Last month, more than 400 people gathered at Shutters Beach in Santa Monica to celebrate leaders in fields vital to southern California’s thriving entertainment industry, including augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, digital media, gaming and e-sports. The event, called SCALE: The Future of Tech and Entertainment, also featured robots, holograms and a variety of other unique tech displays.
SCALE is a summit co-founded and co-hosted by the Lloyd Grief Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC’s Marshall School of Business, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Robert Iger even made an appearance. Iger spoke to enthusiasts and fellow tech pioneers about the importance of technology in advancing Disney’s brand and how he has leveraged technological advances to reach consumers.
Iger also encouraged listeners to stay open to new ideas and innovations. “Many of our businesses are traditional, but in our marketplace, you’ve got to have a foot in the future. You have to be a strategist and an operator,” he said.
The co-founder and creator of Siri, Adam Cheyer, also spoke at SCALE. Cheyer addressed the future of artificial intelligence and the fears surrounding the idea of sentient machines. There were several interactive tech demos, including a holographic Michael Jackson.
In a statement about the summit, Lloyd Greif Center Executive Director Davide Belasco stated that his plan is for SCALE to become an annual event. “SCALE is essentially a startup,” he said. “Like any startup, it needed people to believe in it and nurture it to make it happen. When Bob Iger signed on, we knew we were in business. Then everyone joined in.”
This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, metromba.com.
