Well, that was a (mostly) fun one.
Sure, I'd be happier if everyone was working from a Vision Pro and if the Meta Orion glasses were stocking ready for the holidays, rather than a few years away. And I'd be elated if all the companies building these headsets would commit in a real, sustainable way to funding content creators, rather than launching and killing funds. But 2024 did see several tentpole moments in the XR space, with the Vision Pro coming to market earlier this year, Pico releasing quality headsets in the fall; Meta announcing Orion at Connect; and Google and Samsung closing the year with a new headset launch. The fact that all these companies continue to invest in new hardware at least is a sign that they are taking the market seriously and believe that it has room for growth.
On the AI front, there were insane advances, but the market got super frothy (not everything is an AI company, folks) and there's still a huge delta between what AI can actually do and what people think it can do. I will say I'm using ChatGPT as a search engine at this point, pretty much entirely replacing Google, but there's still a long way to go. It's useful for brainstorming and first drafts and iterating on creative work, but you still need someone to know how to prompt the machine and come up with the ideas in the first place. Still, it's coming, and it's up to us to make sure that we use it to benefit humanity and create better and safer working conditions.
For me personally, 2024 was pretty excellent. Every year I create a spreadsheet of goals and objectives and make sure my actions and how I spend my time aligns around those. I'm certainly not perfect (Netflix happens, as does having to smile and nod and tolerate people who are not acting in highest and best) but overall I've managed to stay on target. I'll miss a few (yet another year where I don't magically turn into Alison Roman in the kitchen), but generally I'm pretty happy with things.
A few highlights:
JFK Memento went on an INSANE award streak, racking up 26 awards and nominations this year! It won Best Art or Film at the Auggies, Best Heritage Experience at the European XR Awards for at Stereopsia, Best in the World at the QLD XR Festival, and of course, was a finalist for an Emmy. So proud to have been an executive producer on this piece and what a ride it was!
Another piece I executive produced, Masters of Light, won the Crystal Owl for Best Single-Player Game at the European XR Awards and was nominated for the Unity Awards for the Best Social Impact Project.
Working with Virti, I led workshops and directed VR pieces for Amazon, Houston Methodist, GLP Learning, Intermountain Health, Frontier Communications, and the Calgary Flames, among others. I also spoke at several conferences, including SXSW, the Scandinavian Creative AI Summit, Learning Technologies, and Augmented World Expo.
I continued teaching with CalTech, New Mexico State University, and the Fast Future Executive, and co-authored a chapter in the Fast Future Blur book, which was released on Wiley this spring.
In non-work related goals, I ran five marathons and one ultra-marathon, visited eight new countries, read 87 books, saw lots of art and ate at a ton of great restaurants. I spent lots of time with friends enjoying everything the New York has to offer.
So what's on tap for 2025? Hopefully, more of the same -- I'm always looking for projects to advise and produce and new clients for Virti to help. I'm also looking for speaking gigs, teaching opportunities, and I think might be the year I finally turn that book proposal I've been noodling on forever into something real.
I'd love to hear what your highlights were, personally, professionally, and in terms of headsets, immersive content, and bots. Happy holidays, happy new year, and here's to an exciting 2025!