{"podcast":{"title":"The AI XR Podcast.","slug":"the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732","podcast_index_feed_id":1291732,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/this-week-in-xr-podcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6/1736361729991-15e2e673-ad12-4a45-b117-7e42a45c0af8.jpeg","author":"Charlie Fink","episode_count":303,"summary":"Get the inside story on the biggest tech developments from founders, former executives, and industry veterans who built companies like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta Reality Labs, Apple Vision Pro, Microsoft HoloLens, and Unity. Join Charlie Fink (Forbes), Ted Schilowitz, (Red Camera, Fox, Paramount Futurist) & Rony Abovitz, (founder Magic Leap).as they interview startup CEOs, ex-Google/Meta/Apple insiders, Hollywood directors, and AI researchers reshaping spatial computing. Every week we break down the latest tech news with our signature hot takes, then dive deep with a founder or industry leader. We cover artificial intelligence breakthroughs, virtual reality hardware, augmented reality applications, synthetic media tools, and how enterprises are adopting these technologies. We're industry insiders who have the connections to get the biggest names on the show, but we're not afraid to ask the tough questions about where big tech is heading. Our guests trust us because we've been in their shoes. Listen now to get ahead of the next wave of computing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T20:20:59.917359+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732"},"episode":{"title":"The Mad-Scientist of AI Smartglasses On Wearable AI, VR & Escaping the Internet ft. Lucas Rizzotto","slug":"the-mad-scientist-of-ai-smartglasses-on-wearable-ai-vr-escaping-the-internet-ft-lucas-rizzotto","published_at":"2026-06-19T06:29:16+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732/the-mad-scientist-of-ai-smartglasses-on-wearable-ai-vr-escaping-the-internet-ft-lucas-rizzotto","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732","url":"https://shows.acast.com/this-week-in-xr-podcast/episodes/the-mad-scientist-of-ai-smartglasses-on-wearable-ai-vr-escap","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5f2ae0b91ea7197e1ef08ed6/e/6a34e1bc6f90df4cb7e87521/media.mp3","summary":"Lucas Rizzotto is one of the most distinctive artists working at the intersection of technology and human experience. He built Where Thoughts Go, a VR piece that proved genuine connection was possible inside a headset when everyone said it wasn't. He followed it with Pillow, a mixed reality app designed around the bedroom. He then spent months letting an AI algorithm run his life — wearing Mantra smart glasses, building a surveillance and memory system on himself, and documenting it as an ongoing series on Instagram and TikTok. Now he's making a live cinematic experience called Escape the Internet, which he calls Broadway crossed with a video game crossed with standup comedy. It premiered as a ghost debut at SXSW this year. Mike Boland, analyst and founder of AR Insider, sits in for Rony Abovitz in this episode. The conversation opens on the Rec Room shutdown — $250 million raised, a $3.5 billion valuation, and now a wind-down. The panel connects the collapse to a pattern: VR has always been an exotic pursuit sold as a mainstream one, and the unit economics of concurrent immersive social spaces are nearly impossible. The discussion moves to OpenAI shutting down Sora, the AI video generation race between Google VO3 and Kling, the rise of AI slop in social feeds, and Lucas confirming he quit LinkedIn because it's unreadable. AI XR News: Rec Room is shutting down after raising $250M at a $3.5B peak valuation. Snapchat is acquiring its remaining assets. OpenAI closed down Sora, overwhelmed by competition from Google VO3 and Kling. AI-only social feeds from Meta and Grok are not gaining traction — users are tuning them out. Key Moments: [05:37] – Ted's thesis: VR is an exotic pursuit that was never going to be mainstream, and Rec Room would have been healthier if it accepte…","meta_description":"Lucas Rizzotto is one of the most distinctive artists working at the intersection of technology and human experience. He built Where Thoughts Go, a VR pie…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3399,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732/episodes/the-mad-scientist-of-ai-smartglasses-on-wearable-ai-vr-escaping-the-internet-ft-lucas-rizzotto/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-ai-xr-podcast-1291732/the-mad-scientist-of-ai-smartglasses-on-wearable-ai-vr-escaping-the-internet-ft-lucas-rizzotto.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}