“AI & XR: A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN?” was the last events that Antony Vitillo and I have organized forAWE Nite Florence. The event took place on February 29th, and the expert panelists were: RAFAEL BROWN, MARCO GIAMMETTI, KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY Welcome by CECILIA LASCIALFARI and ANTONY VITILLO. Opening by CECILIA LASCIALFARI. Debate by ANTONY VITILLO.
- Is it possible to develop a game only by writing some prompts, both as regards the logic and multimedia elements?
- Is Generative AI really the present and the future of the creation of the content?
- Where AI is already helping to build virtual worlds and where is it just the hype?
- Is it true that the next AAA game can only be built by a small number of people who use generative Artificial Intelligence?
- Is Artificial Intelligence or is it not a technological tendency that goes against Virtual Reality?
- Can AI be used to enhance virtual reality and immersive worlds?
- Can AI e VRs be used together?
- How can we digitize tourism with AI and LLM?
- How can we get an AR experience aware of the context?
- XR +LLM = ?
This is the video of the event, which you can find published on the AWE YouTube Channel and on the ARea6DoF YouTube Channel:
These are the highlights of the event:
0:00:00 – Presentation AWE slide by ANTONY VITILLO and CECILIA LASCIALFARI
0:01:59 – Welcome & Introduction by CECILIA LASCIALFARI | Founder ARea6DoF | Creative Strategist Technologist | Italian Representative for Artivive | Member of AIxIA | Event Organizer AWE Nite Florence
CECILIA LASCIALFARI on LINKEDIN | CECILIA LASCIALFARI on TWITTER
0:06:34 – Presentation by ANTONY VITILLO | CTO VRROOM | Co-Founder The Ghost Howls | Co-Founder New Technology Walker | Co-Organizers AWE Nite Florence
0:06:49 – ANTONY VITILLO presents MARCO GIAMMETTI
0:07:30 – MARCO GIAMMETTI – VR consultant Memori.AI and Commigo.it | IndieDev of Hypothermic Games
Marco Giammetti is currently engaged in innovative endeavors, contributing his expertise to Memori.ai and undertaking research and development for Commigo.it. Additionally, he collaborates closely with the other devs with Hypothermic Games. As a seasoned professional in the realm of illustration, 3D artistry, and game design, Marco continues to leave his mark on the gaming industry while embracing new challenges and opportunities for growth.
Summary of the speech: “Practical lessons about integration of VR and AI”
Artificial Intelligence is not a technological trend that goes against Virtual Reality, as some people may think, but it can be used to empower Virtual Reality and Immersive Worlds. This talk will show how AI and VR can be used together, both in theory and with practical examples”
LINKEDIN: MARCO GIAMMETTI – X: @TheTMO – FB: TheTMO – IG: PLAYHYPOTHERMIC
0:27:34 – CECILIA LASCIALFARI presents KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY
0:27:57 – KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY – Co-founder and CEO “Augmented.City” SRL
17 years in IT on management and sales positions in R&D projects. Katherina is an expert in Computer Vision and AI and a pioneer of XR technology. CEO of the Italian start-up Augmented City that developed the biggest AR Cloud covering 200+ cities in the world. It’s a space in Metaverse for everybody to test the experience of XR and GeoPose service. Core business directions: industrial AR, tourism, art and education.
Summary of the speech: “XR +LLM = ?”
GeoPose gives the precise location and direction, while AI recognizes the objects to describe the scene and gives the context for another AI (LLM). Thuswe get a context-aware AR experience. Such combination can be a next step for digitalization of tourism and industry.
LINKEDIN: KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY
FACEBOOK: AUGMENTED.CITY.BARI
0:38:58 – ANTONY VITILLO presents RAFAEL BROWN
0:39:34 – RAFAEL BROWN – CEO & Founder at Symbol Zero // Microsoft Regional Director
Rafael is a veteran game designer & developer, XR evangelist, technologist, & studio head. He is a 27 year game industry veteran, who traces his roots to Looking Glass Studios, id Software, and early 3D FPS games. Rafael has worked across North America for Electronic Arts, Activision, Take Two, ZeniMax, Midway, and Nintendo studios where he’s built multi-million selling titles for each. He saw this generation of Virtual Reality start on John Carmack’s desk 11 years ago while working on first person shooters at id Software.
Rafael loves building virtual worlds. He has been dreaming of the Metaverse since watching Tron as a kid and then reading Neuromancer, a decade before Snow Crash. During the pandemic, he founded Symbol Zero, which builds games, virtual worlds, virtual concerts, and cloud platforms. Symbol Zero is Roblox’s co-dev partner having built the Lil Nas X virtual concert experience, the second largest virtual concert in history at 33 million users in one weekend.
Rafael is an expert on Games, XR, AI, & Cloud technologies. He lectures on the history of Games, AI, VR, XR, Cloud, Blockchain, and path to the Metaverse, while building games and virtual worlds in the now. He is also a Microsoft Regional Director for northern California, a technical advisory role.
LINKEDIN: RAFAEL BROWN – SYMBOL ZERO
Website: SYMBOL ZERO
0:57:54 – Final Q & A with ANTONY VITILLO, RAFAEL BROWN, MARCO GIAMMETTI, KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY, CECILIA LASCIALFARI – Debate:“XR and AI: what is real and what is hype?”
0:58:02 – ANTONY VITILLO question to RAFAEL BROWN
0:58:15 – RAFAEL BROWN answer
0:59:38 – ANTONY VITILLO question to MARCO GIAMMETTI
1:00:08 – MARCO GIAMMETTI answer
1:03:08 – ANTONY VITILLO question to KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY
1:04:09 – KATHERINA UFNAROVSKY answer
1:07:56 – ANTONY VITILLO question to RAFAEL BROWN
1:08:52 – RAFAEL BROWN answer
1:12:46 – Closing by ANTONY VITILLO
1:13:02 – Closing by CECILIA LASCIALFARI
For more information on AWE Nite Florence visit ARea6DoF.com
Watch the recording and the summary of the last events from AWE Nite Florence:
1) “Overview in the Italian XR Ecosystem”, 28th January 2021 – (Italian – English)
2) “Digital Italian Fashion in XR”, 25th February 2021 (Italian – English)
3) “Augmented and Virtual Psychology”, 25th March 2021 (Italian – English)
4) “Location Based VR & Entertainment in Italy”, 29th April 2021 (Italian – English)
5) “XR Glasses for Enterprise”, 27th May 2021 (English – Italian)
6) “Building the Future of eXtended Reality, Together”, 24th June 2021 (English – Italian)
7) “Digital and Virtual Events”, 15th October 2021 (English – Italian)
8) “Digital Rights in the Metaverse”, 10th February 2022 (English – Italian)
9) “Metaverse: Evolution and Use Cases”, 12th April 2022 (English – Italian),
10) “XR Gloves, Haptics & Beyond”, 17th November 2022 (English – Italian)
11) “XR, AI and the Future of Technology” 20th April 2023, (English)
12) “AWE Nite Florence “AI & XR: A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN?” 29th February 2024 (English)
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Cecilia is also an artist, photographer, videomaker, community manager and International Journalist. She is the organizer of AWE Nite Florence and she is the Italian Representative for Artivive.
Cecilia is a member of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA is a member of the EurAI/ECCAI) which includes professionals from the most important research institutions and Italian universities.
Cecilia created a project called “Flying Into The Metaverse Through Books & Culture”, which is a series of interviews with the most important professionals in the XR field and manages an online Journal called ARea6DoF, registered to the Italian Court, where she writes the articles about the different topics she is concerned with.