The Mad-Scientist of AI Smartglasses On Wearable AI, VR & Escaping the Internet - Lucas Rizzotto

About this episode

Lucas Rizzotto discusses his innovative projects at the intersection of technology and human experience, including AI smart glasses and a new live performance.

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 South by Southwest 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…

People in this episode

Guest: Lucas Rizzotto

Topics covered

• AI
• VR
• wearable technology
• social media
• live performance
• technology and human experience

Keywords

• AI smartglasses
• VR
• mixed reality
• social feeds
• Rec Room
• OpenAI
• Escape the Internet
• Pillow
• Where Thoughts Go

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: OpenAI, Rec Room, Snapchat, AR Insider

Books & works: Where Thoughts Go, Pillow

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