Back by popular demand, our second Virtual Beings event at Neuehouse Madison Square’s stunning penthouse gathered 120 leading executives, creatives and culture-makers for a thought-provoking, creative exploration of AI avatars and Virtual Beings. We kicked off the evening with a series of demos by leading founders, followed by a thought provoking panel discussion and Q&A. The room was over capacity, buzzing with curiosity and excitement.
January 28, 2025
Alejandro Matamala Ortiz is the Chief Design Officer and Co-founder of Runway. He previously was a research resident at New York University, exploring the interaction of AI and Creativity.
With over two decades of pioneering experience, Dominik (Dom) Heinrich is a curious innovator, patented (AI) inventor, and global leader of design deeply embedded in AI. His expertise lies in bridging the gap between creativity and technology, having worked for and with the Top Fortune 100 to accelerate their growth and design impactful solutions. He is known for his appearance in the Wired documentary “Being Human in an AI World” and as a global thought leader and speaker in the AI space. Currently, Dom leads AI Design globally at The Coca-Cola Company, where he drives the integration of artificial intelligence into design to foster groundbreaking products and experiences across the brand portfolio. Additionally, he also serves as the Co-Founder at Creative AI Academy and as Adjunct Professor for Infinite (AI) Design at Pratt Institute. Dom is deeply committed to educating the next wave of designers and innovators, strongly believing in a harmonious Human-Machine Relationship. His career is marked by significant achievements, including leading organizational change at MRM McCann, recognized several times by Fast Company as the Best Workplace for Innovators. Dom has been honored with numerous international awards for creativity, design, and innovation, notably Cannes Lions in Innovation, Best World Changing Idea, and D&AD Impact Pencil.
Dani Van de Sande founded Artist and the Machine with the belief that technology is more than a tool—it’s a gateway to unlocking humanity’s fullest creative potential. For over a decade, Dani has been at the forefront of innovation, experimenting with AI, and bleeding edge technology. After a pivotal role at Snapchat, Dani founded ULO, an innovation agency. Through ULO, Dani collaborated with global brands such as, Mars Inc., NARS/Shiseido, Outside Media.
Shannon Wu is the CEO and founder of OpenHome, the first LLM-driven smart speaker. Enabling AI interaction across all devices, OpenHome’s Voice SDK unlocks the ability to speak to any device conversationally, unleashing the full potential of AI and establishing voice as a powerful new modality for Human-Computer Interaction. With a deep background in scaling developer ecosystems, she was on the founding team of MakerDAO, a $5B developer ecosystem. Shannon attended Stanford University including sitting on the University Board of Trustees during her time there.
Considered one of the top voices in Artificial Intelligence and the future of work, Ian helps companies prepare for a future powered by people and enabled by AI. Ian brings cutting-edge technologies to life so audiences can understand the future of work in ways they can immediately act on. As a technologist and strategist, Ian led innovation projects for Nike, Samsung, Intel, Nintendo, Microsoft, and dozens more. As the CEO of Signal and Cipher, Ian and his team reinvent ways of working for companies like Boston Consulting Group, Universal Pictures, Publicis Groupe, and more.
Eric Wollberg is the CEO and co-founder of Prophetic, a neurotechnology company developing a wearable device designed to induce and stabilize lucid dreams using transcranial focused ultrasound and machine learning models. Prior to founding Prophetic, Wollberg held roles at various startups and organizations, including serving as the first employee at private city building company, Praxis. His interest in lucid dreaming began at age 12 and deepened during his time in Jerusalem, where he explored theological texts and the role of dreams in prophetic visions.
Grace is an investor at Pace Capital. She primarily invests in AI / deep tech infrastructure and applications.
Chloë Ryan is an artist, robotics engineer and creative technologist. She’s the founder and CEO of Acrylic Robotics, a tech startup on a mission to widen access to the archaic $70B fine art market. At 21, she invented the world’s first robotic method to transform any image or digital illustration into a beautiful textured painting with real brushstrokes on canvas, at a speed and scale built for mass-production. Acrylic’s technology is poised to disrupt the archaic art market currently built to serve the top 1% — they’re bringing quality art to the general public all while allowing artists to reach new markets. Chloë’s robots have been on tour across three continents, including as part of Adobe’s “Future of Art” exhibit at Art Basel, the Canadian National Exhibition and AWS Startup’s Generative AI Lofts tour. She is the recipient of 20+ accolades for her contributions as a pioneer at the intersection of art x tech, and Acrylic has been named one of Canada’s Top 10 Ventures to Watch (GRIT), Websummit’s Top 10 Ventures (International) and a recipient of the international ArtTech prize.
Taryn Southern is an award-winning storyteller and creative technologist whose works explores the intersection of emerging technology and human potential. An early content creator with more than 750 million views on YouTube, Taryn’s groundbreaking creative experiments include composing the world’s first AI pop album (2017), creating an award-winning Google VR series (2018), directing an award-winning Tribeca Film Festival documentary on brain-computer interfaces (2019), and becoming one of the first creators to create an AI clone (2020.) In 2021, Taryn joined leading implantable neurotechnology company Blackrock Neurotech, where she launched the world’s first Brain-Computer Interface Museum and BCI Ethics Advisory Board, and oversaw storytelling efforts for two successful funding rounds totaling over $230M+. In 2025, Taryn founded Creative AI Bootcamp, a hands-on program for busy executives who want to learn practical AI workflows that save time, unleash creativity and future proof their lives. As a speaker and former breast cancer survivor, Taryn is a passionate advocate of personalized health and has advised and/or invested in companies such as Oura, Etched, Extend Fertility, Cue Health, Cooler Heads, and Forever Labs.
Jon Krohn is co-founder and CEO of Y Carrot, a software firm that specializes in designing and implementing agentic A.I. systems for enterprises. He also serves as ML Practice Fellow at Lightning A.I. and is the host of SuperDataScience, the data science industry’s most listened-to podcast. He wrote the book Deep Learning Illustrated, an instant #1 bestseller that was translated into seven languages. He lectures at leading universities (Columbia, NYU), keynotes at top global conferences (Web Summit, Collision) and presents content on Bloomberg TV that’s viewed by millions. Jon holds a PhD from Oxford and has been publishing on machine learning in prominent academic journals since 2010.
Amar C. Bakshi is an artist and entrepreneur dedicated to integrating technology into environments to create new forms of digital-physical public spaces. He is the founder of Shared_Studios, a social impact company that connects people across distance and difference through immersive audiovisual environments called Portals. Since 2014, Portals have connected over half a million individuals across 100 locations in 30 countries, from refugee camps to public parks, in partnership with institutions such as the United Nations, the Smithsonian, and Google. His work has been featured at venues including the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery. Previously, Amar reported for The Washington Post across twelve countries, launched CNN’s international analysis site, and served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. He holds an AB from Harvard University, an MA in international economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and a JD from Yale Law School. A Truman Fellow and Soros Scholar, he resides in Brooklyn. 
Abran Maldonado is an internationally recognized AI thought leader, keynote speaker, and co-founder of Create Labs, a groundbreaking startup founded by Black and Brown entrepreneurs that is transforming the fields of generative AI and digital human design. Abran’s pioneering contributions include creating C.L.Ai.R.A., the first GPT-powered digital woman of color. As one of the first AI prompt engineers of the ChatGPT era, Abran was an early beta tester of OpenAI’s models. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, Wired, and Fast Company, solidifying his reputation as a visionary in generative AI. With a career spanning education, the music industry, and technology, Abran brings a unique perspective to the AI community, deeply influenced by his roots in Hip-Hop, social impact, and youth culture.
Kelsey Falter is one of the founders of MOTHER Games, with a background in technology, entertainment, and design. Her first company Poptip (acq’d by Palantir) focused on real-time NLP and data for the entertainment sector. After her first company, Falter successfully produced two films including You Resemble Me — debuting at Venice Film Festival, garnering dozens of awards. She won the Curio Award for emerging designer at Design Miami Art Basel with Raise the Moral Studio, and is a Forbes 30 under 30 recipient in technology. Kelsey has trained for thousands of hours in yoga and meditation, and believes in the future of personal data provenance in the age of AI.
Amy Wu is the Founder and CEO of Manifest. Manifest is a Gen Z mental health community that builds emotional wellness for our users through daily AI challenges that transform self-care into a rewarding and habitual experience. Manifest is backed by a16z Speedrun, STVL, Florida Funders, HF0, Soma Capital, amongst others. Prior to Manifest, Amy built Player Edition, an NBA NFT startup with the Rivers and Curry families. Amy was formerly an investor at ICONIQ Growth where she worked with companies like Zoom, Red Ventures, Benchling and Truckstop. She is an alumna of Stanford University’s School of Engineering.
For over 25 years Jason Severs has explored the evolving tensions between creativity, business and technology and is obsessed with the idea of radical change through alternative experience architectures and participatory solutions design. Before his return to frog, he was the first Chief Design Officer of Droga5, part of Accenture Song where he built a team that delivered brand identity and digital experience outcomes. Prior to Droga5, he built a strategic initiatives team at Verizon focused on improving customer experiences through Verizon’s digital and retail channels.
Vince is a co-founder and Chief Vision Officer of Meow Wolf. After launching Meow Wolf in 2016, Vince has moved his efforts towards expanding Meow Wolf’s explorations of the imagination into new forms of spatial storytelling.
Hannah Elsakr is Global Head of New Business Ventures & Founder of Firefly (Generative AI) for Enterprise. Hannah is passionate about looking around the corner for new commercial opportunities at the intersection of technology, creativity & marketing. She recently launched Adobe Firefly for Enterprise, a creative & generative AI business including Firefly Services, Firefly Custom Models and Firefly Creative Production. At Adobe, Hannah previously led Corporate Development and was Chief of Staff to Adobe’s CEO, Shantanu Narayen, and led the office of the CEO. Hannah is also Board President for the Adobe Foundation, which creates positive change through support for creative and digital literacy, social equity and opportunity, and active engagement in the communities where we live and work. Hannah has previously led global businesses in ecommerce & marketplaces, consumer products, SaaS and advisory services at eBay, Del Monte Foods, Avon Products, McKinsey & Co., and J.P. Morgan. Hannah holds a Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS). In 2023, Hannah was recognized as one of Silicon Valley Business Journal’s “Women of Influence.”
Bold, insightful, and uncompromising, Mike Pell is recognized as a world-class designer and industry thought leader in the fields of Innovation, AI + DataViz, and Smart Information. Pell’s evolution from intrepid entrepreneur, to VC-backed startup veteran, to corporate man for Adobe and Microsoft has given him a unique perspective on how to combine business, experience, and technology to create breakthrough experience. Pell currently leads The Microsoft Garage in New York City, part of the company’s worldwide innovation program for moving ideas forward quickly to foster a culture of experimentation. Learn more at https://Mike-Pell.com
Mike is a Creative Director with Amazon a popular online retailer with fast shipping, low prices, and phenomenal customer service. He has served as a creative lead for the past seven years on everything from TV campaigns to social posts and is currently pioneering efforts to implement ai in brand storytelling.
Justin “Hasard” Lee is a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and the #2 Wall Street Journal and International bestselling author of The Art of Clear Thinking. With over 80 combat missions, Justin has experienced decision-making at its most extreme. He also led the development of AI-driven training systems for the world’s largest fighter pilot training base, giving him a deep understanding of how technology can augment human cognition. In his presentations, Justin provides actionable strategies derived from both the cockpit and cutting-edge research, empowering audiences to cultivate clearer thinking and more effective leadership in technology driven industries. He has worked with many of our Fortune 500 leaders such as Meta, Google, and Microsoft.
With over 12 years of experience building impactful technology products, Greg is currently COO and Partner at AE Studio. An engineer turned tactical business manager and three-time startup founder, he has scaled teams at Carbon Five and Intuit while driving sustainable growth through community building and user empowerment. Greg believes in empowering users and fostering ethical technology practices.
With over 10 years of experience building impactful products and leading technical teams at early-stage startups, Melanie Plaza is currently CTO at AE Studio, an AI-first custom software development agency. Previously the CTO at To The Tens and co-founder of ELIX, Melanie has also served as a full-stack developer and technical leader at various LA-based startups.
Harry McCracken is the global technology editor for Fast Company, based in San Francisco. He writes about topics ranging from gadgets and services from tech giants to the startup economy to how artificial intelligence and other breakthroughs are changing life at work, home, and beyond. Before joining Fast Company in 2014, McCracken was editor at large for Time magazine, founder of Technologizer, and editor of PC World.
Roman is a paragon of innovation and dynamic leadership, transforming visionary ideas into reality. He has tackled everything from crowdfunding infused with social impact to the creation of a range of apps in healthcare, publishing and entertainment. At Fevo, as Chief Product Officer, Roman drove the company’s transactional volume from the ground up to over $500 million. Now at Zeta, Roman is breaking new ground with ZOE, a cutting-edge Generative AI platform that offers marketers revolutionary AI-driven insights, content creation, and strategy optimization, alongside the innovative capability to develop their own AI Agents and Agentic Workflows.
Judd Rosenblatt is the founder and CEO of AE Studio, a bootstrapped tech consultancy with over 160 employees. He leads internal R&D teams funded through reinvested profits from client work. Initially focused on advancing brain-computer interfaces—including contributing to the first FDA-approved invasive BCI—Judd shifted focus after concluding that accelerating Artificial General Intelligence timelines would outpace the potential of BCIs to enhance human intelligence. AE Studio dedicates its research efforts to genuinely solving the AI alignment problem. Judd is a strong advocate for more direct work on alignment, believing that success could unlock a future of unprecedented human flourishing—provided we survive AI’s rise.
Arun Sundararajan is the Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship and Technology at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he also serves as Director of the Fubon Center for Technology, Business and Innovation. An internationally recognized expert on artificial intelligence governance and digital strategy, his best-selling and award-winning book, “The Sharing Economy,” published by the MIT Press, has been translated into Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese and Vietnamese. Arun’s research studies how digital technologies transform business, government and civil society. His scholarship has been recognized by nine Best Paper awards, two Google Faculty awards, an Axiom Best Business Books Award, and a Thinkers50 Award. He has testified and provided expert input to the United States Congress, the European Parliament, the United Nations and numerous regulators globally. He is a widely sought-after commentator by top media platforms. Arun is a member of the World Economic Forum’s AI Governance Alliance and the advisory board of the Carnegie Council’s AI and Equality Initiative. He serves as a board member and advisor to numerous additional organizations, ranging from startups to Fortune 500s.. He has degrees in electrical engineering, operations research and economics from IIT Madras and the University of Rochester. Find him at https://digitalarun.io/ and https://linkedin.com/in/digitalarun
Natalie Monbiot is an emerging media and technology strategist, and pioneer in the field of AI, virtual humans, and generative video technologies. As Founder of VHE she advises startups, brands and VC funds on leveraging the intersection of AI and human identity to create meaningful, real-world impact. As a founding team member and former Head of Strategy at Hour One, Natalie has been instrumental in building one of the first AI avatar startups, and building the AI video category from the ground up. She’s an advocate for responsible virtual human development, and the “virtual human economy”— where individuals can profit from their AI-powered digital selves – the topic of her recent TEDx talk. A recognized thought leader, speaker and opinion writer, Natalie’s insights appear in top publications like The Wall Street Journal and The Information. Her work has driven brand innovation for Samsung, BMW, and Coca-Cola, among others. With a Master’s in Modern Languages and Literature from Oxford, she frequently speaks on AI’s transformative role in media, earning accolades including Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech and Cannes Lions Gold.
Serial Entrepreneur | Founder & CEO at Wizly | Creating the new knowledge economy I’m transforming how independent consultants scale their impact through AI integration. Wizly helps consulting experts multiply their reach while maintaining quality, enabling them to break free from time constraints and build sustainable, scalable practices. Wizly is an AI platform that enables consultants to create digital AI Twins and knowledge hubs, reducing non-billable time by 50%, tripling client capacity, and creating new revenue streams. We’re empowering experts to transform their expertise into scalable, AI-powered advisory services. Backed by Antler, Gokul Rajaram, and Jayesh Parekh, we’re building the future of knowledge work and reshaping the $40B consulting industry.
AI engineer, LLM whisperer, hacker. I work with and build conversational software, AI agents, and voice applications.
AyseDeniz is a classically trained virtuoso pianist and composer, holding a Bachelor’s from Eastman School and a Master’s from the Royal Academy of Music. She performed in over 29 countries as a soloist, ranging from classical concert halls to rock/jazz festivals. With her mission to unite audiences of all genres, ages, and backgrounds, she has amassed over 610 K global fans. In 2022, she was listed as one of the 20 under 40 Young Shapers of the Future of Music by Encyclopaedia Britannica, alongside notable artists such as Adele, Lil Nas, and Lorde. In June 2023, she released her 10th album titled “Patterns,” marking her first collaboration with Audio Network UK, specifically for Film, TV and Advertising. In August 2023 she made her Los Angeles debut at Walt Disney Hall. She won the Best Contemporary Classical Composition in Hollywood Independent Music Awards with her composition Kelton. In 2024 her compositions were featured on Amazon Prime “Dance Life” Series, and National Geographic’s “A Real Bug’s Life”. She is an official Kawai Artist, and a GRAMMY® Voting Member. AyseDeniz is passionate about enlightening audiences on classical music, intertwining her performances with motivational storytelling. She performed at conferences including TEDX, Summit.co 2019, BetterUp Center for Performance and Purpose 2023, and SXSW 2023. With her new Classical Regenerated AI Initiative & Piano Show, AyseDeniz brings back legendary classical composers and explores the future of music through cutting-edge Al technology. This project not only honors the composers but also introduces new audiences to classical music in an innovative way. Her first performance took place at CogX Festival in May 2024. Her recent keynotes/performances include Kennedy Center Creativity & Tech Summit in Washington D.C. and TED AI in San Francisco. She runs Borderless Piano Academy to help her fans learn to play the piano. BBC Music Magazine has named her a rising star, and she has appeared on Classic FM, BBC News, The Herald, as well as in Le Figaro.
Sharon Goldman is an AI reporter at Fortune. Previously, she covered AI for VentureBeat. Sharon has written about digital and enterprise tech for over a decade, for publications and organizations including Business Insider, Forbes, and Deloitte. In her spare time, she is a singer-songwriter with several albums under her belt.
Artem Petrov, a Tech Creative Director and artist, was born in Crimea, Ukraine. He has a rich educational background thanks to multiple scholarships that enabled him to study in Israel. He holds Fine and Applied Arts degrees from the Ukrainian Academy of Printing and a BA in Visual Communication from the Holon Institute of Technology. Artem’s career journey includes building his own successful communication agency, servicing accounts of Fortune 500 clients, and serving as Creative Director at Snap Inc, where he played a crucial role in launching the Spectacles AR glasses for Creators. He later joined Meta as a Tech Creative Director, building experiences and products for Mixed Reality, further expanding his expertise in the tech industry. He founded and led an AdTech business for a decade, collaborating with names like Disney and L’Oreal, and launching products that led to multimillion-dollar exits. Made an exit in his first business and moved to the US! Artem served as the CPO and co-founder of GetGen.ai, a platform that provides smooth communication checks against policies and cultural standards for regulatory businesses using generative AI models tailored for enterprise clients. He is currently Co-founder and CEO at CopySight AI. CopySight AI’s Mission: to revolutionize the IP review process for AI-generated content, clearing the way for creativity. The company builds IP scoring models for AI-generated content and develops a first-to-market copyrighting tool for AI-generated content for commercial use.
Dan is a partner at ArentFox Schiff LLP and co-leader of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry group—a cross-disciplinary team of more than four dozen lawyers practicing on the cutting-edge of AI law. In this capacity, he advises clients on safe and responsible AI design and deployment, acceptable use policies, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property protection and infringement. His clients range from early stage start-ups to some of the world’s leading technology, consumer electronics, fashion, and media and entertainment companies. Among other topics, he has advised clients on the intersection of AI with copyright protection; employment law; medical devices; and wearable devices.
Recently named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Art, Anatola Araba is an artist, filmmaker and founder of her studio, Reimagine Story Lab. Her films and multimedia creations have been exhibited at the MoMA and she recently made history when her art was sent to space on NASA’s first Moon mission since 1972. The project, “Afro Algorithms,” was a 3D animated short film in the Afrofuturist genre that explored artificial intelligence and bias.
Christopher came up as a VFX producer working on large, 3D heavy, Hollywood films with studios like MPC, Dreamworks, Prime Focus, and Sony Pictures. He’s lived in Beijing, Mumbai, Toronto, Vancouver, San Diego, and LA. He’s consulted for a large list of full scale 3D pipelines. He now works for Amazon supporting companies growing into immersive spaces and bridging the gap between computers and our physical world.
Benjamin Benichou is a visual artist, creative director, and AI innovator redefining the intersection of technology and creativity. As the founder of 311LABS, he pioneers AI-driven aesthetics, crafting high-concept campaigns that push the boundaries of brand storytelling. His work spans luxury, fashion, and culture—where machine intelligence meets human intuition. With a background in both creative direction and AI systems, Benjamin is at the forefront of the new creative process—one where AI is not just a tool, but a collaborator. His expertise in generative AI, custom model training, and machine-assisted design has made him a leading voice in the evolution of art, commerce, and synthetic media.
Paige Piskin is an award-winning AI and XR creator, known for pushing the boundaries of digital makeup, character design, and augmented reality experiences. With AR effects generating more than 300 billion impressions, shared 2 billion times, Paige has worked with major brands like Netflix, Bratz, Warner, and Coldplay, bringing immersive storytelling to life. She has also been a guest judge for Netflix, consultant, and 2x hackathon winner, recognized for her innovative work in AI-driven AR experiences. Paige is passionate about blending generative AI with character design, expanding the possibilities of digital self-expression and interactive storytelling.
Claire Silver is an anonymous AI-Collaborative artist that works with oil, acrylic, collage, photography, and different digital mediums to create her work. She often blends the classical style and mythos into her art, collaboratively producing work that feels at once familiar and strange. Her work explores themes of innocence, trauma, the hero’s journey, and how our view of them will change in an increasingly transhumanist future. Claire’s art can be found in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, has been at Sotheby’s London and Christie’s New York and in galleries, museums, and festivals all over the world. Featured in the New York Times, WIRED, Fortune, NPR, and countless podcasts, Claire takes every opportunity to explore her unending fascination with AI, fight for visibility for this budding art movement, and wonder at the magnitude of this moment in history. She often feels like a caveman painting fire. Claire is vocal in her belief that with the rise of AI, for the first time, the barrier of skill is swept away and that in this evolving era, taste is the new skill.
