The AI XR Podcast

Charlie, Ted and Rony open with a packed news week, covering the election results and the growing backlash over data centers, the XREAL Aura finally shipping, and hands-on impressions of Snap’s Specs. They also discuss layoffs at Schell Games, Beat Saber dropping support for older Quest headsets, Instagram’s new Edits app, and Rony’s new Fast Company piece on computational democracy.
Karl Guttag, a longtime writer and analyst who was recently inducted into the AWE Hall of Fame, joins for a long overdue conversation. Karl traces his path from designing groundbreaking chips at Texas Instruments to becoming one of the sharpest voices on wearable displays, then explains why AR optics remain so difficult, with dozens of unsolved problems that all affect one another. The group digs into waveguides and the search for alternatives, Karl’s famously skeptical take on Magic Leap and Rony’s candid response, and where the real markets for smart glasses are today. Karl closes with his verdict on the XREAL Aura and Snap Specs.
Key Moments:
[00:02:34] The week’s election results and what they mean
[00:04:06] The data center backlash and AI’s energy debate
[00:07:32] XREAL Aura starts shipping and Ted’s hands-on with Snap Specs
[00:11:13] Layoffs at Schell Games
[00:13:09] Beat Saber drops support for Quest 2 and Quest Pro
[00:16:32] Instagram launches its Edits app
[00:17:08] Rony’s Fast Company piece on computational democracy
[00:20:07] Karl Guttag joins the show
[00:20:54] From Texas Instruments chip design to wearable displays
[00:28:09] Why AR has at least 18 major unsolved problems
[00:34:37] Diffractive vs. reflective waveguides and what comes next
[00:39:20] Karl’s take on Magic Leap and Rony’s response
[00:43:16] Where the real markets for smart glasses are today
[00:51:15] Karl’s verdict on XREAL Aura and Snap Specs

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Ted and Charlie open with a packed news week, from big tech earnings and the AI spending race to Apple’s new foldable, a New York law aimed at chatbots and minors, and the arrival of the XREAL Aura. They also look at Google DeepMind’s Genie 4 world model and a new feature film from Utop AI starring Antonio Banderas.
Roy Price, the former head of Amazon Studios and global content for Prime Video, joins to talk about launching N1BW, a new vertical streaming site where AI creators upload their work and collaborate on shows. Roy looks back on building Amazon’s original content slate and the risks that paid off, explains why he thinks Hollywood has gotten stuck in a creative rut, and makes the case that AI is the next Roger Corman. He shares how N1BW is trying to stand apart from vertical apps like DramaBox and ReelShort, why he wants creators to own a piece of the company, and how the platform handles discoverability for filmmakers who are just getting started.
Key Moments:
[00:01:38] Big tech earnings and the AI spending race
[00:03:28] Apple’s foldable and how it compares to Samsung’s
[00:05:14] New York’s new law on chatbots and minors
[00:07:26] XREAL Aura starts shipping
[00:10:17] Google DeepMind’s Genie 4 world model
[00:13:16] Utop AI’s feature film with Antonio Banderas
[00:18:05] Roy Price joins to talk about N1BW
[00:20:52] From Disney Animation to leading Amazon Studios
[00:27:24] How Amazon built its brand with Transparent, Fleabag and Maisel
[00:34:34] Roy’s thesis for N1BW and why low costs mean creative freedom
[00:43:28] How N1BW differs from DramaBox and ReelShort
[00:48:53] The founding filmmaker program and creator ownership
[00:52:41] Why discoverability matters for AI creators

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Ted and Charlie open with a news roundup covering Colossal Biosciences’ real-world take on a Snow Crash robotic companion, a secretly recorded OpenAI meeting, and the wave of tech billionaires suddenly pledging away chunks of their fortunes. From there they dig into Robert Downey Jr. joining Snap, the relaunch of VR fitness app Supernatural, and why training and simulation keep proving to be VR’s most durable use case.

Angela Yu, CEO and co-founder of StoReel, joins to break down the fast-growing world of AI-made vertical streaming. Angela explains how her platform builds entire micro drama series for a fraction of traditional production costs, why audience retention is the industry’s biggest unsolved problem, and how StoReel is using recurring characters and fan communities to keep viewers coming back. The conversation covers how China’s short drama boom is reshaping global entertainment, the economics of buying an audience through social platforms, and what happens as AI-made content moves from cheap and cheesy toward prestige projects with real studio partnerships.

Key Moments:
[00:01:28] A new robotic companion inspired by Snow Crash
[00:03:44] The secretly recorded meeting at OpenAI
[00:04:20] Elon Musk and Dario Amodei pledge away portions of their fortunes
[00:08:00] Character AI shuts down as its CEO becomes Disney’s new CTO
[00:10:17] Robert Downey Jr. joins Snap to help sell its new glasses
[00:11:00] VR fitness app Supernatural relaunches
[00:17:14] Angela Yu joins to talk about the vertical streaming boom
[00:25:39] How StoReel is built to fix the industry’s retention problem
[00:34:25] Inside StoReel hybrid model of in-house writers and outside creators
[00:48:04] The staggering scale of content StoReel produces each month
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Ted and Charlie open with a quieter AI news week, giving them room to dig into XR hardware, including hands-on impressions of two new smart glasses, a Norway story on camera glasses restrictions, the shutdown of the XR Association, backlash over Meta’s Muse app, and a tour through AI’s fast-moving film scene.

Charles Melcher, founder of the Future of Storytelling summit and author of the book of the same name, joins to talk about two decades spent studying how people want to experience stories. Charles explains why he thinks VR never quite broke through for mainstream audiences, walks through his theory of the “actience,” his term for audiences who now expect to participate rather than just watch, and makes the case that AI’s biggest opportunity in entertainment isn’t visual effects but deeply personalized, responsive storytelling. The conversation wraps with a tour through some of the best immersive entertainment happening right now, from the Sphere and ABBA Voyage to Meow Wolf and Vegas’s underground escape-room scene.

Key Moments:
[00:39] Hands-on impressions of Samsung’s Aura vs. Snap’s Specs
[03:29] The ergonomics problem still holding back smart glasses
[06:39] Norway’s new restrictions on camera glasses
[08:26] The XR Association shuts down
[10:00] Meta’s Muse app and the backlash over its user dossiers
[11:47] A tour through the fast-moving world of AI filmmaking
[18:00] Charles Melcher joins — the origin of Future of Storytelling
[24:15] Why VR never had its mainstream moment
[39:00] Charles’s concept of the “actience”
[42:33] A tour of the Sphere, ABBA Voyage, and Meow Wolf
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Charlie, Ted, and Rony open on the week's AI political theater, from the sudden rebrand of AI to "superintelligence" to Dario Amodei's uncomfortable White House appearance. From there, the conversation covers AMD's acquisition of Fei-Fei Li's World Labs, the curious divergence between OpenAI's and Anthropic's paths toward going public, and Rony's read on why liability risk may be the real story behind both. They also dig into Nvidia's push to regulate AI safety at the chip level, a stranger-than-fiction report about Anthropic bringing religious leaders in to discuss whether Claude might be conscious, OpenAI's new companion AI "Dots," and a candid look at where consumer VR actually stands right now.

Johnny Monsarrat, founder of Turbine and now of Monserrat, joins to talk about building what he calls the next platform for outdoor gaming, ten years in the making. Johnny explains why Niantic, despite Pokémon Go's success, is really a mapping company rather than a game company, and how his own approach, built around full 3D game zones rather than map pins, is meant to unlock genres outdoor gaming has never supported. He also shares a genuinely harrowing story from just before this interview: a medical emergency that left him in a coma for four and a half days, unreachable, while his team had no idea whether he was alive.

Key Moments:
[00:25] AI's rebrand to "superintelligence" and a tense White House appearance
[04:00] AMD acquires Fei-Fei Li's World Labs
[05:28] OpenAI, Anthropic, and the liability question behind going public
[08:37] Nvidia's push to regulate AI safety at the chip level
[10:27] Anthropic brings religious leaders in to discuss AI consciousness
[11:06] OpenAI's new companion AI, Dots, and the "Seven Sisters effect"
[17:30] Where consumer VR actually stands right now
[19:13] Johnny Monsarrat joins — and reveals he was just in a four-day coma
[21:24] Why Niantic is a mapping company, not a game company
[51:56] Johnny's pitch: outdoor gaming's "Atari moment"
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