The AI/XR Podcast. – Details, episodes & analysis

*Warning* Bad sound quality - apologies!

In this special live edition of the AI/XR Podcast from Augmented World Expo (AWE) 2025, hosts Charlie Fink and Ted Schilowitz are joined by returning guests from Zappar, co-founders Connell Gauld (CTO) and Casper Thykier (CEO) and Auki Labs' CEO Nils Phil, to explore how AI and spatial computing are merging in real-world environments. The conversation spotlights Zapper’s Mattercraft platform and its use of “accessible QR codes” to enable spatial navigation and real-time AR experiences without downloading an app. Nils  introduces the idea of “collaborative machine perception” as a necessary condition for robots to navigate and work in the physical world—what he calls the “great reversal,” where AI exits the digital and enters the real. Later, XR Guild co-founder Avi Bar-Zeev joins to discuss ethics in XR, the need for community mentorship, and the importance of preserving the creator ecosystem in the age of AI scraping. The conversation closes with personal reflections on past projects like Aladdin’s Magic Carpet Ride, Google Earth, and HoloLens.

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In the latest episode of The AI/XR Podcast, the discussion is focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and filmmaking, highlighted by insights from industry entrepreneur Bryn Mooser, founder of Asteria Studio. The news segment begins with an overview of Meta's shift towards automating ad creation, raising concerns over the potential disruption of traditional advertising roles. Mooser shared his vision for Asteria Studio, emphasizing that AI should enhance, rather than replace, the creative process for filmmakers. He discussed a recent collaboration on a hybrid live-action AI film, connecting the narratives of technology and artistry. The podcast examined how AI tools could democratize filmmaking, allowing small teams to produce high-quality content while maintaining creative control, and pondered the philosophical implications of AI art. As the episode concluded, the hosts predicted a new golden age of storytelling driven by technological advancements, alongside concerns about the potential job displacement within the industry and the enduring value of great storytelling skills in an evolving landscape.

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This week on the AI/XR Podcast, Charlie, Rony, and Ted welcome Nils Pihl, CEO of Auki Labs, and Caspar Thykier, CEO of Zappar, to discuss a massive retail rollout in of indoor virtual positioning systems in Sweden. In the news, OpenAI’s $12B revenue and projected $125B by 2029 set off fireworks. Rony floats Sam Altman as Tim Cook’s successor. Charlie suggests Apple needs a bold move—like acquiring OpenAI—to recover from Vision Pro’s underperformance and Siri’s years of neglect. Auki Labs' decentralized protocol, PoseMesh, uses scannable QR codes and self-hosted data to guide robots and humans through physical spaces. It's a killer demo: a blind person navigating to a bathroom via an app clip, no headset required. 

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Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!

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A brief recap of AWE, the surprise reveal of the Quest 3, and the upcoming launch of the Apple Reality One are the topics this week, followed by on-site interviews from AWE in Santa Clara with Unity CEO John Riccitiello and Hugo Swart, VP and GM of Qualcomm.

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This week Charlie and Ted are going old style - without Rony, who joined us last fall. Charlie and Rony are having a fireside at AWE next week. The news conversation includes Anthropic's $50M raise for its Claude chatbot, Meta licensing Magic Leap tech, Nreal rebrands to XReal, launches new Beam 3DOF headset and director Doug Liman launches Area 15, a mobile AR experience to the app stores.

Our guest this week is Artur Sychov, founder and CEO of Somnium Space, a SocialVR platform with a decentralized virtual economy based on blockchain with its own utility token called CUBE. The Czech company is also introducing their own VR headset called Somnium VR1 in collaboration with Vrgineers. 

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In the wake of OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman's plea for regulation in a Senate hearing, the hosts question whether this is even possible. Also in the news is the launch of Sightful's new screenless Spacetop, which uses Nreal Light smart glasses as a display. Disney is closing its Star Wars hotel. Our guest is Ori Inbar, Executive Producer of AWE, who gives us a preview of the world's largest conference focused on XR, May 31 - June 2nd in Silicon Valley. 

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This week's top stories are Google I/O and the launch of PokemonGo maker Niantic's new mobile AR Game, Peridot. Our guest is entrepreneur and NYU Professor Joost van Dreunen, game industry expert and author of One Up. We discuss the Metaverse, AI in games, consolidation, Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, and the future of VR games. 

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The hosts are their own guests in this second week after Ted's open heart surgery. There was no XR news so we jumped right into AI. Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic were at the White House to meet with the President and Vice-President. This comes as Jim Hinton, an AI pioneer, left Google to warn the public about AI's potential to flood the world with disinformation and destroy democracy by creating confusion about what is real.

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Ted heroically co-hosts four days after open heart surgery. Lots of talk about AI this morning, Charlie's new "AI Weekly" column in Forbes, Replit AI Github-like scored $97 M, and Hugging Face launches. The guest is Anand Agarawala, co-founder and CEO of cross-platform collaboration and world hosting space, Spatial.io, which recently integrated with Unity. They have effectively replaced the role of AltSpaceVR (RIP). AI is going to play a big role in their future.

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Rony and Charlie take a journey into the heart of Roblox with Product VP Raj Bhatia while Ted's recovering from surgery. This week the hosts share hot takes on five XR/Metaverse funding announcements (what recession?), Snap's Partner Summit, and YouTube tech critic Dan Olson.  

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Don't forget to like, share, and follow for more! Follow us on all socials @ThisWeekInXR!

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