The Digital Hollywood AI Summer Summit

Monday, July 22 - Thursday, July 25, 2024

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

A Virtual Event • Registration is Free to All Attendees - An Expected Audience of 12,000

• Speakers Note: Some Sessions will be Taped Prior to the Event - Please check with your moderator

The Evening Keynote Roundtable

Wednesday, July 24th, 2024

8:00 PM - 8:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Virtual Humans: The AI Intelligence Machine: From Virtual Humans in Hollywood, the AI Companion & Conversational AI Co-Pilot to Humanoid Robot

Some industry experts say, “2024 is Going to be the Year of the AI Intelligence Machine.” Virtual Humans started some years ago with Benjamin Button and Ex Machina and has evolved into amazing GenAI, Cinematic production and Virtual Influencers. But it doesn’t stop there. The “Virtual Human” category is now manifesting itself in human to machine interaction. We know that at this moment you’re “Tsk-Tsking,” we’re exaggerating, and maybe we are, but have you spent a few hours in a back and forth with a text-based AI-Copilot? If you haven’t, you should. Engage a Co-Pilot on any subject that you have deep knowledge, and you will be amazed, assuming you are engaged with an up-to-date powerful AI. Your conversation will be amazingly good. And if you can “Train the System,” ie. help develop further informational input, your AI may well begin to make your head spin. And this goes for the development of the physical Humanoid Robot as well. 2024 may well be the year of the Virtual Human AI.

The Complete Conference Agenda (The Daytime Events)

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2024

Noon – 12:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

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.

1 PM – 1:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session IV:

The Complexity of AI & Art – The Imagination of the Human + Machine

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.

2 PM – 2:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session III:

The GANs Trajectory – Let’s Explore - From Ian Goodfellow in 2014 to “Multimodal Virtual Humans” and GenAI in 2024

In this session, we celebrate the trajectory of the AI Image creation breakthrough, credited to Ian Goodfellow, the “Inventor of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) in 2014. It is the development of GANs which has led directly to today’s explosive adaption of AI in Film, Video and Image creation. In the short timeframe of GANs in 2014 to 2022’s introduction of Stable Diffusion that we are today entering a Multimodal world of AI creativity, the input of multiple data types, text, images, audio, and video into the process of AI creation. Multimodal computing is the gateway to AI feature films as well AI as Co-Pilots and Virtual Humanoid Robotics.

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.

Session II:

The Digital AI Fashion Collection: Virtual Humans + The Runway + Retail Experience

The fashion industry, which was always a global and cultural trend setter, with the explosive power and merger of AI, Design and Media Technologies, a fashion brand can effectively dominate “Social Media” as a form of entertainment, it can innovate “Style, Personality and Identity” in XR, VR and Spatial Environments. Fashion brands may well establish “Virtual Models” and establish them as “Global Icons” and those future “Virtual Humans” might also perform as Musical Celebrities or “Reside in their own Metaverse.” The future of the AI Fashion will be nothing short of “Intriguing.”

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 or AI J.Lo in an ad campaign to fully virtual stars 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.

Wednesday, July 24^th, 2024

Noon – 12:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session IV:

Virtual Human Video: The Online Retail & Consumer Facing Experience: The Impact of Advanced Intelligence and Technology

The integration of advanced intelligence and technology into retail and consumer-facing experiences is revolutionizing the way we shop, interact with brands and their online support, and make purchasing decisions. As virtual humans and AI-powered systems become more sophisticated, they're transforming customer service, product recommendations, and even in-store navigation. This panel will explore the current state of the art in virtual human technology and its impact on the retail and complex online interaction, as well as examine future trends and challenges in this rapidly evolving field.

1 PM – 1:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session II:

Designing the Digital Fashion & Beauty Retail Experience: Social Media, AI/XR & Internet

The world of Fashion and Beauty will be first among the global brands to embrace technology, applying it into their dramatic “Live Runway Experiences,” transforming showrooms into XR media experiences, creating sensational social media campaigns that will “Break the Net.” It’s only a matter of time before a “Virtual Human Fashion Queen” becomes a “Global Celebrity,” and that “Global Sensation” will perform and dominate on every platform, including “The Runway,” when magically the “Digital will be Transformed” into “The Living.” The “Retail Experience” will live on every platform; website and Apps, in Live Retail as well as “Brand in Travel” and the idea of “Brand as Art” may well turn out to more powerful in eyes of the public than any other of the brand experiences.

2 PM – 2:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session II

Digital & AI Fashion and Beauty: The Designer + Virtual Humans + The Runway + Retail Experience
The fashion industry, which has always been a global and cultural trend setter, today with the explosive power and merger of the "AI, Design and Media Technologies," a fashion brand can dominate simultaneously “IRL" (In Real Life) and equally on “Social Media” as a form of entertainment. The Fashion Industry, uniquely among the creative arts, can innovate “Style, Personality and Identity” in AI and Spatial Environments like no others. In time, fashion brands may even establish “Virtual and Iconic Models & Avatars” and establish them as “Global Icons” and those future “Virtual Humans” might also perform as Musical Celebrities or “Reside in their own Metaverse.” The future of the AI Fashion will be nothing short of “Intriguing.”

Session III:

Virtual Humans & AI: Advanced Design + Intelligence = Unique Levels of Complexity

In this session we will address the Intelligence and Design functions in the development of Virtual Humans. While other panels will focus on “Virtual Humans as Performers and Internet Personalities,” in this session we will explore the more profound issues of “Computer Intelligence” and “The Machine’s” ability to mimic human emotion and personality, verbal and vocal expression and respond in conversational interaction. Once a “Virtual Human” becomes “Conversant” as a mature human might, the role of this technology will quickly find a way into our daily life, from Virtual Human Co-Pilot as Educator, Colleague at work to companion in research and creative endeavors. The possibilities are quite frankly, limitless.

3 PM - 3:50 PM

Session I:

The Humanoid Robot: The Physical AI Thinking Machine – A Consumer Device is Coming . . .

In this session, we will see “Demos” from the “Best in Humanoid Robot AIs.” With this demo, the future will have finally arrived as we explore consumer facing Humanoid Robotic advancement. Elon Musk has speculated that the Tesla Bot, known as Optimus, will ultimately have greater consumer potential than the Tesla, suggesting that every home will need one or two "Humanoids," for cooking, cleaning and puttering around the house. While that may be an exaggeration, much as Herbert Hoover’s “Chicken in Every Pot,” foreshadowed the “Great Depression,” the Demos that we will see during this session may well convert attendees into "AI Humanoid Robotic" true believers. Visit the websites of Figure.ai; Sanctuary AI; Tesla Omtimus; Boston Dynamics; Ubtech and Berkeley Labs and check out the state of the art. In this session, we hope to visit and get up close and personal with “Physical AI Thinking Machines.”

4 PM – 4:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

Virtual Human Exploration: Nuance & Emotion • Vocal Expression • Facial Movements – Sentiment - Hyper-Realistic Synthesis of Prose

Can we as humans create emotional bonds with virtual or synthetic beings? That is a good question that we cannot answer, at least we have not experienced it quite yet. We have experienced it through movies such as “Her” and “Blade Runner.” And today we can experience conversational AI with Chat Bots, which are becoming more advanced in their ability to explore complex philosophical and emotional questions, which can be exceedingly helpful in academic, work related and even through creative composition. AI developers are not far away from not only imagining but creating the virtual human, in video form and soon, as a “Humanoid Robot.” It is about nuance and emotion, vocal expression and sentiment and synthesis of prose. Don’t be surprised when a door opens, and in it will be a brother from another planet.

Session II:

The Legal Implications of Chatbots & Virtual Human Discussion

As chatbots and virtual humans become increasingly integrated into our daily lives, a complex web of legal implications arise. In this session, we will explore the legal considerations surrounding the development, deployment, and interaction with these AI-powered entities. Our panel will delve into topics such as data privacy, intellectual property, liability for AI-generated content, and the ethical consequences of human-AI interaction. While our current legal landscape may be more focused on customer service and retail advice, the future of human to virtual human interaction suggests an increasingly complex world of personal dependance, relationship in the form of AI girl and boyfriends, personal healthcare advice beyond “WebMD” and Virtual Humans providing psychological care. In time, complex Virtual Human services will be commonplace, and its legal implications will be exceedingly interesting.

5 PM – 5:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

Virtual Human Chatbots: State of the Art – Next Level Consciousness + Advanced Visuals

The movies “2001,” “Data from Star Trek,” “Her” and “Ex Machina” have created a public expectation, for what “Virtual Human Technology” is understood to be. Is this level of AI consciousness out of reach? Since the mass exposure of Generative AI, to literally more than one billion computer users in the past year, a level of comfort and dependency has been readily embraced, and the anticipation of an enhanced immersive experience would surely be welcomed. AIs are already employed for “Deep Research,” as “Medical Co-Pilots,” as “Conversational AI Companions,” “Virtual Performers or Celebrities” and “Company Spokespersons.”  In fact, there may be no limit to the role of AI Co-Pilots in our everyday lives. The manifestation of a fully realized “Virtual Human” as a Humanoid Robot or like “Her,” as a synthetic persona will likely be a welcome colleague. In this session we will see demos of the current “Best in Class.”

Thursday, July 25^th, 2024

Noon – 12:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session II:

The AI Breakthrough: Establishing a New Art Form - Algorithmic, Poetic Computation and Digital Art

What does it mean for art when creativity intersects unbounded computation? New frontiers emerge. As algorithms dance with imagination, revolutionary artifacts are the result. We witness math-derived beauty, code-constructed consciousness, silicon muses. The origins of these ideas trace to pioneers like John Whitney animating to electronic beats in 1960s Los Angeles or Frieder Nake algorithmically auto-drawing alongside Andy Warhol's Pop Art ascent. And today, we must look to and thank Zach Lieberman of MIT, for his seminal contribution to the field of algorithmic, poetic computation, and digital experiences. Today, there are an unlimited number of artists and adventurers experimenting in algorithmic and poetic computation. In this session we honor this magnificent tradition.

Session: IV:

Multimodal AI Creation – Deep Dive on 3D – Taking NeRF to the Limits

Among the goals of our conference attendees is to create “Cinematic Images,” to upscale a 2D image and reimagine it as a 3D Images in metaverse environment and to then make it move in a cinematic frame. We are entering an age of imaging moving images from text commands, from transforming an iPhone photo and transforming it into a Cinematic two-minute film. Much of this is known as NeRF, Neural Radiance Field technology and it is at the core of all the primary image transformation technologies being developed by NVIDIA, Unity, Unreal Engine, Google, Meta and Runway. Volumetric 3D images can be created from artistic sketches and those images can then be transformed into cinematic experiences. In this session we will probe the minds of the geek philosophers in our roundtable.

1 – 1:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session II:

The Apple Vision Pro - Spatial AI: Advanced Awareness - Let’s Go There

In this session, we will not be debating the pros and cons of the Apple Vision Pro. YouTube has already served up hundreds of them. AVP has opened the door to “Spatial Computing” with a clarity that has never existed before. Will AVP be a gateway to “Immersive Entertainment?” Yes it will. Will AVP open the door to “Creative Productivity?” Yes it will. Will this version of AVP be the gateway to lighter and less expensive footprints. Yes it will. Will it become a preferred communications device? Yes it will. All this and more, especially for the installed base of over 2 Billion users worldwide of Apple phone or computer users. The AVP is like a down payment on the future of computing and communication.

Session III:

Virtual Human Exploration: Nuance & Emotion • Vocal Expression • Facial Movements – Sentiment - Hyper-Realistic Synthesis of Prose

Can we as humans create emotional bonds with virtual or synthetic beings? That is a good question that we cannot answer, at least we have not experienced it quite yet. We have experienced it through movies such as “Her” and “Blade Runner.” And today we can experience conversational AI with Chat Bots, which are becoming more advanced in their ability to explore complex philosophical and emotional questions, which can be exceedingly helpful in academic, work related and even through creative composition. AI developers are not far away from not only imagining but creating the virtual human, in video form and soon, as a “Humanoid Robot.” It is about nuance and emotion, vocal expression and sentiment and synthesis of prose. Don’t be surprised when a door opens, and in it will be a brother from another planet.

Session: IV:

AI 3D Simulations, Character Behavior and Story Generation: Exploring GANs and Character-Aware Neural Language Models

Can AI technology make movies? If we begin with that question and search for answers, we will find that the progress is not only being made, in some weeks, the progress appears to be a breakthrough. Compare the “Will Smith Spaghetti” video of a year ago with the OpenAI’s recent “Sora” synthetic video creations and one might call that an “OMG” moment, the “Aha Moment” in AI and video creation. How long, how detailed, how dramatic, and nuanced must the prompt be to generate the first five minutes of a short film? And, how many seconds, minutes or hours will it take for the AI to generate the “Cinematic Experience?” In this session, we will open a discussion about AI, 3D simulations and story generation. What is the journey to AI and storytelling?

2 – 2:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

IMO: “In My Opinion” AI & Technology on YouTube: A Major Media Category of its Own

While YouTube may be the platform for movies, music, sports, and deep dives into every facet of humanity, it is overwhelmingly the home of everything technology, from fifteen-minute product reviews to hour-long podcasts on the most complex and groundbreaking innovation in Artificial Intelligence. YouTube has replaced the influence of tech writers at newspapers and magazines.  In fact, YouTube also functions as a “University Program” in technology. Hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers have “Learned to Code” on YouTube. One day there will be an Academy Awards for Tech Influencers or Tech Podcasters, or Deep Dive Tech Lecturers or Technology Artists. For today, we are pleased to welcome a group of renown technology experts and innovators who regularly post on YouTube.

Session II:

Prompt as Code – The Interface of Natural Human Language with the Complexity of Algorithms

Let’s face down the paradox at hand.  Creative human language encourages subtlety and ambiguity, the intuitive and poetic which would seem to be at odds with the strictly structured demands of code and computer programming. How do we square the circle of lyrical expression and the joy in crafting inventive narrative flows with the current state of AI? After all, it is in the beauty of language that we communicate our deepest feelings which would appear at odds with the unambiguous logic and structured sequences of AI. Perhaps the paradox which exists today, in time, with further development and refinement of AI and ML will someday disappear. It is likely that the interface of language and algorithm will be bridged and make way for a next generation of creative and code.

Session: III:

A Demo: AI Artists and Photographers “Train” their own “Themed Model Sets”

Here’s something for artists and photographers to consider, training your own “AI Neural Network” with the digitized library of your life’s artistic work. In the end, an AI could explore that universe of imagery, the sum-total of your imagination, and create new and unique visual or audio and visual experiences. What if the Andy Warhol collection of sketches, interviews, silk screens, movies, video, and other Warhol artifacts were “Trained” in a Neural Network Architecture, a Warhol GAN, so that the AI would internalize the nuances, colors, stylistic flourishes and idiosyncratic ideas and subtleties in Warhol's style. Over time and through some months or years of trial and error, of artistic and other unique data set experimentation, a new AI Language of Andy Warhol would begin to emerge. It might be very different from the Warhol we know, but it also might be equally unique.

3 – 3:50 PM - Eastern Time Zone

Session I:

IMO – “In My Opinion:” The AI Artists & Computational Designers, Critics & Academics – The Passion is on Social Media

AI has “Rung the Starting Bell,” in the cultural embrace of Digital Art. It has given license for “Artistic Creators” and the cultural powers that be to embrace the unique tools which include the ideas of Computational Art together with the greater impact of machine learning together with artificial intelligence. This has been years in the making. The outcry surrounding “Photoshop” in the 1990s produced a howl, as if a “Foreign Religious Force” had invaded the “Design District of New York,” it was so long ago. And the arrival of the NFT was nearly as disconcerting. But somehow, perhaps it is because of the obvious “Power of AI,” the imagery that the AIs produce is somehow creating its own sense of inevitability. In this session will be bring together a group of “Creatives” to discuss the arrival of a new art form and perhaps a new consciousness.

Speaker Submission: If you wish to submit a speaker - email - Click Submission - indicating session(s) you would like to be considered - indicating day, time, and session name. We request that you include a bio of the speaker and a backgrounder of the company.

Sponsoring Organizations - Various Options including hosting online "Content Spaces" & "Panels" during this Virtual Summit. "Content Spaces" will have full Zoom Room - Demo capability along with other interactive and display features. Please complete the form for further information - Click Here

To View By Track - Click Here

The Evening Keynotes - Click Here

 I. Track One: AI and the Future of Film, Video

II. Track Two: Virtual Humans and Robotics

III. Track Three: AI and Hollywood Production

IV. Track Four: AI and Music: Artists vs. Tech

V. Track Five: AI Startups & Investment

VI. Track Six: AI & Threats, Bias, Creative Rights

VII: Track Seven: AI Fashion, The Artist & Design

To View By Day - In Eastern Time Zone

I. The Evening Keynotes, July 22nd - 24th

II. Tuesday, July 23rd - Noon - 5 PM

III. Wednesday, July 24th - Noon - 5 PM

IV. Thursday, July 25th - Noon - 5 PM

Speaker Submission: If you wish to submit a speaker - email - Click Submission - indicating session(s) you would like to be considered - indicating day, time, and session name. We request that you include a bio of the speaker and a backgrounder of the company.

Sponsoring Organizations - Various Options including hosting online "Content Spaces" during this Virtual Summit. "Content Spaces" will have full Zoom Room - Demo capability along with other interactive and display features. Please complete the form for further information - Click Here

To View By Track - Click Here

The Evening Keynotes - Click Here

 I. Track One: AI and the Future of Film, Video

II. Track Two: Virtual Humans and Robotics

III. Track Three: AI and Hollywood Production

IV. Track Four: AI and Music: Artists vs. Tech

V. Track Five: AI Startups & Investment

VI. Track Six: AI & Threats, Bias, Creative Rights

VII: Track Seven: AI Fashion, The Artist & Design

To View By Day - In Eastern Time Zone

I. The Evening Keynotes, July 22nd - 24th

II. Tuesday, July 23rd - Noon - 5 PM

III. Wednesday, July 24th - Noon - 5 PM

IV. Thursday, July 25th - Noon - 5 PM