welcome Nils Pihl, CEO of Auki Labs, and Caspar Thykier, CEO of Zappar, to discuss a massive retail rollout in of indoor virtual positioning systems in Sweden. In the news, OpenAI’s $12B revenue and projected $125B by 2029 set off fireworks. Rony floats Sam Altman as Tim Cook’s successor. Charlie suggests Apple needs a bold move—like acquiring OpenAI—to recover from Vision Pro’s underperformance and Siri’s years of neglect. Auki Labs' decentralized protocol, PoseMesh, uses scannable QR codes and self-hosted data to guide robots and humans through physical spaces. It's a killer demo: a blind person navigating to a bathroom via an app clip, no headset required. 

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This week Charlie and Ted welcome an old friend, Bob Cooney, the world's preeminent expert in location-based entertainment, who has just wrapped his own VR Arcade and Attractions Summit in Las Vegas. He's particularly excited by the portable MR theme park being developed by Brent Bushnell (Two Bit Circus), who keynoted the show. In the news, Big tech wants a preemptive pardon for copyright infringement. With the administration’s open contempt for the media and Hollywood, and the influence of Elon Musk, who owns Xai, they'll get it. Sorry Rony was not here. His head is going to explode. Some good cinematic AI news, too, with a dramatic report on new AI-first production companies.

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In the latest episode of the AIXR Pod, the team engages in a dynamic discussion about SXSW. Guest David Nussbaum, founder and Chairman of Proto, an innovative holographic technology The podcast kicks off with a recap of South by Southwest, where Ted and Charlie dissect the event's diminishing impact and highlight noteworthy XR experiences, including Cameron Costopoulos's winning entry. The focus then shifts to Proto's applications across various sectors like public spaces and healthcare, detailing its technical aspects and exciting future developments, including a projected sub-$1000 home device. David shares insights on Proto's successful celebrity usage and potential in arenas, politics, and government. 

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On the opening day of SXSW 2025, the hosts are joined by SXSW Programmers Blake Kammerdiner (XR) and Katie Perera (AI) to get a preview of the conference and exhibition, an annual part of our podcast, which turns 5 in July. In the news, Google's new AI search puts the search giant in competition - with itself; MWC wrap up featured the upcoming Samsung MR headset, which Rony says is so 2020. Lots XR and AI financings this week. Normal ones (under $100M). 

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This week we welcome Cecilia Shen, CEO of Cybever, an AI-powered 3D creation platform that leverages advanced layout algorithms to enable industries to build professional-grade, production-ready environments for industrial simulations. The Metaverse was in the news this week, with the launch of HTC's Viverse (now we know what they're doing with the $250M they got from Google for their hardware business), Meta created a $50 M investment fund to encourage and reward content creators in Horizon Worlds. Niantic is making a digital twin of the physical world. Cecilia Shen began her work in robotics when she was 15. She later joined Google X, the tech giant's incubator, where she began working increasingly with computer vision and generative AI. Cybever generates extensive libraries of 3D environments that are both diverse and customizable to specific training requirements.

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This week we welcome Naeem Talukdar, CEO Moonvalley AI, whose company is building a "clean" generative video model, trained exclusively on licensed video content. In the news, Niantic is selling its Pokemon Go business. The failed Humane Pin, a great idea with shockingly bad execution, is sold to HP for $116M for parts and patents, and Microsoft introduced Majorana 1, a new quantum computing technology it is developing with academic researchers. Naeem Talukdar, CEO Moonvalley AI, explains the fascinating quest he and his colleagues, many veterans of Deepmind and OpenAI, seek to build a video model that can supercharge CGI high-definition video pipelines for the film industry. Moonvalley is in the process of refining their model with sister company Aesteria Studios, for release in the next few months. Aesteria is led by Bryn Mooser, founder of RYOT (sold to Verizon) and streaming service XTR. They helped source the licensed video content the Moonvalley AI model is trained on, and are developing advanced workflows for its use. 

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