Ian Beacraft
Ian Beacraft
The technology that brought us Deepfakes is permanently reshaping the way we create content of all kinds – from movies and music to apps and websites. The idea of applying algorithms to manipulate or generate media isn’t new, but several advances in computer science have brought the technology out of the halls of academia and into the hands of anyone and everyone with a will to create. In this session, we’ll explore how synthetic media and computational design are inspiring all sorts of machine-assisted creativity and how it’s changing the overall creative process. We’ll get hands-on with some cutting-edge tools to demonstrate their power, show their impact on workflow, and see how they’ll power the future of new platforms like the Metaverse.
With all the hype around the Metaverse, few take the time to understand how the evolution of the web will determine the functionality of the next act of the internet. In this talk I discuss the underpinnings of the different generations of the web, and how the paradigm of ownership and decentralization will create new opportunities for consumers and brands alike.
Ian is considered one of the leading voices in Web3, synthetic media, and the Metaverse, speaking and consulting with corporations, conferences, and universities around the world. Previously responsible for P&L’s and innovation departments at the largest agencies in the world, Ian is known for making bleeding-edge technology understandable and monetizable even when best practices are scarce.
He heads the strategic foresight agency Signal & Cipher, guiding companies through the rapidly changing technology landscape, helping them find meaningful routes to innovation that impact the bottom line, inspire cultural change, and create new products and services.
Ian is known for pushing the boundaries at the intersection of technology and culture. He is the co-owner of a production studio designing virtual worlds and the first person to ever host a globally syndicated news segment as a synthetic human.