vr

Padre's CES Haul, Google Layoffs, AI Battery

• The panel discusses what they saw at CES
• Padre shows off some toys from CES
• Volkswagen says it's putting ChatGPT in its cars for 'enriching conversations'
• Mercedes-Benz's best-in-class voice assistant is getting an AI boost
• AI-Generated 'George Carlin' Comedy Blasted by Comedian's Daughter
• SAG-AFTRA strikes deal for AI voice acting licensing in video games at CES 2024
• Google Is Laying Off Hundreds of Workers in Its Voice Assistant, AR Teams
• Microsoft's new battery is a test of AI-infused scientific discovery

Host: Leo Laporte

Guests: Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, David Pierce, and Daniel Rubino

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As VR technology inches forward, completely new experiences loom on the horizon.

In today’s episode, we expose listeners to the very real-world use cases already present on these devices, from fitness to education.

First up is Gym Class VR, one of the top-rated apps on the Quest. Cofounder, Paul Katsen, shows us how to dribble and dunk in the metaverse, but more importantly, discusses the social impact of VR, the technological prerequisites to get there, and the role of AI as we progress.

Following on is a founder on a mission to revolutionize education. Anurupa Ganguly from Prisms VR, explores how virtual reality has the potential to close the gap – one where 70% of US 8th graders are not proficient in foundational math.

Head over to our YouTube channel to see two a16z Podcast firsts: a full interview in VR, and host Steph slam dunking on an NBA court. 

Topics Covered: 

00:00 - The current state of VR

03:38 - How do you build the #1 VR app?

05:56 - How will VR become an everyday activity?

07:37 - The social and the technical arc of VR

11:47 - Untapped opportunities in VR

13:24 - Integrating AI into VR

17:09 - Prisms VR

20:10 - Why it’s critical to fix America’s math problem

21:12 - Why put VR in classrooms now?

23:23 - The successes of VR in the classroom

26:03 - Stats from the impact report

27:44 - Other curriculums could benefit from VR 

31:04 - Opportunities for AI in VR

Resources:

• Find Paul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pavtalk
• Learn more about Gym Class: https://www.gymclassvr.com
• Find Gym Class in Meta Quest: https://www.meta.com/experiences/3661420607275144/
• Find Anurupa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anurupa-ganguly-92790379
• Learn more about Prisms VR: https://www.prismsvr.com

Stay Updated: 

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

With students learning in more places and different ways than we have ever seen, the pace of change in education is dizzying. Can this progress narrow learning gaps exacerbated by COVID-19 or will it fuel divides? How can we make the most of this once-in-a-generation opportunity?

Join our panelists from Khan Academy, PrismsVR, and Minecraft Education as we discuss the classroom of the future, and how important technologies including AI, XR, and gaming should play a role in it.

Topics Covered:

00:00 – The classroom of 2023

04:30 – Data on the current classroom

05:40– Developing the next gen of STEM talent

08:00 –  AI in the classroom 

13:10 – The role of gaming in the classroom

16:00 – Misconceptions of technology in classroom

17:51 – The ways teachers and students use AI

21:15 - The future role of a teacher

24:25 – Personalization and ownership in education

27:11 – Getting hardware into the classroom

29:54 - Misconceptions of teacher’s abilities and appetite for tech

31:25 – Why implement these changes now?

36:05 – Call to action for the classroom of 2050

Resources:

• Find Sal Khan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/salkhanacademy
• Find Romy Drucker on Twitter: https://twitter.com/romydrucker
• Find Allison Matthews on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-matthews-4050677/
• Find Anurupa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anurupa-ganguly-92790379/
• Learn more about Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/
• Learn more about The Walton Family Foundation: https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/
• Learn more about Minecraft Education: https://education.minecraft.net/en-us
• Learn more about Prisms VR: https://www.prismsvr.com/
• Watch more panel discussions from The Aspen Ideas Festival 2023: https://www.aspenideas.org/

Stay Updated: 

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

What would you do if you believed in an idea but everyone said it would fail, nobody would fund you, and the industry was experiencing a nuclear winter?

Despite experiencing exactly that, Sandbox VR founder Steve Zhao doubled down and invested all of his personal savings into the unproven business. 7 years and 1 bankruptcy later, Steve has built the world’s leading full-body VR experience with over 30 locations across the globe. 

In this interview, we get to chat with Steve about the many challenges he faced, how Sandbox made it through the pandemic, the future of VR, and the difficult task of tackling hardware, software, a new computing platform, and real estate.

Resources:

Check out Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com

Find Steve Zhao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zhaosaurus

Learn more about the Squid Game partnership: https://venturebeat.com/games/squid-game-is-coming-to-sandbox-vr-immersive-experience-locations/

Watch Steph’s highlight video: https://sandboxvr.com/event/b0b22aad-7c73-475d-ab43-281a456ff590

Stay Updated: 

Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Can you give a robot a sense of touch? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, learn about soft robotics, sensors, and understanding human physiology with co-founders of Organic Robotics Corp, Professor Robert Shepherd and Ilayda Samilgil. 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

Photo Credit: Tyler Nienhouse, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The next frontier of the internet is the metaverse. That's why Mark Zuckerberg changed the name of his company from Facebook to Meta, and just sold $10 billion in corporate bonds to raise money for metaverse-related projects.

How might we learn from our experience with social media, and anticipate the harms of the metaverse before they arise? What would it look like to design a humane metaverse — that respects our attention, improves our well-being, and strengthens our democracy?

This week on Your Undivided Attention, we talk with two pioneers who are thinking critically about the development of the metaverse. Professor Jeremy Bailenson is the Founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, where he studies how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. Dr. Courtney Cogburn is an Associate Professor at Columbia's School of Social Work, where she examines associations between racism and stress-related disease. Jeremy and Courtney collaborated on 1000 Cut Journey, a virtual reality experience about systemic racism.

CORRECTIONS: 

1. In the episode, Courtney says that the average US adult consumes 9 hours of media per day, but the actual number in 2022 is closer to 13 hours.
2. Finally, Aza mentions the "pockets of 4.6 billion people" — implying that there are 4.6 billion smartphone users. The global number of social media users is 4.7 billion, and the number of smartphone users is actually 6.6 billion.

RECOMMENDED MEDIA: 

Experience on Demand: What Virtual Reality Is, How It Works, and What It Can Do

https://www.amazon.com/Experience-Demand-Virtual-Reality-Works/dp/0393253694
Jeremy Bailenson's 2018 book exploring how virtual reality can be harnessed to improve our everyday lives

Experiencing Racism in VR

https://www.ted.com/talks/courtney_cogburn_experiencing_racism_in_vr_courtney_d_cogburn_phd_tedxrva
Courtney Cogburn's 2017 TEDx talk about how using virtual reality to help people experience the complexities of racism

Do Artifacts Have Politics?

https://faculty.cc.gatech.edu/~beki/cs4001/Winner.pdf   
Technology philosopher Langdon Winner’s seminal 1980 article, in which he writes, "by far the greatest latitude of choice exists the very first time a particular instrument, system, or technique is introduced."

RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES: 

Do You Want To Become A Vampire? with LA Paul

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/39-do-you-want-to-become-a-vampire

Pardon the Interruptions with Gloria Mark

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/7-pardon-the-interruptions

Bonus - What Is Humane Technology?

https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/bonus-what-is-humane-technology

Your Undivided Attention is produced by the Center for Humane Technology. Follow us on Twitter: @HumaneTech_

What will stadiums look like in the future? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly investigate stadium technology and “future-proofing” in Los Angeles’s SoFi Stadium with Chief Infrastructure Architect at IBM Sports, Benjamin Brillat.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

Thanks to our Patrons Kyle Odren, Eileen Aldrin, Francis, Ashvin Lakshmikantha, Tarun, Olivia Chang, Blaine Torkelson, ANKreutzberg, and GibbousLife for supporting us this week.

Photo Credit: Troutfarm27, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Since social distancing measures were first put in place, time spent gaming has gone up—way up. According to a recent report by Verizon, video game usage in the U.S. has risen 75 percent during peak hours. The "stay at home" movement has given way to an upswell of new and returning gamers—as well as new challenges, as online platforms struggle to keep up with the surge.

In this episode, a16z partner Jon Lai joins host Lauren Murrow to talk about how game developers are grappling with skyrocketing numbers, why this may be an inflection point for VR, the surprising transition of professional sports into esports, and why live-streaming is having its moment.