Mawari’s node-based system includes three types of licenses: Spatial Streamer nodes, which handle the computational heavy lifting. Guardian nodes, which ensure the integrity and accuracy of the data being processed, and Pulse nodes, which serve as netcheckers that help stress test the network, sample immersive content, and simulate the future tens and hundreds of millions of native spatial computing devices coming onto Mawari Network. These nodes work together to enable a decentralized network that is not only scalable but also more resilient than traditional centralized infrastructure. "It's a hybrid model," says Ramirez, "We’ll have data centers contributing significant power, but also smaller, consumer-level nodes offering a more distributed approach. This allows us to provide the resilient, high-quality, low-latency service that immersive experiences require." During the upcoming node sale, participants will be able to purchase licenses for the Guardian nodes.
In November of last year, facing the longest bout of unemployment she’d ever experienced, Paulina Williams was seriously considering what she would do if she had to leave the entertainment industry. The veteran reality television executive producer and showrunner with about 20 years of experience on projects like Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and Big Brother recalls her husband asking her at some point, “Why don’t you try to do something that you’ve always wanted to do and you never had a chance?”
Investors are excited about Mawari’s potential. Sean Carey, co-founder of Helium and partner at Borderless Capital, believes the company is uniquely positioned to tackle the scalability challenges of spatial computing. “Mawari has been quietly building for seven years, and their technology is at a tipping point. Decentralizing their network through node licenses is a game-changer that could unlock immersive experiences at a global scale,” Carey said.
She responded, “Honey, this is what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been working my dream job my entire career.”
Hollywood has long been full of upstart creatives who work side hustles — waiting tables, driving Ubers — to sustain themselves before they make a livable wage in the business. But now, amid a brutal and prolonged contraction in the entertainment business, a twist on that rite of passage is occurring: Workers who have already achieved success and expertise in the business have been looking for work on the outside as a stopgap, side hustle or a longer-term solution.
Mawari’s solution is built on two core components: the Spatial Streaming SDK and the Mawari Network. The SDK integrates seamlessly with popular development environments like Unity and Unreal Engine, allowing creators to focus on content without worrying about backend complexities. The Mawari Network, meanwhile, is a decentralized, GPU-powered content delivery system designed to handle the high-bandwidth, low-latency demands of spatial computing.
The data on how Hollywood has cut back in the past few years been stark. Between the first quarters of 2022 and 2024 — during which time the industry sustained two crippling strikes and the bursting of the streaming bubble — employment in California’s film, television and sound sector dropped nearly 30 percent, according to Otis College of Art and Design research. This year, production levels are still lagging behind their pre-strike highs: On-location filming in the L.A. area during the third quarter of 2024 dropped more than 36 percent compared to the five-year average of that same period, while a ProdPro report found that production volume across the U.S. dropped 35 percent in the third quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2022 (before the strikes).
Mawari’s innovative approach to decentralized infrastructure, coupled with its strategic partnerships and growing client base, positions it as a key enabler in the spatial computing industry. As Ramirez puts it, "Our vision has always been to bring immersive experiences to everyone. With the node license sale, we are one step closer to building the infrastructure at the necessary scale and making that vision a reality.”
Faced with these challenges, some in the business are retooling their résumés from a classic production format, which assumes the reader’s familiarity with the business and often entails long lists of credits, to a more corporate layout that briefly describes responsibilities and highlights certain skills developed. They’re translating what specific roles on set or in industry offices mean to employers who don’t speak entertainment. “When you say, ‘I work in development,’ they think you’re a fundraiser,” says former casting and development executive Lauren Kotlen, who has been working perma-freelance since November 2023 and is exploring content development and talent-relations opportunities in marketing, advertising and digital media companies.
Reasons Williams, “If I’m a showrunner, what does a showrunner do? Well, we’re project managers. Any producer is a project manager on some level.” (As a result, Williams has taken a Project Management Professional certification course during her job search.)
The road ahead for Mawari is ambitious. In Q4 2024, they plan to launch their mainnet in three geographic regions, each focused on different use cases, such as engineering education and sports entertainment. With the new funding and the impending node sale, Mawari’s decentralized infrastructure for immersive content has the potential to transform how 3D experiences are delivered at scale.
nitially we will focus on generating 3D worlds without limits - creating and editing virtual spaces complete with physics, semantics, and control. We hope this will unlock new capabilities for creative users and professionals such as artists, designers, developers, and engineers. It will also allow anyone to imagine and create their own worlds, expanding the potential of generative AI from 2D images and videos to 3D worlds.
Other job seekers are wondering whether having entertainment credits on their résumés helps or hurts their chances of finding other work. Some have noticed hesitation on the part of select employers due to their showbiz backgrounds, which they attribute to a perception that they are just looking for temporary jobs during the contraction. At an interview for a Whole Foods overnight restocking position, production manager of 24 years Sidnee Lewis-Avila (The Hills: New Beginnings) says she was asked, “What happens if you get a call for a show or the industry bounces back?”
She says, “They fear that I’m going to put in my notice and bounce.” (Lewis-Avila recently worked in concessions at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights with the goal of making it through a probationary period, after which she can apply for backlot jobs at the studio.) Beth Kushnick, a renowned set decorator with credits on The Good Wife and Fringe, has long worked part-time gigs in addition to her production work; she’s currently doing interior design for private clients, staging apartments and working on an upcoming event for a commercial business in the absence of industry jobs. But at one point recently, she says, “I was up for a very big job out east, and they were afraid that I was going to get a movie.”
These are ambitious goals, so we are building an ambitious company to tackle them. Our team has a strong research background, but we are not motivated by exploration for its own sake. Instead, we believe that now is a unique moment where rapid scientific progress has thinned the barrier between research and applications. We aim to seize this opportunity, focusing on the entire throughline from research to engineering to product to people.
We've already made promising strides, but we have a long way to go. We thank our investors for their early support on our journey. To date we have raised more than $230M in total funding led by Martin Casado and Sarah Wang of Andreessen Horowitz, Scott Sandell of NEA, and Jordan Jacobs of Radical Ventures. Other investors include individuals Marc Benioff, Jim Breyer, Ron Conway, Jeff Dean, Geoffrey Hinton, Reid Hoffman, Andrej Karpathy, Sound Ventures co-founder Ashton Kutcher, Eric Schmidt, Ram Shriram, Anne Wojcicki, and the late Susan Wojcicki; as well as Adobe Ventures, AMD Ventures, Databricks Ventures, NVentures, the venture capital arm of NVIDIA, Salesforce Ventures, and Shinrai Investments LLC. We are grateful for their partnership.
The Entertainment Community Fund Career Center’s managing director Elena Muslar has seen entertainment workers sometimes react to difficulties like these simply by omitting their experience in the business, creating gaps in their résumé. Muslar recommends instead that the ECF Career Center’s participants tailor their descriptions of past experiences to whatever field they’re looking to enter in their résumés. Rather than leading with, “I’m an actor” who will need time off, for instance, she suggests a performer could describe themselves as a kind of entrepreneur.
Richard “Rick” Spence is a full professor of History. He specializes in Russian intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.
Ph.D., History, 1981, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, Modern Europe, Middle East
M.A., History, 1976, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
B.A., History, 1973, California State University, Bakersfield, CA
There can be emotional hurdles for workers who decide to step a foot outside the business, even if they’re not leaving entirely or forever. “I think the biggest challenge is more about people’s mindset,” says Christina Blumer, the executive director of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, which offers grants for career counseling or retraining to professionals in the theatrical exhibition, distribution and vendor spaces. “People have this idea that ‘I work in the movie industry and this is what I do.’ And what’s really challenging for folks is that emotional attachment … to try and shift that or say, ‘Circumstances have changed.’”
Richard “Rick” Spence received his doctorate in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1981. He has taught at University of Idaho since 1986, and he is a tenured full professor of history. He specializes in Russian intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.
Spence’s published works include “Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left” (East European Monographs/Columbia Univ. Press, 1991), “Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly” (Feral House, 2002) and “Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult” (Feral House, 2008). He is also the author of numerous articles in Revolutionary Russia, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, The Historian, New Dawn and other publications. He has served as a commentator/consultant for the History Channel and the International Spy Museum and was a key consultant-interviewee for the Russian Cultural Foundation’s 2007 documentary film, “Leon Trotsky: The Secret of World Revolution,” and its subsequent “Trap for the Tsar.”
But entertainment workers bring particular strengths, too, to their job search. Workers who come from Hollywood can already be focused on tapping personal networks: “They always say, ‘It’s who you know in Hollywood.’ It’s who you know anywhere,” says Kotlen. They bring a “creative skill set,” notes ECF’s Muslar. Fields that are particularly in demand right now are project management, digital marketing, creative direction, teaching artistry, arts administration and other types of content creation, Muslar adds — all of which can transfer skills people have developed in entertainment.
American Spies in Revolutionary Russia (in progress)
Wall Street and the Russian Revolution, 1905-1925 (Trine Day, 2017)
With Walter Bosley, The Empire of the Wheel: Espionage, the Occult and Murder in Southern California (Corvos Books, 2011)
Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult ( Feral House, 2008)
Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House, 2002)
Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1991)
Articles
“The Voyage of the Shilka: The Bolshevik Revolution Comes to Seattle, 1917,” American Communist History, Vol. 16, #1-2 (2017), pp. 88-101.
“Lights in the Sky: A True Tale of Mystery Airships, Spies and Secret Cults in WWI Utah,” Paranoia (May 2018), http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2018/05/lights-in-the- sky-a-true-tale-of-mystery-airships-spies-and-secret-cults-in-wwi-utah/
“Who Created Hitler?,” New Dawn, Special Issue, Vol. 11, #1(2017), pp 23-31.
“Death in the Adirondacks: Amtorg, Intrigue and the Dubious Demise of Isaiah Khurgin and Efraim Sklyansky,” America Communist History, Vol. 14, #2, (2015), pp. 135-158
“John Reed, American Spy?: Reed, American Intelligence and Weston Estes’ 1920 Mission to Russia,” American Communist History, Vol. 13, #1 (2014), pp. 39-64.
“The Tsar’s Other Lieutenant: The Anti-Semitic Activities of Boris L’vovich Brasol, 1910-1960, Pt. II, White Russians, Nazis and the Blue Lamoo,” Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism, (Dec. 2012).
“The Tsar’s Other Lieutenant: The Anti-Semitic Activities of Boris L’vovich Brasol, 1910-1960, Pt. I, Beilis, the Protocols and Henry Ford,” Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism, (June 2012).
For about a year, Kaitlin Saltzman, the head of scripted at Wilmer Valderrama’s production company WV Entertainment, has worked a side hustle that complements her day job. During the double strikes in 2023, as she saw friends being laid off and had a lot more time on her hands, the executive decided to develop both a hobby and an additional professional skill set. She ended up taking up an activity she hadn’t pursued since high school: photography. Now, Saltzman shoots clients on the weekends and edits her photos after her kids go to bed. She says of her photography and executive work, “They’re both visual storytelling. I really try to capture personalities that come through in the photos and I very much think that my career in television has a big part to do in why I’m able to do that.”
Data Pipeline
A key component of the AI factory is the data pipeline, a semi-automated, systematic process for gathering, cleaning, integrating, and securing company data to ensure it’s sustainable and scalable for AI technologies.
The process, known as datafication, transforms raw data into a usable format for AI models. High-quality data is crucial because AI models’ accuracy and reliability heavily depend on their inputs’ quality.
In the past few years, veteran makeup artist Alexis Walker (Just Go With It, Knocked Up) has developed a business as a professional coach with a special focus on Hollywood workers looking to pivot. In this work, she found two main themes: clients looking for ways to apply their skills in a new field and to strike a “balancing act of straddling two worlds” — still doing some Hollywood work while developing an outside business. She’s also the creator of The Hollywood Second Act Club Podcast, which showcases interviews with industry professionals who have pursued endeavors outside of traditional movie and television work.
“As the saying goes: ‘Garbage in, garbage out,’” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business. “If your data isn't set up in a way that enables you to learn from across your enterprise or your customers, you're going to have garbage coming out of your AI factory.”
For example, Amazon uses a sophisticated data pipeline to manage and analyze vast amounts of customer data, including browsing histories and purchase behaviors. Through cleaning and organizing that data, its AI models can accurately predict customer preferences and personalize recommendations.
In her view, the initial reaction to this slowdown was “sitting-duck stunned for a long time and blindsided and paralyzed, understandably.” But now, she says, “I think you’re going to start seeing a lot more inspired action as people come awake to the moment and what that means for them.”
Establishing a strong data pipeline requires setting up systems and processes. Without a foundation of clean, well-organized data, the AI factory can’t effectively support decision-making and innovation.
Algorithm Development
Beyond a strong pipeline, you need algorithms to transform data into actionable insights that allow you to anticipate trends and make data-driven decisions.
“Data by itself doesn't do anything,” Iansiti says in AI Essentials for Business. “You actually need to figure out which algorithm you're going to choose. You're going to figure out what type of algorithm you need. You need to figure out what to do with it.”
Not every algorithm is created equal. With a range of data types, you must select one that aligns with your business goals and objectives. That involves considering your data’s characteristics and the predictions or outcomes you want to achieve.
The market is "still tight," he noted, adding that fintech offerings such as Zopa's — which typically provide higher savings rates than high-street banks — become "more important" during such times.
"The proposition has become more relevant, and while it's tight for customers, we have had to be much more constrained in terms of who we can lend to," he said, adding that Zopa has still been able to grow despite that.
In the automotive industry, for example, Tesla's goal of creating safe, efficient autonomous vehicles drives its algorithm choices. It uses advanced machine-learning algorithms to analyze camera, sensor, and radar data to generate real-time predictions that guide steering, braking, and acceleration decisions.
By choosing algorithms designed to handle complex data inputs and make accurate predictions, Tesla continually refines its technology to enhance safety and the driving experience.
Your AI factory’s effectiveness similarly depends not just on your data’s quality but your algorithm’s sophistication and suitability.
A big priority for the business going forward is product, Janardana said. The firm is developing a current account product which would allow users to spend and manage their money more easily, in a similar fashion to mainstream banking providers like HSBC and Barclays, as well as fintech upstarts such as Monzo.
Software Infrastructure
Software infrastructure provides the foundational architecture that supports your AI factory’s data pipeline and algorithm.
“Infrastructure is actually a really important point,” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business. “You can have the fanciest data pipelines, the fanciest algorithms—but if your infrastructure can't make this work, can't do this at scale, then you run into problems.”
Infrastructure is the AI factory’s backbone, connecting internal teams and external users to streamline operations. It includes the hardware, software, and networks that manage data storage, processing, and movement.
"We believe that there is more that the consumer can have in the current account space," Janardana said. "We expect that we will launch our current account with the general public sometime next year."
Janardana said consumers can expect a "slick" experience from Zopa's current account offering, including the ability to view and manage multiple account bank accounts from one interface and access to competitive savings rates.
For example, while Netflix's early algorithms were advanced, its infrastructure couldn’t handle large-scale processing, creating a poor recommendation experience. To address that, Netflix invested in more scalable cloud-based infrastructure to process large volumes of data and deliver accurate recommendations to millions of subscribers—significantly enhancing the user experience and helping maintain a high retention rate compared to competitors.
IPO 'not top of mind'
Zopa is one of many fintech companies that has been viewed as a potential IPO candidate. Around two years ago, the firm said that it was planning to go public, but later decided to put those plans on ice, as high interest rates battered technology stocks and the IPO market froze over in 2022.
Janardana said he doesn't envision a public listing as an immediate priority, but noted he sees signs pointing toward a more favorable U.S. IPO market next year.
Experimentation Platform
The AI factory’s final component is the experimentation platform, where your team can test, refine, and optimize AI models and predict outcomes based on different conditions.
“The experimentation platform is important because your algorithms are basically going to generate a range of hypotheses,” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business. “They're going to say, take action X to increase customer satisfaction, take action Y to potentially increase sales, take action Z to change the dynamics of who pays first.”
That should mean that Europe becomes more open to IPOs happening later in 2026, according to Janardana. He didn't disclose where Zopa would end up going public.
"To be honest, it's not the top of mind for me," Janardana told CNBC. "I think we continue to be lucky to have supportive and long-term shareholders who support future growth as well."
Last year, Zopa made two senior hires, appointing Peter Donlon, ex-chief technology officer at online card retailer Moonpig, as its own CTO. The firm also hired Kate Erb, a chartered accountant from KPMG, as its chief operating officer.
Will a new pricing algorithm increase sales?
Can a machine-learning model more accurately predict customer churn?
Will a new AI-based process improve operational efficiency?
By providing a space to innovate and test, your experimentation platform can enable you to explore AI’s possibilities, adjust to changes, and seize market opportunities.
“Your job with the experimentation platform is to take those predictions from your algorithmic development and test them to say that, ‘In fact, are these predictions doing what they are supposed to be doing?’” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business.
Become an AI-First Firm
Establishing and maintaining your organization’s AI factory is essential to fostering innovation and efficiency. By using AI to automate complex tasks and generate data-driven insights, you can improve decision-making processes and compete in a dynamic market.
To capitalize on AI’s opportunities, you need a solid understanding of the AI factory’s core principles and applications. AI Essentials for Business can equip you with practical skills and strategies for building a responsible AI-powered organization.
References
Henane, R., Buguet, A., Roussel, B. & Bittel, J. Variations in evaporation and body temperatures during sleep in man. J. Appl. Physiol. 42, 50–55 (1977).
Weiss, N., Attali, V., Bouzbib, C. & Thabut, D. Altered distal-proximal temperature gradient as a possible explanation for sleep-wake disturbances in cirrhotic patients. Liver Int. Off. J. Int. Assoc. Study Liver 37, 1776–1779 (2017).
Garrido, M. et al. Abnormalities in the 24-hour rhythm of skin temperature in cirrhosis: Sleep-wake and general clinical implications. Liver Int. Off. J. Int. Assoc. Study Liver 37, 1833–1842 (2017).
[Preprint] Smarr, B., Aschbacher, K., Fisher, S. M., Chowdhary, A., Dilchert, S., Puldon, K., … & Mason, A. E. (2020). Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices.
Maijala, A., Kinnunen, H., Koskimäki, H., Jämsä, T. & Kangas, M. Nocturnal finger skin temperature in menstrual cycle tracking: ambulatory pilot study using a wearable Oura Ring. BMC Womens Health 19, 150 (2019).
[Preprint] Grant, A. D., Newman, M. & Kriegsfeld, L. J. Ultradian Rhythms in Heart Rate Variability and Distal Body Temperature Anticipate the Luteinizing Hormone Surge Onset. bioRxiv 2020.07.15.205450 (2020) doi:10.1101/2020.07.15.205450.
[Preprint] Smarr, B., Aschbacher, K., Fisher, S. M., Chowdhary, A., Dilchert, S., Puldon, K., … & Mason, A. E. (2020). Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices.[Preprint] Grant, A. D., Newman, M. & Kriegsfeld, L. J. Ultradian Rhythms in Heart Rate Variability and Distal Body Temperature Anticipate the Luteinizing Hormone Surge Onset. bioRxiv 2020.07.15.205450 (2020) doi:10.1101/2020.07.15.205450.
Hasselberg MJ, McMahon J, Parker K. The validity, reliability, and utility of the iButton® for measurement of body temperature circadian rhythms in sleep/wake research. Sleep Med. 2013;14(1):5-11. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2010.12.011Used in 92+ Studies in Pubmed as of 9.17.20. (link)
Hale is keen to position Oura as a "health company and a science company from the get-go," with the aim of its product being "clinical grade." Oura is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its ring to be used for diagnostics, although Hale declined to provide too many further details.
He did say that Oura's focus on health and science is what sets it apart from competitors.
"If you're actually thinking [of] yourself as a healthcare company, it is very different in many ways and different postures you might take towards data privacy. ... So instead of being like a tech company where data is some sort of oil to be extracted and then used to create some kind of advantage of network effects, we're really a healthcare company where your data is sacrosanct," Hale said.
Mawari’s node-based system includes three types of licenses: Spatial Streamer nodes, which handle the computational heavy lifting. Guardian nodes, which ensure the integrity and accuracy of the data being processed, and Pulse nodes, which serve as netcheckers that help stress test the network, sample immersive content, and simulate the future tens and hundreds of millions of native spatial computing devices coming onto Mawari Network. These nodes work together to enable a decentralized network that is not only scalable but also more resilient than traditional centralized infrastructure. "It's a hybrid model," says Ramirez, "We’ll have data centers contributing significant power, but also smaller, consumer-level nodes offering a more distributed approach. This allows us to provide the resilient, high-quality, low-latency service that immersive experiences require." During the upcoming node sale, participants will be able to purchase licenses for the Guardian nodes.
In November of last year, facing the longest bout of unemployment she’d ever experienced, Paulina Williams was seriously considering what she would do if she had to leave the entertainment industry. The veteran reality television executive producer and showrunner with about 20 years of experience on projects like Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and Big Brother recalls her husband asking her at some point, “Why don’t you try to do something that you’ve always wanted to do and you never had a chance?”
Investors are excited about Mawari’s potential. Sean Carey, co-founder of Helium and partner at Borderless Capital, believes the company is uniquely positioned to tackle the scalability challenges of spatial computing. “Mawari has been quietly building for seven years, and their technology is at a tipping point. Decentralizing their network through node licenses is a game-changer that could unlock immersive experiences at a global scale,” Carey said.
She responded, “Honey, this is what I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve been working my dream job my entire career.”
Hollywood has long been full of upstart creatives who work side hustles — waiting tables, driving Ubers — to sustain themselves before they make a livable wage in the business. But now, amid a brutal and prolonged contraction in the entertainment business, a twist on that rite of passage is occurring: Workers who have already achieved success and expertise in the business have been looking for work on the outside as a stopgap, side hustle or a longer-term solution.
Mawari’s solution is built on two core components: the Spatial Streaming SDK and the Mawari Network. The SDK integrates seamlessly with popular development environments like Unity and Unreal Engine, allowing creators to focus on content without worrying about backend complexities. The Mawari Network, meanwhile, is a decentralized, GPU-powered content delivery system designed to handle the high-bandwidth, low-latency demands of spatial computing.
The data on how Hollywood has cut back in the past few years been stark. Between the first quarters of 2022 and 2024 — during which time the industry sustained two crippling strikes and the bursting of the streaming bubble — employment in California’s film, television and sound sector dropped nearly 30 percent, according to Otis College of Art and Design research. This year, production levels are still lagging behind their pre-strike highs: On-location filming in the L.A. area during the third quarter of 2024 dropped more than 36 percent compared to the five-year average of that same period, while a ProdPro report found that production volume across the U.S. dropped 35 percent in the third quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2022 (before the strikes).
Mawari’s innovative approach to decentralized infrastructure, coupled with its strategic partnerships and growing client base, positions it as a key enabler in the spatial computing industry. As Ramirez puts it, "Our vision has always been to bring immersive experiences to everyone. With the node license sale, we are one step closer to building the infrastructure at the necessary scale and making that vision a reality.”
Faced with these challenges, some in the business are retooling their résumés from a classic production format, which assumes the reader’s familiarity with the business and often entails long lists of credits, to a more corporate layout that briefly describes responsibilities and highlights certain skills developed. They’re translating what specific roles on set or in industry offices mean to employers who don’t speak entertainment. “When you say, ‘I work in development,’ they think you’re a fundraiser,” says former casting and development executive Lauren Kotlen, who has been working perma-freelance since November 2023 and is exploring content development and talent-relations opportunities in marketing, advertising and digital media companies.
Reasons Williams, “If I’m a showrunner, what does a showrunner do? Well, we’re project managers. Any producer is a project manager on some level.” (As a result, Williams has taken a Project Management Professional certification course during her job search.)
The road ahead for Mawari is ambitious. In Q4 2024, they plan to launch their mainnet in three geographic regions, each focused on different use cases, such as engineering education and sports entertainment. With the new funding and the impending node sale, Mawari’s decentralized infrastructure for immersive content has the potential to transform how 3D experiences are delivered at scale.
nitially we will focus on generating 3D worlds without limits - creating and editing virtual spaces complete with physics, semantics, and control. We hope this will unlock new capabilities for creative users and professionals such as artists, designers, developers, and engineers. It will also allow anyone to imagine and create their own worlds, expanding the potential of generative AI from 2D images and videos to 3D worlds.
Other job seekers are wondering whether having entertainment credits on their résumés helps or hurts their chances of finding other work. Some have noticed hesitation on the part of select employers due to their showbiz backgrounds, which they attribute to a perception that they are just looking for temporary jobs during the contraction. At an interview for a Whole Foods overnight restocking position, production manager of 24 years Sidnee Lewis-Avila (The Hills: New Beginnings) says she was asked, “What happens if you get a call for a show or the industry bounces back?”
She says, “They fear that I’m going to put in my notice and bounce.” (Lewis-Avila recently worked in concessions at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights with the goal of making it through a probationary period, after which she can apply for backlot jobs at the studio.) Beth Kushnick, a renowned set decorator with credits on The Good Wife and Fringe, has long worked part-time gigs in addition to her production work; she’s currently doing interior design for private clients, staging apartments and working on an upcoming event for a commercial business in the absence of industry jobs. But at one point recently, she says, “I was up for a very big job out east, and they were afraid that I was going to get a movie.”
These are ambitious goals, so we are building an ambitious company to tackle them. Our team has a strong research background, but we are not motivated by exploration for its own sake. Instead, we believe that now is a unique moment where rapid scientific progress has thinned the barrier between research and applications. We aim to seize this opportunity, focusing on the entire throughline from research to engineering to product to people.
We've already made promising strides, but we have a long way to go. We thank our investors for their early support on our journey. To date we have raised more than $230M in total funding led by Martin Casado and Sarah Wang of Andreessen Horowitz, Scott Sandell of NEA, and Jordan Jacobs of Radical Ventures. Other investors include individuals Marc Benioff, Jim Breyer, Ron Conway, Jeff Dean, Geoffrey Hinton, Reid Hoffman, Andrej Karpathy, Sound Ventures co-founder Ashton Kutcher, Eric Schmidt, Ram Shriram, Anne Wojcicki, and the late Susan Wojcicki; as well as Adobe Ventures, AMD Ventures, Databricks Ventures, NVentures, the venture capital arm of NVIDIA, Salesforce Ventures, and Shinrai Investments LLC. We are grateful for their partnership.
The Entertainment Community Fund Career Center’s managing director Elena Muslar has seen entertainment workers sometimes react to difficulties like these simply by omitting their experience in the business, creating gaps in their résumé. Muslar recommends instead that the ECF Career Center’s participants tailor their descriptions of past experiences to whatever field they’re looking to enter in their résumés. Rather than leading with, “I’m an actor” who will need time off, for instance, she suggests a performer could describe themselves as a kind of entrepreneur.
Richard “Rick” Spence is a full professor of History. He specializes in Russian intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.
Richard Spence education
Ph.D., History, 1981, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, Modern Europe, Middle East
M.A., History, 1976, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
B.A., History, 1973, California State University, Bakersfield, CA
There can be emotional hurdles for workers who decide to step a foot outside the business, even if they’re not leaving entirely or forever. “I think the biggest challenge is more about people’s mindset,” says Christina Blumer, the executive director of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, which offers grants for career counseling or retraining to professionals in the theatrical exhibition, distribution and vendor spaces. “People have this idea that ‘I work in the movie industry and this is what I do.’ And what’s really challenging for folks is that emotional attachment … to try and shift that or say, ‘Circumstances have changed.’”
Richard “Rick” Spence received his doctorate in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1981. He has taught at University of Idaho since 1986, and he is a tenured full professor of history. He specializes in Russian intelligence and military history, and his course offerings include Modern Espionage, Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, History of Secret Societies and the Occult in History.
Spence’s published works include “Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left” (East European Monographs/Columbia Univ. Press, 1991), “Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly” (Feral House, 2002) and “Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult” (Feral House, 2008). He is also the author of numerous articles in Revolutionary Russia, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, The Historian, New Dawn and other publications. He has served as a commentator/consultant for the History Channel and the International Spy Museum and was a key consultant-interviewee for the Russian Cultural Foundation’s 2007 documentary film, “Leon Trotsky: The Secret of World Revolution,” and its subsequent “Trap for the Tsar.”
But entertainment workers bring particular strengths, too, to their job search. Workers who come from Hollywood can already be focused on tapping personal networks: “They always say, ‘It’s who you know in Hollywood.’ It’s who you know anywhere,” says Kotlen. They bring a “creative skill set,” notes ECF’s Muslar. Fields that are particularly in demand right now are project management, digital marketing, creative direction, teaching artistry, arts administration and other types of content creation, Muslar adds — all of which can transfer skills people have developed in entertainment.
Richard Spence publications
Selected Publications
American Spies in Revolutionary Russia (in progress)
Wall Street and the Russian Revolution, 1905-1925 (Trine Day, 2017)
With Walter Bosley, The Empire of the Wheel: Espionage, the Occult and Murder in Southern California (Corvos Books, 2011)
Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult ( Feral House, 2008)
Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House, 2002)
Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1991)
Articles
“The Voyage of the Shilka: The Bolshevik Revolution Comes to Seattle, 1917,” American Communist History, Vol. 16, #1-2 (2017), pp. 88-101.
“Lights in the Sky: A True Tale of Mystery Airships, Spies and Secret Cults in WWI Utah,” Paranoia (May 2018), http://www.paranoiamagazine.com/2018/05/lights-in-the- sky-a-true-tale-of-mystery-airships-spies-and-secret-cults-in-wwi-utah/
“Who Created Hitler?,” New Dawn, Special Issue, Vol. 11, #1(2017), pp 23-31.
“Death in the Adirondacks: Amtorg, Intrigue and the Dubious Demise of Isaiah Khurgin and Efraim Sklyansky,” America Communist History, Vol. 14, #2, (2015), pp. 135-158
“John Reed, American Spy?: Reed, American Intelligence and Weston Estes’ 1920 Mission to Russia,” American Communist History, Vol. 13, #1 (2014), pp. 39-64.
“The Tsar’s Other Lieutenant: The Anti-Semitic Activities of Boris L’vovich Brasol, 1910-1960, Pt. II, White Russians, Nazis and the Blue Lamoo,” Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism, (Dec. 2012).
“The Tsar’s Other Lieutenant: The Anti-Semitic Activities of Boris L’vovich Brasol, 1910-1960, Pt. I, Beilis, the Protocols and Henry Ford,” Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism, (June 2012).
For about a year, Kaitlin Saltzman, the head of scripted at Wilmer Valderrama’s production company WV Entertainment, has worked a side hustle that complements her day job. During the double strikes in 2023, as she saw friends being laid off and had a lot more time on her hands, the executive decided to develop both a hobby and an additional professional skill set. She ended up taking up an activity she hadn’t pursued since high school: photography. Now, Saltzman shoots clients on the weekends and edits her photos after her kids go to bed. She says of her photography and executive work, “They’re both visual storytelling. I really try to capture personalities that come through in the photos and I very much think that my career in television has a big part to do in why I’m able to do that.”
A key component of the AI factory is the data pipeline, a semi-automated, systematic process for gathering, cleaning, integrating, and securing company data to ensure it’s sustainable and scalable for AI technologies.
The process, known as datafication, transforms raw data into a usable format for AI models. High-quality data is crucial because AI models’ accuracy and reliability heavily depend on their inputs’ quality.
In the past few years, veteran makeup artist Alexis Walker (Just Go With It, Knocked Up) has developed a business as a professional coach with a special focus on Hollywood workers looking to pivot. In this work, she found two main themes: clients looking for ways to apply their skills in a new field and to strike a “balancing act of straddling two worlds” — still doing some Hollywood work while developing an outside business. She’s also the creator of The Hollywood Second Act Club Podcast, which showcases interviews with industry professionals who have pursued endeavors outside of traditional movie and television work.
“As the saying goes: ‘Garbage in, garbage out,’” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business. “If your data isn't set up in a way that enables you to learn from across your enterprise or your customers, you're going to have garbage coming out of your AI factory.”
For example, Amazon uses a sophisticated data pipeline to manage and analyze vast amounts of customer data, including browsing histories and purchase behaviors. Through cleaning and organizing that data, its AI models can accurately predict customer preferences and personalize recommendations.
In her view, the initial reaction to this slowdown was “sitting-duck stunned for a long time and blindsided and paralyzed, understandably.” But now, she says, “I think you’re going to start seeing a lot more inspired action as people come awake to the moment and what that means for them.”
Establishing a strong data pipeline requires setting up systems and processes. Without a foundation of clean, well-organized data, the AI factory can’t effectively support decision-making and innovation.
Beyond a strong pipeline, you need algorithms to transform data into actionable insights that allow you to anticipate trends and make data-driven decisions.
“Data by itself doesn't do anything,” Iansiti says in AI Essentials for Business. “You actually need to figure out which algorithm you're going to choose. You're going to figure out what type of algorithm you need. You need to figure out what to do with it.”
Not every algorithm is created equal. With a range of data types, you must select one that aligns with your business goals and objectives. That involves considering your data’s characteristics and the predictions or outcomes you want to achieve.
The market is "still tight," he noted, adding that fintech offerings such as Zopa's — which typically provide higher savings rates than high-street banks — become "more important" during such times.
"The proposition has become more relevant, and while it's tight for customers, we have had to be much more constrained in terms of who we can lend to," he said, adding that Zopa has still been able to grow despite that.
In the automotive industry, for example, Tesla's goal of creating safe, efficient autonomous vehicles drives its algorithm choices. It uses advanced machine-learning algorithms to analyze camera, sensor, and radar data to generate real-time predictions that guide steering, braking, and acceleration decisions.
By choosing algorithms designed to handle complex data inputs and make accurate predictions, Tesla continually refines its technology to enhance safety and the driving experience.
Your AI factory’s effectiveness similarly depends not just on your data’s quality but your algorithm’s sophistication and suitability.
A big priority for the business going forward is product, Janardana said. The firm is developing a current account product which would allow users to spend and manage their money more easily, in a similar fashion to mainstream banking providers like HSBC and Barclays, as well as fintech upstarts such as Monzo.
Software infrastructure provides the foundational architecture that supports your AI factory’s data pipeline and algorithm.
“Infrastructure is actually a really important point,” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business. “You can have the fanciest data pipelines, the fanciest algorithms—but if your infrastructure can't make this work, can't do this at scale, then you run into problems.”
Infrastructure is the AI factory’s backbone, connecting internal teams and external users to streamline operations. It includes the hardware, software, and networks that manage data storage, processing, and movement.
"We believe that there is more that the consumer can have in the current account space," Janardana said. "We expect that we will launch our current account with the general public sometime next year."
Janardana said consumers can expect a "slick" experience from Zopa's current account offering, including the ability to view and manage multiple account bank accounts from one interface and access to competitive savings rates.
For example, while Netflix's early algorithms were advanced, its infrastructure couldn’t handle large-scale processing, creating a poor recommendation experience. To address that, Netflix invested in more scalable cloud-based infrastructure to process large volumes of data and deliver accurate recommendations to millions of subscribers—significantly enhancing the user experience and helping maintain a high retention rate compared to competitors.
IPO 'not top of mind'
Zopa is one of many fintech companies that has been viewed as a potential IPO candidate. Around two years ago, the firm said that it was planning to go public, but later decided to put those plans on ice, as high interest rates battered technology stocks and the IPO market froze over in 2022.
Janardana said he doesn't envision a public listing as an immediate priority, but noted he sees signs pointing toward a more favorable U.S. IPO market next year.
The AI factory’s final component is the experimentation platform, where your team can test, refine, and optimize AI models and predict outcomes based on different conditions.
“The experimentation platform is important because your algorithms are basically going to generate a range of hypotheses,” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business. “They're going to say, take action X to increase customer satisfaction, take action Y to potentially increase sales, take action Z to change the dynamics of who pays first.”
That should mean that Europe becomes more open to IPOs happening later in 2026, according to Janardana. He didn't disclose where Zopa would end up going public.
"To be honest, it's not the top of mind for me," Janardana told CNBC. "I think we continue to be lucky to have supportive and long-term shareholders who support future growth as well."
Last year, Zopa made two senior hires, appointing Peter Donlon, ex-chief technology officer at online card retailer Moonpig, as its own CTO. The firm also hired Kate Erb, a chartered accountant from KPMG, as its chief operating officer.
Your hypotheses can include questions like:
Will a new pricing algorithm increase sales?
Can a machine-learning model more accurately predict customer churn?
Will a new AI-based process improve operational efficiency?
By providing a space to innovate and test, your experimentation platform can enable you to explore AI’s possibilities, adjust to changes, and seize market opportunities.
The company raised $300 million in a funding round led by Japanese tech investor SoftBank in 2021 and was last valued by investors at $1 billion.
“Your job with the experimentation platform is to take those predictions from your algorithmic development and test them to say that, ‘In fact, are these predictions doing what they are supposed to be doing?’” Lakhani says in AI Essentials for Business.
Become an AI-First Firm
Establishing and maintaining your organization’s AI factory is essential to fostering innovation and efficiency. By using AI to automate complex tasks and generate data-driven insights, you can improve decision-making processes and compete in a dynamic market.
To capitalize on AI’s opportunities, you need a solid understanding of the AI factory’s core principles and applications. AI Essentials for Business can equip you with practical skills and strategies for building a responsible AI-powered organization.
References
Henane, R., Buguet, A., Roussel, B. & Bittel, J. Variations in evaporation and body temperatures during sleep in man. J. Appl. Physiol. 42, 50–55 (1977).
Weiss, N., Attali, V., Bouzbib, C. & Thabut, D. Altered distal-proximal temperature gradient as a possible explanation for sleep-wake disturbances in cirrhotic patients. Liver Int. Off. J. Int. Assoc. Study Liver 37, 1776–1779 (2017).
Garrido, M. et al. Abnormalities in the 24-hour rhythm of skin temperature in cirrhosis: Sleep-wake and general clinical implications. Liver Int. Off. J. Int. Assoc. Study Liver 37, 1833–1842 (2017).
[Preprint] Smarr, B., Aschbacher, K., Fisher, S. M., Chowdhary, A., Dilchert, S., Puldon, K., … & Mason, A. E. (2020). Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices.
Maijala, A., Kinnunen, H., Koskimäki, H., Jämsä, T. & Kangas, M. Nocturnal finger skin temperature in menstrual cycle tracking: ambulatory pilot study using a wearable Oura Ring. BMC Womens Health 19, 150 (2019).
[Preprint] Grant, A. D., Newman, M. & Kriegsfeld, L. J. Ultradian Rhythms in Heart Rate Variability and Distal Body Temperature Anticipate the Luteinizing Hormone Surge Onset. bioRxiv 2020.07.15.205450 (2020) doi:10.1101/2020.07.15.205450.
[Preprint] Smarr, B., Aschbacher, K., Fisher, S. M., Chowdhary, A., Dilchert, S., Puldon, K., … & Mason, A. E. (2020). Feasibility of continuous fever monitoring using wearable devices.[Preprint] Grant, A. D., Newman, M. & Kriegsfeld, L. J. Ultradian Rhythms in Heart Rate Variability and Distal Body Temperature Anticipate the Luteinizing Hormone Surge Onset. bioRxiv 2020.07.15.205450 (2020) doi:10.1101/2020.07.15.205450.
Hasselberg MJ, McMahon J, Parker K. The validity, reliability, and utility of the iButton® for measurement of body temperature circadian rhythms in sleep/wake research. Sleep Med. 2013;14(1):5-11. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2010.12.011Used in 92+ Studies in Pubmed as of 9.17.20. (link)
Hale is keen to position Oura as a "health company and a science company from the get-go," with the aim of its product being "clinical grade." Oura is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its ring to be used for diagnostics, although Hale declined to provide too many further details.
He did say that Oura's focus on health and science is what sets it apart from competitors.
"If you're actually thinking [of] yourself as a healthcare company, it is very different in many ways and different postures you might take towards data privacy. ... So instead of being like a tech company where data is some sort of oil to be extracted and then used to create some kind of advantage of network effects, we're really a healthcare company where your data is sacrosanct," Hale said.