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How Hermina Johnny Is Turning Global Policy Into Real Opportunity For The Next Generation

Austin Tang — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 20:44:36 +0000

In global development, few professionals have seen the system from as many vantage points as Hermina Johnny. A former United Nations specialist in partnerships, sustainable development, and gender equality, Johnny built her career navigating complex institutions designed to shape the future.

But it was a simple, recurring question—one she found herself asking in meeting after meeting—that ultimately changed her path:

Where are the women and youth?

“I sat in rooms focused on solutions for women and young people,” Johnny says. “Yet they were often missing from the decision-making spaces themselves.”

That disconnect—between intention and inclusion—became the catalyst for Aspire Artemis Foundation, the global nonprofit she founded to bridge the gap between policy and access.

From Global Frameworks To Ground-Level Impact

Johnny’s work across the UN system, the European Parliament, and international organizations placed her at the center of high-level coordination on issues ranging from climate change to human rights.

Her mandate was clear: build partnerships and design solutions.

But over time, she began to see a structural flaw.

“Too much of the system is built around conversation,” she says. “Not enough is built around access.”

Despite widespread commitments to gender equality—including global targets for parity by 2030—Johnny observed that representation in leadership remains uneven, particularly for women and youth from underserved communities.

Her response wasn’t to push for incremental reform—it was to build a parallel pathway.

Building A Pipeline, Not Just A Platform

Aspire Artemis Foundation operates at the intersection of education, workforce development, and innovation—with a focus on underserved youth, especially girls and communities across the Global South.

Its mission is both ambitious and pragmatic: equip, empower, and educate the next generation of leaders in a digital economy that is rapidly leaving many behind.

“At Aspire Artemis, we don’t just talk about opportunity—we structure it,” Johnny explains.

The organization delivers programming across STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), combining technical training with mentorship, leadership development, and real-world exposure. Its initiatives range from AI and digital literacy to entrepreneurship, policy engagement, and cultural innovation.

Central to its model is what Johnny calls the EMI framework—Educate, Mentor, Intern—a three-part system designed to move young people from potential to placement.

“We’re not just preparing young people to participate in the future,” she says. “We’re preparing them to shape it.”

The Mentorship Gap—and Why It Matters

One of Johnny’s key insights is that talent is universal—but access is not.

“Mentorship is one of the most underestimated drivers of success,” she says. “It’s often the difference between someone seeing a possibility and actually achieving it.”

For many young people, particularly in underserved communities, that access is limited or nonexistent.

“In places where youth unemployment is high, internships and unpaid opportunities are not realistic options,” she notes. “You can’t build a career pathway if you’re focused on survival.”

Aspire Artemis addresses this gap by connecting young people with global mentors, creating pipelines into industries where representation has historically been low.

The model is already showing results—from students gaining international exposure to young leaders advancing into professional roles and leadership positions.

Rethinking Women’s Leadership In The Digital Economy

Johnny is particularly focused on the future of work—and who gets left out of it.

In the tech sector, the disparities are stark: only 2% of venture capital funding goes to women-led startups, with even fewer resources reaching women in developing markets.

“That’s not a pipeline problem—it’s an access problem,” Johnny says.

Her solution is to rethink how talent is identified, trained, and supported—starting earlier and scaling faster.

Aspire Artemis integrates arts and creativity into STEM, promoting a more holistic approach to innovation—one that prioritizes emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, and human-centered design.

“The future of technology isn’t just about code,” she says. “It’s about context. It’s about who is building—and who it’s being built for.”

Why Representation Requires Action—Not Rhetoric

While global conversations around diversity and inclusion have gained traction, Johnny is clear-eyed about what’s still missing.

“We’ve moved past awareness,” she says. “Now it’s about execution.”

That includes measurable commitments to representation across business, government, and industry—and a broader cultural shift in how leadership is defined.

She also emphasizes the role of men in accelerating change.

“The most effective progress happens when men are active participants in advancing gender equality—not just observers.”

A Founder’s Mindset: Resilience, Speed And Vision

Johnny’s leadership style reflects the environments she’s worked in: fast-moving, high-pressure, and outcome-driven.

Her guiding principle?

“Think of yourself as falling into oncoming traffic—get up, dust yourself off, and move forward at great speed.”

It’s a mindset rooted in resilience—but also urgency.

In a world shaped by rapid technological change, Johnny believes the cost of inaction is too high.

“We can’t afford to wait for systems to evolve,” she says. “We have to build new ones.”

The Bigger Picture: Inclusive Innovation At Scale

With a growing global network of partners spanning governments, corporations, and multilateral institutions, Aspire Artemis is scaling its impact while maintaining a focused mission: create equitable access to opportunity in the digital age.

Its flagship initiatives—including high-level summits held during the United Nations General Assembly—bring together policymakers, technologists, and young leaders to drive cross-sector collaboration.

But for Johnny, the real measure of success isn’t attendance—it’s outcomes.

“We’re creating pathways,” she says. “Real, tangible pathways for people who have historically been excluded from them.”

The Bottom Line

Hermina Johnny isn’t just building an organization—she’s building infrastructure for inclusion.

Her work sits at a critical intersection: where global policy meets local reality, and where the future of work will be defined not just by innovation—but by who has access to it.

“We don’t just want young people to have a seat at the table,” she says.
“We want them to build the table.”

About Hermina Johnny

Hermina Johnny is a humanitarian and global development leader specializing in gender equality, human rights, and sustainable development. She has worked across the United Nations system, the European Parliament, and the International Organization for Migration, as well as in the private sector.

She is the Founder of Aspire Artemis Foundation, a global nonprofit advancing equity through STEAM education, mentorship, and inclusive innovation.

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Women In Leadership: Hermina Johnny Is Challenging Who Gets To Build The Digital Economy

Austin Tang — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:57:57 +0000

The digital economy loves to talk about innovation. It talks far less about access.

As artificial intelligence accelerates, tech valuations soar, and governments race toward digital transformation, one question sits uncomfortably beneath the headlines: Who is being prepared to participate—and who is being systematically left out?

Hermina Johnny is not interested in incremental change. She is interested in structural correction.

Born in Saint Lucia and shaped by years of living and working across the United States and Europe, Johnny has positioned herself at the intersection of education, economic strategy, and gender equity. As Founder and Executive Director of the Aspire Artemis Foundation, she is working to redesign the pipeline into science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM)—with a deliberate focus on girls and underrepresented communities.

And she is unapologetic about the stakes.

“Digital transformation without intentional inclusion doesn’t close gaps—it widens them.”

From Global Policy To Ground-Level Access

Johnny’s academic background spans international relations, economics, anthropology, and international law. She earned her undergraduate degree from Connecticut College and completed an LL.M. in International Law and International Relations in Brussels, later pursuing research in constitutionalism and fundamental rights.

But rather than remaining in policy circles, she moved toward execution.

Global development frameworks routinely articulate commitments to equity. Yet implementation often stalls at the structural level. Johnny saw that disconnect firsthand.

So she built an institution designed to close it.

Education As Economic Infrastructure

Through the Aspire Artemis Foundation, Johnny develops STEAM-focused leadership programs, global symposia, and digital literacy initiatives that go beyond exposure. The organization integrates arts into STEM disciplines—not as decoration, but as strategic design—training young people to think adaptively in a workforce defined by rapid change.

Her framing is deliberately economic.

STEAM education, she argues, is not a social side project. It is workforce architecture.

“If education isn’t treated as infrastructure, we shouldn’t be surprised when opportunity collapses under pressure.”

Under her leadership, the foundation has convened programming connected to international development discussions and United Nations–related venues, reinforcing a simple but disruptive thesis: innovation ecosystems that exclude women are economically inefficient.

The conversation, she insists, must shift from representation optics to structural preparation.

Encouragement is not a strategy. Infrastructure is.

Small States, Global Systems — And Female Leadership

Johnny’s work also challenges geographic bias in global innovation narratives. Participation in forums linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN General Assembly, and the ECOSOC Science, Technology and Innovation Forum places her within high-level policy discussions.

At the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), debates centered on resilience and connectivity. For Johnny, the message was direct: small island nations cannot diversify their economies without digital capability.

And digital capability does not appear spontaneously. It is built—intentionally.

As a woman leader from a small island state, Johnny’s presence in these arenas disrupts two assumptions at once: that innovation leadership belongs to large economies, and that systems change is driven primarily by traditional power centers.

“Geography should not determine destiny. Neither should gender.”

Strategy Meets Execution

Before founding her nonprofit, Johnny built experience in business strategy and legal advisory work, including corporate and intellectual property matters. That foundation shapes her leadership style—analytical, cross-sector, and systems-focused.

But she refuses to operate solely at altitude.

She continues to teach and develop educational materials, maintaining direct engagement with learners. The result is rare: a leader equally fluent in boardroom strategy and classroom realities.

In conversations about women in technology, she pushes back against surface-level diversity narratives.

Representation without preparation, she argues, sets women up to enter systems that were never designed for them to succeed.

Structured pathways, market-aligned skills, mentorship networks, and institutional accountability are non-negotiable.

The Real Leadership Test

The digital economy disproportionately rewards early exposure and sustained access. Johnny’s work is built around intervening before exclusion calcifies into inevitability.

By positioning STEAM education as both an equity imperative and an economic growth strategy, she reframes inclusion not as charity—but as competitiveness.

In her view, the most dangerous myth in innovation culture is that talent naturally rises.

Talent rises when infrastructure supports it.

“The question isn’t whether women can lead in technology. The question is whether systems are willing to evolve fast enough to make room.”

In the expanding landscape of women in leadership, Hermina Johnny represents a category of leader that is increasingly impossible to ignore: not symbolic, not peripheral—but systemic.

She is not asking to be included in the digital economy.

She is helping decide who gets to build it.

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GSI Newsletter: The legacy of FW de Klerk, creative dissent, the digital power of women

Austin Tang — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:29:38 +0000

Dear Friends,

I had the honor of delivering the 4^th FW de Klerk Annual Memorial Lecture in Cape Town, South Africa last week.

I was privileged to work with former South African President FW de Klerk at numerous Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates, an organization founded by President Mikhail Gorbachev which convenes Peace Laureates at extraordinary conferences on a regular basis and with which I am honored to serve as its Representative to the United Nations. I draw your attention to the Final Declarations, which contain expressions of collective wisdom and practicality. President de Klerk’s contributions were always substantive, terse, and clear.

We traveled together on a delegation hosted by Bahrain which the Global Security Institute helped coordinate. He demonstrated courage in his work to help end apartheid in South Africa and I observed his humility, and warmth wherever he went.

Ambassador Thomas Graham, a member of GSI’s Board of Directors was instrumental in the creation and signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as the lead diplomat for the United States on the issue. His historic analysis is essential reading for anyone serious about understanding its creation and importance. The Treaty’s relationship to the stability of the nonproliferation regime and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is the focus of an in-depth, but short, study by the European Leadership Network.

President Clinton’s characterization of the Treaty is succinct and accurate… “I was honored to be the first of 146 leaders to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, our commitment to end all nuclear tests for all time — the longest-sought, hardest-fought prize in the history of arms control. It will help to prevent the nuclear powers from developing more advanced and more dangerous weapons. It will limit the possibilities for other states to acquire such devices… Our common goal should be to enter the CTBT into force as soon as possible, and I ask for all of you to support that goal.” Note also quotes from Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy on the subject.

You might also enjoy my thoughts regarding the recent apparent order by President Trump to resume nuclear testing and U.S. votes on this subject in the UN General Assembly, addressed in a syndicated article by the Inter Press Service. My quotes are outstanding in their unique grammatical awkwardness, unnecessary loquaciousness, exemplifying an overly pedantic series of run-on sentences, which in summary strongly urge against the resumption of testing and emphasize the need for cooperation to address an abundance of threats to us all.

On 21 November, I will address the third Annual Digital Power of Women Conference. This distinguished event powerfully advances much-needed gender balance. I hope you can join virtually.

GSI Advisory Board Member Honorable Douglas Roche’s very personal article Creative Dissent: A Politician’s Struggle for Peace merits a serious quiet read. It is inspiring because it reveals the character of one of the most effective, wise, and passionate advocates for nuclear disarmament and human security of our time.

With Respect,

Jonathan Granoff,

President, Global Security Institute

EVENTS

Jonathan Granoff Delivers Keynote at Fourth FW de Klerk Memorial Lecture

On 11 November 2025, the FW de Klerk Foundation, in collaboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, hosted the Fourth FW de Klerk Memorial Lecture, to commemorate President De Klerk’s legacy.

The Foundation hosted Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, as the keynote speaker, who delivered a lecture on: “FW de Klerk’s Commitment to Justice: Transformation, Constitutionalism and the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons”.

In his lecture, Jonathan reflected on his many meetings with Mr De Klerk at World Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates, some of Mr De Klerk’s greatest achievements — such as initiating South Africa’s constitutional transformation, abolishing South Africa’s nuclear arsenal and making South Africa a leading member of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Watch The Lecture Highlight Video

Read And Watch Mr Granoff’s Speech

Watch The Entire Event

View The Lecture Gallery

Read the Foundation’s Statement

Keynote by Jonathan Granoff: “Threading the Golden Rule Across Religions”

November 21, 2025
9:40 AM PST | 7:40 PM SAST | 6:40 PM CET | 11:10 PM IST

At a time when division often overshadows shared humanity, returning to the core ethical teachings that unite us becomes essential. Across every faith tradition, one principle shines through: treat others as you wish to be treated. This universal truth, known as the Golden Rule, has guided moral thought, shaped civilizations, and anchored our deepest spiritual traditions.

The Digital Power Of Women (DPOW) 2025 Conference — an official Civil20 and G20 Social South Africa digital event will explore how the Golden Rule functions as a moral through-line across religions and why it remains a relevant framework. Jonathan’s message will invite leaders, youth, and communities to recognize that the values uniting us are far more powerful than the differences dividing us.

This keynote is part of the 3rd Annual Digital Power Of Women Conference, convening global leaders, innovators, social-impact changemakers, movement builders, and youth from across continents to imagine and build a future rooted in balance, respect, and collective peace & wellbeing.

FROM THE BOARD OF ADVISORS

Creative Dissent: A Politician’s Struggle For Peace

On October 23, 2025, Global Security Institute Advisory Board Member, the Hon. Douglas Roche O.C., received an award from the Canadian Leadership for Nuclear Disarmament (CLND) for Distinguished Achievement in Nuclear Disarmament. It was followed by a lecture given by Mr. Roche titled Creative Dissent: A Politician’s Struggle for Peace.

ANALYSIS

US Stands Alone Defying UN Vote on Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

The US took another step backward – to break ranks with the United Nations– when it voted against a draft resolution calling for the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The negative vote followed an announcement by President Trump last month that the US plans to resume nuclear testing after a 33-year hiatus. The US stood alone on the UN vote, which was supported by almost all member States in the General Assembly’s First Committee.

We Value Your Support

We believe as Senator Alan Cranston used to say, “Nuclear weapons are unworthy of civilization.” We research, write, convene, and work on many levels, from heads of state to public advocacy and need your strong economic support to succeed.

Donate Here

NEW ASIAN BISTRO ACCEPTS DIGITAL POSX PAYMENTS, A FIRST IN THE SHERATON HOTEL, DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN

Austin Tang — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 03:57:47 +0000

Listen to “NEW ASIAN BISTRO ACCEPTS DIGITAL POSX PAYMENTS, A FIRST IN THE SHERATON HOTEL, DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN” on Spreaker.

Here is POSX, CEO Carter Qiu and John Lam, One the World’s Leading Hotel Owners and Business Entrepreneurs sharing the Good News for Posx from downtown, Brooklyn, SHERATON Hotel. THE FIRST, ACCEPTING DIGITAL ASSETS PAYMENT FOR THEIR ASIAN BISTRO

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World Talent Economy Forum Institute: Empowering the Next Generation of Global Leaders

Austin Tang — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 11:05:46 +0000

Dhaka, Bangladesh –— The World Talent Economy Forum Institute (WTEFI) proudly announces its official launch as a pioneering global platform dedicated to advancing education, entrepreneurship, and innovation-driven economic development. Founded by Professor Dr. Sharif Uddin Ahmed Rana, the Institute serves as a hub for thought leadership, policy dialogue, and talent development to address 21st-century challenges in business, technology, and sustainability.

Building upon the success of the World Talent Economy Forum, the Institute aims to connect global experts, policymakers, and young innovators to co-create actionable solutions that promote inclusive growth and equitable opportunities. Its programs include leadership development, CEO training, startup incubation, and international collaboration on frontier technologies such as AI, renewable energy, and digital finance.

“The World Talent Economy Forum Institute is committed to transforming talent into action. We believe that education and innovation are the twin engines for creating a sustainable and equitable global economy,” said Professor Rana, Founder and President of the Institute. “Through global partnerships and research-based initiatives, we seek to empower future leaders to drive meaningful change.”

The Institute also plans to host annual global dialogues, leadership summits, and innovation bootcamps across Asia, Europe, and North America. Its collaboration with universities, governments, and private enterprises will accelerate research and capacity-building for emerging economies.

About the World Talent Economy Forum Institute
The World Talent Economy Forum Institute (WTEFI) is a global initiative dedicated to fostering innovation, leadership, and sustainable economic transformation. Its mission is to empower individuals and institutions with knowledge, skills, and networks to build resilient, inclusive societies.

https://www.youtube.com/@wteforum1212/streams

https://wteforum.org/

https://wtefi.org/

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China Technology!!

Austin Tang — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 20:57:10 +0000

Listen to “China Technology!!” on Spreaker.

#China #Technology #Influence #ChinaTechnology #ChinaTech

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CTA Foundation News

Austin Tang — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 17:05:17 +0000

By Steve Ewell ● Feb 19, 2025

Smart Brevity^® count: 2 mins…567 words

The CTA Foundation celebrated an incredible CES^® 2025, highlighting accessibility innovation and collaboration. From assistive devices to smart home solutions, CES showcased cutting-edge technologies empowering people of all abilities and reinforced the Foundation’s commitment to a more inclusive future.

Keep reading to learn about some exciting announcements we have to share:

Meet the CES 2025 Innovation Challenge Winners
Inside the CTA Foundation Accessibility Roundtable: Key Takeaways from CES
Startup Innovation Takes Center Stage in Eureka Park Pitch CompetitionStartup Innovation Takes Center Stage in Eureka Park Pitch Competition
And More!

As always, thanks for your support.

1. Innovation Challenge Highlighted Digital Healthcare Solutions

The CTA Foundation kicked off CES 2025 with the Innovation Challenge, focusing on improving digital healthcare access for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Finalists Eyedaptic, MapHabit, ONSCREEN, Inc., and VIF showcased their solutions on stage, with ONSCREEN, Inc. taking the top prize for its technology designed to empower individuals with IDD in managing their healthcare.

2. Bringing Leaders Together: Accessibility Roundtable and Reception

More than 120 attendees, including disability advocates, industry leaders, and innovators, gathered for the Accessibility Roundtable to discuss assistive devices, inclusive design, and accessible technology solutions.

Organized in collaboration with CTA’s Government Affairs, Technology & Standards teams, and the new Accessibility and AgeTech Working Group, the discussion set the tone for the week.
Later, the Accessibility & AgeTech Reception provided a valuable networking opportunity for advocates and industry professionals to continue conversations and explore collaborative solutions.

3. Startups Took Center Stage in the Eureka Park Pitch Competition

Nine startup finalists took the stage for the CTA Foundation Pitch Competition, presenting innovative AI-powered solutions that enhance health and accessibility.

MakeSense Technology won the Grand Prize for “The Vector,” an AI-powered navigation device for individuals with low vision.
Sign-Speak and Voinosis were recognized as runner-up and Audience Choice winners for their groundbreaking technologies.

4. Media and Funders Tours Showcased Accessibility Innovation

The CTA Foundation brought accessibility innovation to the spotlight at CES 2025 with two exclusive tours:

Accessibility Media Tour: Journalists met the winners of the Eureka Park Accessibility Contest — Blueberry Technology Inc., Lotus, MakeSense Technology, Sign-Speak, and Soliddd Corp.These companies showcased groundbreaking tech, ranging from real-time sign language translation to haptic navigation devices. The tour concluded with a final stop at Amazon’s CES exhibit, where attendees explored the company’s latest accessibility initiatives.
Funders Tour: Sponsors and supporters got a firsthand look at cutting-edge assistive technologies. This tour highlighted the impact of industry collaboration and investment in assistive tech, reinforcing the importance of continued support in driving innovation and inclusion.

5. #GivingTechDay Doubles Donations from Last Year!

Thank you to the individuals that shared #TechGives stories, and the 34 individuals who generated $15,200 in funding to turn #GivingTuesday into #GivingTechday for the CTA Foundation. We are humbled by your support and generosity and look forward to turning your charitable gift into accessibility for all ages in 2025!

6. Thank You to our 2024 Industry Partners

CTA Foundation would like to instead a warm thank you to those in the consumer technology industry who have directly supported our mission last year and help put accessibility at the forefront of CES.

Go deeper: Interested in joining our partners, participating in our Industry Partner Council, and championing accessibility and aging tech? Contact nzundel@ctafoundation.tech to learn more.

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Registration Now Open & Free! The Virtual AI & Entertainment Summit – “21st Century Hollywood – July 22nd – 24th

Austin Tang — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 13:21:24 +0000

Digital Hollywood – The Summer Virtual Event

The AI Entertainment & Technology Summit

Monday, July 22 – Wednesday, July 24, 2024

A Virtual Event • Free to All Attendees • Registration Now Open

Click Here and View Online

First Look at Speakers

The Complete Agenda July 2024 Agenda

The Keynotes: Monday, July 22nd – Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Special Track for: Television Academy Emerging Media Peer Group Members

I. Track One: AI and Hollywood Production, Advertising, Virtual Production & Analytics

II. Track Two: AI and Video and the 21st Century Artist

III. Track Three: Virtual Humans and Robotics: The Summit on Synthetic Intelligence

IV. Track Four: AI and Music: The Challenge of Artists vs. Technology – Musicians – Science – Creativity

V. Track Five: AI – Deep Fakes, Bias Threats, Bias, Creative Rights & Regulation

VI: Track Six: AI Fashion, The Artist & Design: The Summit on Synthetic Intelligence

Registration is Open and Free to All Attendees

The Defining Event: The Future of Entertainment, Media & Technology

The Evening Keynote Roundtables

Monday, July 22nd, 2024

8:00 PM – 8:50 PM: Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

The AI & Entertainment Innovation Roundtable

While AI has been front and center in the entertainment and media industries for more than a decade, enabling on the one hand predictive and qualitative analytics and then serving as the backbone of major creative innovation in feature film, advertising, and the cloud on the other. But now, with the establishment of “Generative AI,” that process of innovation and disruption is unfolding at an accelerated and unprecedented rate. In this roundtable, we bring together executives from major entertainment and technology organizations who are at the forefront of that innovation transformation. We thank them for their time and very much look forward to their commentary.

Speakers:

Phil Wiser, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Paramount Global

Samira Panah Bakhtiar, General Manager, Media & Entertainment, Games and Sports, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Eliot Sakhartov, Business and Technology Strategist, Media and Entertainment, Microsoft

Seth Hallen, Managing Director, Light Iron, President, Hollywood Professional Association (HPA),

Moderator

Speaker to be announced

Session II:

AI, Cinematic, Apple Vision Pro/Spatial and Media Artists: The Next Level of Creativity

The artist, the creator, from Indie filmmakers to experimental visionaries, in this moment of tech innovation, are finding a new voice and a new universe of opportunity. With traditional entertainment platforms, from “Tent-Pole Extravaganzas” to Reality TV overload, the global audience is making clear its preference for new mediums and new technologies that deliver new and more innovative experiences. In this roundtable we will explore AI and Cinematic creation, XR innovation and we’re also pleased to welcome the creative team behind Apple Vision Pro’s breakthrough “Encounter Dinosaurs.” As artists quickly discover, AI, XR and Spatial technologies provide pallets of creative choices unknown to them prior to this amazing journey.

Speakers:

Robert Legato, Director, Tool, Legendary VFX, Titanic, The Lion King, Avatar

Kymber Lim, CEO & Producer, MAJYK Studios, “Prehistoric Dinosaurs Immersive Team”

Robert Keyghobad, Producer, Remy H. Industries, “Encounter Dinosaurs Team”

Keith Soljacich, Head of Innovation, Publicis Media

Eric Levin, Chief Content Officer, Publicis Media U.S, Moderator

9:00 PM – 9:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

AI and Safety: Governance and Restraint vs. Industry Self-Regulation

AI didn’t arrive in the past 18 months. For nearly twenty years, AI has steadily become a technological societal force, serving as a backbone to the Medical Imaging community, directing traffic on the internet and regulating electrical power grids across the country and making possible self-driving cars. However, with the arrival of Generative AI and the anticipation of AGI, Artificial General Intelligence, and massive surge in technology investment and company valuations, there is deep concern that the exuberance of discovery will lead to an unwelcome future. We welcome this conversation.

Speakers:

Richard Kerris, General Manager, Media and Entertainment, NVIDIA

Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, United States Science Envoy, Artificial Intelligence, CEO and co-Founder, Humane Intelligence

Mary Hamilton, Managing Director, Technology Innovation, Americas, Accenture

Dan Hendrycks, Director, Center for AI Safety

Dr. Megan Ma, Associate Director, CodeX and Law, Science, Technology Program, Stanford Law School, Moderator

9:00 PM – 9:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session II:

The Hollywood Trajectory: The Generative AI Video Timeline: 2023 – 2024 – 2025 – 2026

How fast will AI take over Hollywood? That’s the question. After YouTube; After VFX and the Nightmare of Sequels, After Netflix, Amazon and cord cutting; Remember, Napster Killed the Music Industry!! What’s next? Is AI the Machine that’s going to “Eat Hollywood.” We are already beginning to understand the impact of AI on Screenwriting, AI and Virtual Charters and AI’s impact on VFX. Video Editing is clearly in the eye of the AI storm and the role of extras not to mention complicated backgrounds that will magically appear through the power of AI. In this session, we will speculate on the impact of AI on Hollywood and try to understand the impact and growth of “The AI Blob.” How soon will entire movies, TV shows and Ads being fully produced by a giant AI. 2026? 2028? What will Hollywood look like in 2030?

Speakers:

Paul Trillo, Artist, Writer, and Director

Renard T. Jenkins, President, i2a2 LLC, President, SMPTE

Jen Hollingsworth, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), Flawless AI

Phillip Fury, Immersive Technology Innovator and Advisor

Peter Csathy, Chairman, Creative Media, Moderator

The Evening Keynote Roundtables

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024

8:00 PM – 8:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

Brands & Agencies as Global Studios: The Medium is the Message

The Medium is the Message has truly outpaced the growth and influence of our traditional media powers. While the “Super Bowl” was indeed the most watched TV event of the year, the everyday reach of “Social Networks,” plus YouTube channels and others in “absolute numbers” far outstrip our traditional media system. One might conclude that in determining consumer reach and engagement, the creative combination of Global Brands, Global Agencies powered across the Social Networks, Websites and Mobile enablers, with the added possibilities of AI, XR, AR and Live Events create what we might consider as deployable Global Studios. Such Global Studios might be “Ad Hoc” or transitory, but they represent a paradigm shift. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the consumer reach of this “Modern Media Plan” will consistently reach into the hundreds of Millions.

Speakers:

Valerie Madden, Creative Director of Marketing Innovation, Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video & NBC Universal Alum

Melissa Bolton-Klinger, Award Winning Director, former, Group Creative Director – Studios, Paramount

Michael Sugar, Founder and CEO of Sugar23, Academy Award Winner, “Spotlight”

Adam Simon, SVP, Executive Director, IPG Media Labs

Greg Kahn, President and CEO, GK Digital Ventures, Moderator

Session II:

AI and the Crisis of Creative Rights: Deep Fakes, Ethics and the Law

Even with the successful resolution of the Entertainment industry “Guilds” strike of 2023, there remains an ongoing fear that “artificial intelligence poses an existential threat to creative professions.” The core AI issue sparking debate in Hollywood is not only based on compensation and creative control production. Deep fake technology in particular has raised concern about potential harmful uses, such as political disinformation, revenge porn, and misuse of intellectual property. At the same time, many “creatives” tout the game changing benefits this technology can bring to artistic and other endeavors, such as educational opportunities, enhanced freedom of expression and reduced barriers to entry. This panel will discuss these competing concerns and whether existing legal frameworks, such as right of publicity, copyright, and existing regulations, are sufficient to address this powerful technology.

Speakers:

Lisa Oratz, Senior Counsel, Perkins Coie, Moderator

Speakers to be announced

The Evening Keynote Roundtables

Wednesday, July 24th, 2024

8:00 PM – 8:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

A Meditation on Bad Hollywood: A Warning from the Creative Community – “Is the Future Synthetic Entertainment”

While the “Strikes” of 2023 may have been settled, with a well negotiated and robust consideration of all things AI, nevertheless, even with the AI guardrails in place, the feeling among creatives and for good reason, continues as the “unknown impact” of AI remains front and center in our industry and for the future of creativity and entertainment. Reflecting on this past year’s “Writers’ and SAG-AFTRA Strike,” Justine Bateman, was one among many in Hollywood expressing concern for our coming “Synthetic Entertainment Future.” To quote from her Newsweek article, Bateman was passionate and direct, “AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, but I refer to it as “Automatic Imitation.” And as Andy Weir, author of “The Martian,” has said, “before my life is over—my profession will effectively disappear.” In this session, we will continue the conversation concerning “All-Things AI,” the conversation that likely will never end.

Speakers:

Danielle Van Lier, former,Senior Assistant General Counsel, Contracts & Compliance, SAG-AFTRA, Moderator

Charlie Fink, Consultant, Forbes Columnist, “This Week in XR Podcast”

Additional speakers to be announced

9 – 9:50 PM Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

AI-Powered Business Models for Media and Entertainment: Opportunities and Investment Strategies

The market caps of Hollywood studios and the “Magnificent Seven” (Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla) are a stark tale of two cities. In 1994, the economic power of Hollywood and Tech were more or less equal. Today, the big tech 7 are worth $11.6 trillion, while the seven largest studios clock in under $400 billion— 3.45% the market value of their counterparts. AI represents a chance for M&E to harness tech to add revenue stream, decrease costs and force multiply efficiencies. This panel will present some specific examples how A&I can supercharge M&E ROI and growth.

Speakers:

Guy Gadney, CEO, Charisma.ai

Marcie Jastrow, Advisor, Shiba Inu

Mark Turner, co-Founder, Xinsere, formerly, MovieLabs, Technicolor, Microsoft

Virl Hill, Digital Media Leader, Former, Development & Strategy, Media & Entertainment, Microsoft

Matt Edelman, President and Chief Commercial Officer, Super League

Seth Shapiro, Two-time Emmy winner, Partner, Alpha Transform Holdings, Moderator

The Complete Conference Agenda (The Daytime Events)

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024

Noon – 12:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

Architects of AI and Entertainment: VFX/CGI – XR – AR – Film & Branding to Live Events

AI has been an evolving resource for Hollywood creatives for the past twenty years, going all the way back to “Jurassic Park” and “T2: Judgment Day.” You might call it a “Superpower.” AI in the hands of the “Architects of Hollywood” has been like giving a magic wand to a magician. From Feature Films, Live Experiences, Games and Advertising, the power to imagine has just been expanded exponentially. And an almost equal power has been given to the desktops of millions of the next generation of “Pixar and Walt Disney Imagineers” working at home worldwide.

Speakers:

Eric Shamlin, EVP Global Head of Entertainment, Media.Monks

Boo Wong, former, Director, Live Entertainment, Unity Technologies

Julian Sarmiento, Vice President, Innovation, Mirada Studios & Trailer Park Group

Tyler Cohen, Creative Director, Experience, Tool

John Canning, Director Developer Relations – Creators, AMD, Moderator

Session II:

Fashion Forward: The Immersive and Beautiful Internet Experience

The fashion and beauty retail experience is changing and the change is emerging before our eyes. Beautiful design is not new, but the “Immersive Experience,” of beautiful design on all platforms for the consumer, the impact of AI on real-time presentation and customer service as a high-end experience, from in-person to smartphone is incrementally being revolutionized. The pleasure and detail of the “In-Store High-End Customer Experience,” in the very near-future will be replicated and transformed as a mass culture “Digital Experience” online. We are pleased to share the concepts and vision of the transformation here, on this panel today.

Speakers:

Nicolas Votano, Chief Revenue Officer, Journee

Jordan Robinson, Director of Immersive & Partnerships, Degen Distillery

Adrian Whant, Founder & CEO, trooVRS, Moderator

Additional speakers to be announced

Session III:

Generative AI and Cinematic Hollywood: The Transformation of the Media Industry

While full AI video production hasn’t quite arrived, each week it seems that OpenAI debuts another generation of Sora and Pika one ups them with Audio software to lip-synch with the new video clips and another billion dollar investment is announced for a Virtual Humanoid company. And that was all in a three day stretch in March of 2024. And that’s not counting the Pro AI Music Generators from Google, Adobe and Meta and to paraphrase Stability AI’s CEO, “Emad Mostaque, “It has become possible to imagine an AI-generated new season of “Game of Thrones.” It with that thought in mind that we address the future of AI and Hollywood with our esteemed panel.

Speakers:

Ted Schilowitz, Visionary & Futurist, formerly Paramount Global & 20th Century Fox

Sasha Kasiuha, AI Innovator & Director, Madonna “The Celebration Tour”

Pinar Seyhan Demirdag, Co-Founder & CEO, Cuebric

Diana Williams, CEO & Co-founder, Kinetic Energy Entertainment

Leslie Shannon, Head of Ecosystem and Trend Scouting, Nokia, Moderator

1 PM – 1:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

As Johnny Rotten Might Say: AI Music – Bollocks Sí or Bollocks No?

Some say, AI is different. This technology may be black magic and maybe they’re right. But what about Sampling and Looping, Sequencers, Drum Machines and Beat Makers, Software synths and the Moog. How about the first time you became aware of the Wah Wah pedal? Does the music of Hendrix, Clapton or Zappa come to mind? The magical world of “Music and Technology” has enabled and enhanced the greatest of our popular musicians and producers for more than half a century. What is the role of the “Recorder Producer?” What about “The Wall of Sound?” What are the Beatles without George Martin, the master of “Audio Wizardry!” What would Johnny Rotten say about “Music and AI.” Let’s discuss.

Speakers:

Gerald Casale, Artist, Musician, founding Member, DEVO

Daniel Rowland, Music Producer, Head of Strategy, LANDR Audio

Jessica Powell, CEO, Audioshake

Dustin Blank, Head of Partnerships, ElevenLabs

Steve R. Masur, Partner, Raines Feldman Littrell LLP, Moderator

Session II:

Gen AI Cinema & Hollywood Video: A Director, Producer & Critic’s Roundtable

The entertainment industry has a new category of film to discuss and analyze, one that did not exist prior to 2023. It is almost remarkable that “Generative AI Cinema” is now a category of “Creativity” that we must begin to take seriously. All through the year 2022 AI Image Generators began to improve and in 2023 the images began to move. It would make Thomas Edison and Auguste and Louis Lumière proud. And the practitioners of “Gen AI Cinema,” the directors and technologists, today’s AI storytellers are creating amazing short films and video experiments. Our roundtable today will bring together a group of “Creatives” that are breaking the ground for what will surely be the “Hollywood of the 21^st Century.”

Speakers:

Quinn Halleck, Director, Tool (“Sigma_001”)

Katya Alexander, President, Pillars (AI Studio) & Freelance Indie Producer

Jason Zada, founder, Secret Level

Max Einhorn, Gen AI Producer, Creator, “True Crime AI”, Moderator

Session III:

The High Profile AI Start-up – Searching for Unicorns

The names of the “High-Flying” AI Start-ups are now nearly as well-known as Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon. There’s OpenAI, Anthropic, Inflection AI, Cohere, Mistral AI, Hugging Face, Scale AI and Databricks to name a few. And all of these AI names are valued in the Billions. And that doesn’t count the fifty other companies whose AI products we are now all using and purchasing. What does this mean for the future of tech investments, the coming IPOs and tech valuations in general. Is AI leading a boom in the technology marketplace, the economy as a whole. How many will be busts? What do all these potential “Unicorns” mean?

Speakers:

Kirthiga Reddy, Co-founder & CEO, Virtualness, Moderator

Tara Tan, Managing Partner, Strange Ventures

Sharad Devarajan, Media Entrepreneur; CEO and co-founder, Liquid Comics

David Higley, Partner, Global Media & Technology Group, Perella Weinberg

Bobby Napiltonia, Innovative Silicon Valley Exec., Okera, Salesforce, Twilio, BEA

Session IV:

The Complexity of AI & Art – Imagination of the Human + Machine: Cinematic Arts – Media Arts – Fashion Design

What does it mean when an artificial intelligence can dream? What does it mean to create art fabricated by neural networks rather than solely human hands and hearts. What does our future hold? Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, is a magnificent and devastating portrait of grandeur and privilege of Europe of the 1700s and in equal measure, we can look to the magnificent treasure of Antoni Gaudi’s architecture of Barcelona, and both might be thought of as progenitors of the AI Art we aspire to today. While Generative AI art is like opening a door to a limitless supply of “Digital Art,” this new world of art by “Human and Machine” will be no less distinct and intriguing than any era of art which has come before.

Speakers:

Angus Kneale, Chief Creative, Preymaker (co-founder, The Mill)

Michael Olaye, SVP, Managing Director – Strategy & Innovation, R/GA

Cathy Hackl, Co-CEO, Spatial Dynamics

Amelia Bearskin-Winger, Banks Family Chair of AI and the Arts, University of Florida, Digital Worlds Institute

Johannes Saam, Futurist/Creative Technologist, Framestore/atara.xyz

Annie Hanlon, Production Innovation Executive, Moderator

2 PM – 2:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

The Digital Brand & Advertising Experience: AI + 3D + XR + Holography + Metaverse

The combination of visual and electronic platforms and digital creativity have completely transformed the role of global brands in public consciousness. Or perhaps it’s the other way around; global brands have exposed technology and creativity to the world. Either way, between AI, 3D, XR and Spatial Realities, a universe of magical experiences and creative environments are capturing the imagination of 100s of Millions of viewers on mobile, video as well as experiential platforms. We are reaching a next level; we may be breaking the “Creative Sound Barrier.”

Speakers:

Canaan Rubin, Creative Executive, Marketing & Immersive, Amazon MGM Studios & Prime Video

Albert Thompson, Managing Director, Digital Innovation, Walton Isaacson

Jessica Berger, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Publicis Media

Fredrik Frizell, Founder, Buoy Studios

Elizabeth Kiehner, Global Chief Growth Officer, Nortal, Moderator

Session II:

AI and Identity Theft – A Taylor Swift Law – The Deep Fake Dilemma

“Deep Fakes” are not only a theft of property rights and a concern of Musicians and Hollywood personalities, bad-actors are scheming new, inventive and technologically bizarre ways to invade our privacy, our computer data and ultimately our electronic wallets. This is not a false alarm. While a “Taylor Swift Law” is needed to protect the personage of a pop star, it may be even more important to secure the personal electronic rights of everyday citizens. Recently in Hong Kong, a “Deep Fake” scheme successfully defrauded an investment company of $25 Million in a fraudulent Zoom call with visual impersonators representing colleagues. That Zoom call might have been you and a “Deep Faked” family member.

Speakers:

Caroline Giegerich, Innovation Consultant, TEDx Speaker, Daily Marauder

Virginie Berger, Chief Business Development & Rights Officer, MatchTune

Remington Scott, Founder, CEO and Chief Architect, Hyperreal® Inc., VFX, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

Greg Young, Vice President for Cybersecurity, Trend Micro

Will Kreth, CEO, HAND (Human & Digital), Moderator

Session III:

Cinematic AI: A World of Tools and Technology

The operative word is “Creativity!” While AI may provide amazing tools to enhance, expand, accelerate and even, to use a troublesome notion, to “Synthesize” the creative process, at its core, Cinematic AI is about “Storytelling,” and at least for the moment, the human touch is very much “At the Controls” of assembling an artistic cinematic vision. While the creation of some musical tasks and even individual images can approach human level creativity, for the moment, “Storytelling” is a bit more complex. In this session, we will hear from creators and technologists who are at the forefront in the application of “Cinematic AI Tools.”

Speakers:

Evo Heyning, CEO, Realitycraft

Emily Golden, Head of Growth Marketing, Runway

Vova Ovsiienko, Business Development Executive, Respeecher

Russell Palmer, CEO & Co-Founder of CyberFilm AI

Joanna Popper, Former Chief Metaverse Officer, CAA, Moderator

Session IV:

The AI Start-Up Dream Team: Strategies for Success: Unique Founders, PhDs, Genius Advisors, Venture Board

What are the difference makers. Where are the forks in the road, the decisive decisions taken by the ultimate winners and the 80% of start-ups who drift off and ultimately fade away. Facebook was not the first, but was by far the greatest of the Social Networks to enter the fray. Since all serious start-ups have brilliant and determined founders, wise and experienced advisors and investors, what separates that one shooting star from the group? Sometimes changing the world begins at a corner store serving a niche market in the community, like being a quality bookstore in a mall of Superstores or a seaside shack serving an upscale boating community and the opportunity reveals itself. But often, targeting a narrow domain, an underserved market, a foundational technology serving a unique need will provide the pathway to success.

Speakers:

Curt Doty, Founder, RealmIQ, Moderator

Jeremy Toeman, Founder and CEO, AugX Labs

Mitchell Posada, Co-Founder, 3TGTM

Huipin Zhang, CEO & Founder, Visla, Zoom Founding Team

Additional speakers to be announced

3 PM – 3:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

Hollywood VFX Pros Discuss Virtual Humans & GenAI: Feature Film Perfection, Actor Longevity, Deep Fakes, & Impact of Generative AI

How good is the current state of Generative AI? Let’s hear first-hand from an All-Star Team of Hollywood VFX professionals. Hollywood has been using AI in film and video production for any number of years, but now the “Next Generation of GenAI” has arrived and it’s all over YouTube and Social Media. There are Virtual Human Influencers, Models, even Virtual Girlfriends. And what do they see coming down the road, in 2025 and 2026? And how will Generative AI be merged with the most powerful software in the VFX toolbox? This roundtable should be fun.

Speakers:

Akira Thompson, Creative Director and Generative AI Lead, R/GA

Candice Alger, Executive Producer and Member of Advisory Board, Wild Capture

Sean Cushing, co-founder, Cantina Creative

Remington Scott, Founder, CEO and Chief Architect, Hyperreal® Inc., VFX, THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS

Lori H. Schwartz, Founder & CEO, StoryTech, Moderator

Session II:

The Digital Brand & Advertising Experience, Part II: AI + 3D + XR + Holography + Metaverse

Speakers:

Nigel Tierney, Executive Creative Director, Yahoo

Melissa Eccles, former, Head of West Coast, TikTok Creative Lab

Darlene Liebman, founder and CEO, Creative Humans

DEPT®, speaker to be announced.

Mark Kapczynski, President, Storymill, Moderator

Additional speakers to be announced

Session III:

Revolutionary Virtual Production: AI & Computer Vision in Modern Filmmaking

It’s almost impossible to exaggerate how much has changed in the past five or six years in the world of visual creativity and film production. What started out as an already impressive world of “Green Screens” and CGI has emerged as a universe of Gen AI video, prompted 3D images and full audio tracks, plus a vast war-chest of pre-visualization tools, all placed in the hands of our greatest storytellers. The industry is revolutionizing before our eyes. Filmmakers are transforming the ideation process, a world of AI and Virtual Production and in a matter of days, weeks and months, bringing it to life as a fully realized feature films, TV shows, advertisements and YouTube videos. In this session, we examine the phenomenon.

Speakers:

Joerg Bachmaier, founder & CEO, Enter New Worlds, Moderator

Irad Eyal, CEO, Quickture

Additional speakers to be announced

Session IV:

Predictive Hollywood Analytics and Strategy: The Barbi vs. Oppenheimer Predictive Data Breakdown

William Goldman famously stated, “Nobody knows anything,” in describing the unpredictability and decision making in the film industry. Despite this assertion, a “Predictive Analytics” industry has emerged that underpins much of Hollywood decision making today. AI analytics are employed in script development, including character and thematic choices, deep dives into casting as well as audience preferences underpinning each option. While it is hard to say if the AI process was at the core of the massive success of “Barbi” or the award winning “Oppenheimer,” a breakdown of that development and production process would certainly make for an interesting discussion.

Speakers:

Tobias Queisser, Co-founder & CEO, Cinelytic

Kartik Hosanagar, CEO, Jumpcut, Co-Director, Wharton School AI & Analytics

Marc Karzen, CEO / Strategist, RelishMix, Moderator

Additional Speakers to be announced

4 PM – 4:40 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

The Best in Virtual Humans and Synths: Influencers, Performers & Companions

Call them Synths; call them Virtual Human Celebrities, influencers and performers going by names such as Audrey Hepburn Digital, Lil Miquela, Lu do Magalu, Barbi, Guggimon, Any Malu or Milla Sofia. According to her Instagram account, Lil Miquela is a half-Spanish, half-Brazilian 19 year old Robot living in LA with 2.6m followers. Lu do Magalu, another Brazilian influencer has 6.8M followers. She is used by Brazilian retailer, “Magazine Luiza” for various campaigns and has partnered with big brands, including Adidas, McDonald’s and Red Bull. There are AI Internet Girlfriend platforms named Replika, Candy AI and DreamGF and Virtual Singers and Performers are in the pipeline with the backing of major organizations. What are we to make of this phenomenon? “Barbi” afterall started out as a “Children’s Doll” over a half century ago and now as a “Movie Star” and “Virtual Human” has become a “Global Phenomenon.” With that in mind, perhaps the “Cultural Narrative” of “Synths” and “Virtual Humans as Celebrities” has yet to be decided.

Speakers:

Max Einhorn, Gen AI Producer, Creator, “True Crime AI”

Sally Slade, Lead XR Technical Artist, Genies

Sarah Parnicky, Innovation and Operations Director, Mawari

Eduardo Yeh, CEO, The Digital Audrey Hepburn Collection

Marc Scarpa, Co-Founder, DeFiance Media (Virtual Human News Anchors), Moderator

Session II:

AI Music Monetization: DeepMind’s Dreamtrack, The Grimes AI Strategy: Let’s Go 50-50%

There’s no way to slow down the explosion of AI created music. It’s here, it’s now and everyone, young and old have become AI Sound Engineers by the hundreds of thousands. So as the ocean of new music arrives, the idea of “AI Music & Monetization” has now become front and center. For example, Google’s DeepMind recently unveiled DreamTrack, an AI system allowing customizable music generation via text prompts. Their partnership with the music label EMI hints at future platforms streamlining rights-cleared AI music tailored to user taste. Such tools could enable independent musicians, creative agencies, and brands to license bespoke soundtracks on-demand. Along the same lines, the famous musician Grimes is exploring equally disruptive models, granting fans collective ownership in her AI-assisted compositions through NFTs and decentralization. It’s only the start, but with music AI software getting better and better, the market is ripe for legal monetization strategies to emerge.

Speakers:

Daouda Leonard, founder and CEO, CreateSafe

Anthony Ramirez, Partner, Technology Transactions Group, Morrison Foerster

Alex Mitchell, CEO, Boomy

Karen Allen, CEO & Co-Founder, Infinite Album

Joanna Popper, Former Chief Metaverse Officer, CAA, Moderator

Session III:

AI & the Creative Community – Representing the Interest of Actors – Writers – Producers – Guild Members

While the Hollywood strikes last year may now be old news, the concerns of the Guild membership, the writers and actors are far from settled. After all, creative concerns cannot always be resolved through arbitration and legal settlement. The underlying issues of Artificial Intelligence, from Deep Fakes, Virtual Humans and the ultimate ability of the AI to reason, think and author creative works is far from settled fact. Who among us can say what the future might hold. For those of you who have tried AI or perhaps have even become “Expert” in AI application, you are aware of the problems it may present. AI can as easily violate copyright of everything from image to story to voice as it can enhance the creativity of the most sophisticated artist. This our world to explore.

Speakers:

Chris McGuire, Comedy Showrunner: Martha & Snoop, The Soup, Comedy Central Roasts

Schuyler (Sky) M. Moore, Partner, Greenberg Glusker

Dan Neely, Co-Founder and CEO of Vermillio

Catherine Clinch, Veteran TV Writer, Hunter, Jake & the Fat Man, Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Moderator

Additional speakers to be announced

Session IV:

AI & the Design of Randomness: Unlocking the Inner Jackson Pollock

Our first thought was to call this panel, “AI: Inside the Black Box of the Imagination.” Artificial Intelligence, together with Machine Learning have opened the door to a relationship with a “Human Creator,” someone we might call an “Artist,” and the result is an exploration of the imagination that has never been seen before. The result is unique. Nevertheless, some critics, Jerry Saltz of New York Magazine’s Vulture among them, have articulated a clear disdain for this new and evolving art form. While others, the curators at MOMA in NYC to their credit, have honored AI’s best known artistic innovator, Rafik Anadol with a one-man show. Many have referred to AI Art as the “Design of Randomness,” referring to it’s kinship to Jackson Pollock. In this session we will explore some of those thoughts.

Speakers:

Neil Leach, Architect, Curator, Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Gao Feng Professor, Tongji University and Adjunct Professor, University of Southern California

Ulrike Kerber, Principal and Creative Director, Viva Design

Sandu Baciu, founder, Baciu Co.

Curt Doty, Founder, RealmIQ, Moderator

5:00 PM – 5:50 PM – Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

The Elvis Act: The Tennessee Deep Fake 2024 Law

Is this the first of many, a prelude to a “Federal Law” or an interesting step to secure the “Individual Rights in the face of Deep Fakes,” serving as a bellwether for future legislation, but ultimately not the final word on the subject. Tennessee’s “Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act” passed earlier by their state legislature this year and exclusively limited to Tennessee residents is directed specifically to the issues of “Deep Fakes” and to the protection of Recording Artists and others impacted by “Voice Cloning” and other AI technologies. In this session, our speakers will address the specifics of “The Elvis Act,” with the thought that this piece of legislation is likely a “Canary in a Coal Mine,” one of the first legislative steps that may indicate of how public and political sympathies could be harbingers of AI legislation and legal decisions coming in the future.

Speakers:

Christopher Kenneally, Sr. Director, Content Marketing, Copyright Clearance Center, Moderator

Angela L. Dunning, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb

Edward Klaris, Managing Partner, Klaris Law

Angela L. Dunning, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Kevin J. Greene, John J. Schumacher Chair, Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

Session II:

The NextGen Hollywood Creator: Writer-Director-Producer

In a world of AI and other new technologies, the fear of replacement of writers and directors by “Synthetic Creators” may be a misplaced concept. In fact, counterintuitively, with the arrival of “Advanced AI Software,” the ultimate power of “Creativity” may concentrate into the hands of the “Original Creative Force,” ie. the writer. If “Prompting” a story outline, developing the full project, putting it into storyboard and then into its final form, derives from the relationship between the “Creative Mind,” and the AI, then who is the “Producer” going to engage, a “Robot to Prompt the Robot?” Interestingly, the arrival and further development of technology may ultimately provide greater freedom to the writer/storyteller and as technology evolves, providing that “NextGen Writer/Director” with an even greater and enhanced creative pallet

Speakers:

Eve Weston, Award Winning Writer and Immersive Storyteller

Rosemary Lokhorst, CEO, BADASS Studios Ltd

Evette Vargas, CoFounder, Indigo Reign Films

Christina Lee Storm, Founder and CEO of ASHER XR, Moderator

Additional speakers to be announced

Session III:

AI and Consumer Privacy & Safety: The Unrecognized Dangers in Everyday Technology

Not unlike the problematic impact of “Social Media,” plus powerful SmartPhones enabling negative echo chambers which enhance for many and especially among the young, personal depression, and even self-harm, AI with an entirely different set of psychological and technological tools, presents a host of new problems. While we are all quite aware of “Deep Fakes,” and how they can be used to invade privacy, innovative AI consumer technologies like “AI Sunglasses” with hidden audio and video recording capabilities, for a teen in a school or social setting may present privacy problems as well. AI carries a host of unfamiliar risks. Facial analysis tools are often less accurate than we had hoped. And chatbots, which our teens interact with as friends, can at times exhibit unusual behavior. As innovation continues accelerating, we must evaluate if convenience overrules emerging dangers.

Speakers:

Alber

…

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PARTNERS AND SPONSORS “Manhattan Goes Green” OMMM – Presenting sponsor…

Austin Tang — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 21:52:46 +0000

Listen to “PARTNERS AND SPONSORS Manhattan Goes Green” OMMM – Presenting sponsor…” on Spreaker.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Good News Corporation, Let’s Disrupt Digital, Times Square Alliance, NY Parks and Recreation, ROVE, Disruptive, Provident, Unite Network, Hubcast Media, United Nations Symphony Orchestra, M27, Zamling Buddha Foundation, Sentience, Earth Elders, Jilliyeah, Hugg a Planet, Playa Betty, UNIFY

To live a full life we have to have courage AND A GOOD CONSCIENCE. We need courage and conscience to stand behind our beliefs, we need the courage to share our thoughts, we need courage to believe in ourselves, we need the courage to love, live in Peace with ALL, we need the courage to care for MOTHER EARTH we need the courage to procreate our next generations and so much more.
Our Good News Audience HAS COURAGE, as just watching and sharing our Good News and Peace Efforts proves you believe in life…

#earthday #manhattangoesgreen #sponsors #donors #disruptdigital #ommm #marklevine #timessquarealliance #parksrecreation #rove #hubcast #unitednationssymphonyorchestra #zamlingbuddhafoundation #sentience #earthelders #jilliyeah #huggaplanet #playabetty #unify

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Stephen Ewell Executive Director, CTA Foundation Consumer Technology Association

Austin Tang — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 14:57:58 +0000

Listen to “Stephen Ewell Executive Director, CTA Foundation Consumer Technology Association” on Spreaker.

www.CES.tech
www.CTAFoundation.tech
The CTA Foundation worked hard all year to continue making the world more accessible and welcoming to older adults and people with disabilities.

In 2023, the Foundation awarded grants to 17 nonprofits and universities to support their efforts to solve accessibility and aging challenges. We were also able to add a new roundtable, hosted in Washington, DC during National Disability Employment month to advance the conversation on accessible employment. All of this work is thanks to the generosity of individual donors like you, and industry sponsors.

With just a few minutes of your time, you can, make your donation securely online so our work can continue into 2024.   

Your gift will join the collective generosity of all our donors to ensure 2024 sees continued gains in making this world more accessible for all. In addition to our existing programs, the Foundation plans to expand our efforts next year to include a Hackathon targeting accessible solutions for digital healthcare, and a unique partnership to deliver connection to at-risk senior communities using virtual reality. We can’t do any of this without you.     

I hope you will consider being a partner in our work once again. We have several options for giving, including the ability to give tribute gifts, or break your giving into bite-sized chunks through our Capacitor Society.   

Happy New Year,

Stephen Ewell
Executive Director, CTA Foundation
Consumer Technology Association

#steveewell #ctafoundation #cta #ces #tech #healthcare #disabilities #seniors #virtualreality

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