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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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). 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest this week is Ann Hand, CEO of Super League, a brand agency specializing in game platforms like Roblox and Fortnite. The news this week starts with an ironic twist: first people who are losing jobs to AI are people who work in tech. Also, tech's super bowl commercials barely made a sound. Super League started as a platform for eSports marketing but Ann Hand has guided it to become one of the leading brand marketers in spatial computing, otherwise referred to as The Metaverse. Users are spending more and more of their time on these platforms. The company recently announced it was being acquired by Infinite Reality, which has raised over $3 Billion, 

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.

Charlie, Ted, and Rony welcome Sean Mann, CEO of RP1, whose Metaverse browser can support hundreds of thousands of unique users in a spatial environment. It's earning week in the tech world and the outlook for 2025, after two years of hypergrowth, is downright conservative. Love for Meta's money printing machine continued, despite continued losses on its Metaverse ambitions. Apple's discontinuing AR glasses. Or are they? And Alexa is back. Using RP1's browser, users can share spatial environments, including 1:1 maps of the physical world, on any browser, including VR. Charlie says the MR demo of RP1 that he showed him on Thursday was the most like the mixed reality described in "Snow Crash" he has ever seen. 

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.

Charlie, Rony & Ted are guestless today. It happens. It was a busy news week. First up, Deepseek. Their model may have been trained on OpenAI. Stealing from the thieves, he called it. Big financing deals we announced this week: Softbank is investing $500 M in Skild Robotics, and Eleven Labs (AI Voices) raised $250 M. Marcus Brownlee takes the new Samsung MR headset for a test drive on YouTube. The copyright office released guidance for AI generated content, offering it protection under the law provided a human is using AI as a tool, not an author. The Gulf of Mexico will be renamed on Google Maps. What about New Mexico? 

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.

Charlie and Ted welcome Elizabeth Baron, who at Ford Motor Company led Immersive Simulation for Product Development, where she combined design, engineering and manufacturing digital twins together for a holistic review of vehicles. She then moved to the University of Nebraska iEXCEL, where she is leading Intelligent Immersive Simulation to bring AI-based Digital Twins into healthcare. It was a big news week as Trump was inaugurated and had tech on his mind. TikTok got a temporary reprieve, and earned the company's thanks. Trump introduced a $500 B data center deal with OpenAI's Sam Altman, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Softbank's Mayoshi Son, and they expressed their admiration and gratitude. Not present: Elon Musk and Microsoft. Google buys HTC Vive. Sort of. Elizabeth, is Founder, Immersionary Enterprises, LLC, as well as Senior Advisor, Intelligent Immersive Simulation, UNMC iEXCEL. Formerly Global Lead,  Immersive Reality for Ford Motor Company Product Development. She joined us for an in-depth look at Ford automotive simulation and how the University of Nebraska Medical Center at iEXCEL is teaching, performing research and allowing interdisciplinary collaboration within its med school using simulation, AI and XR.

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.