Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2: A lot of companies I think have a major appeal
Speaker 2: to say, hey, we want to just take the latest
Speaker 2: and great technology. But what they must do first is
Speaker 2: identify what is the necessity, what is the need of
Speaker 2: their audience, their consumer being met. So when thinking about
Speaker 2: something like artificial intelligence, that's the first guardrail, right is
Speaker 2: what is your use case?
Speaker 1: What is that doing for someone?
Speaker 3: Well? I'm Buzzsnight, the host of the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 3: We talk with musicians, we talk with insiders, we talk
Speaker 3: with experts in their field. We love talking about the
Speaker 3: intersection of music, media, technology and Welcome to the Special
Speaker 3: CEES twenty.
Speaker 4: Twenty five Special Tech tick on a Walk. I like
Speaker 4: the way that sounds tech ticke out a Walk episode
Speaker 4: as we celebrate this week. I'm joined by the Senior
Speaker 4: director of Innovation for.
Speaker 3: The Consumer Technology Association, Brian Kamiski.
Speaker 1: Hello, Brian, hy buzz, How you doing great? Welcome to
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
Speaker 3: I wish we were taking a walk in person for it,
Speaker 3: but since your schedule this week of CEES is bonkers,
Speaker 3: we're in two different places. But we'll intersect on the
Speaker 3: floor at some point. Okay, I'm sure we will.
Speaker 2: I think we're going to get that amongst our what
Speaker 2: like the twenty thousand steps a day one gets at CS.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, I love it, looking forward to it all.
Speaker 3: So what are the key themes for media companies to
Speaker 3: observe this year at the CEES twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, Well, I think it's it's about kind
Speaker 2: of reflecting with the overall show theme, which is going
Speaker 2: all in right, which is how do you lean into
Speaker 2: different technologies to either access a new audience, to improve
Speaker 2: your own product, or to honestly improve your operations.
Speaker 1: So I think there's really three key.
Speaker 2: Paths that really emerge my mind. One is how are
Speaker 2: companies grappling when you know it's going to take about
Speaker 2: two minutes this podcast for me to say the word
Speaker 2: our official intelligence. But how do companies interact with the
Speaker 2: rising and shifting nature of ourtificial intelligence? How do they
Speaker 2: really leverage what is the especially on the audio side,
Speaker 2: what's the oldest form of content or spoken entertainment in
Speaker 2: the world into other forms of intellectual property and what
Speaker 2: that means in maybe gaming and video. And lastly, how
Speaker 2: do you use it to really start to improve the
Speaker 2: audio or the video the actual outputs that you're doing right,
Speaker 2: how do you get that high fidelity visual or audio quality?
Speaker 1: Those are the three that really come to mind right away.
Speaker 1: So when you think.
Speaker 3: Of artificial intelligence, what guard rails do you think media
Speaker 3: companies should be thinking about?
Speaker 2: Of course, well, I think with any sort of innovation,
Speaker 2: it's all about a balance. I think when we think
Speaker 2: about innovation and growth all that we think there's a
Speaker 2: few pairs of forces that operate.
Speaker 1: One is you have growth versus value.
Speaker 2: Right, Companies want to grow their product, consumers want the
Speaker 2: best value their supply and demand. These ones make sense,
Speaker 2: But there's another one, which is innovation versus necessity.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: A lot of companies I think have a.
Speaker 2: Major appeal to say, hey, we want to just take
Speaker 2: the latest and greatest technology. But what they must do
Speaker 2: first is identify what is the necessity, What is the
Speaker 2: need of their audience, their consumer being met. So when
Speaker 2: thinking about something like artificial intelligence, that's the first guardrail, right, is.
Speaker 1: What is your use case? What is that doing for someone?
Speaker 2: And I think a really good example of this is
Speaker 2: it goes back to someone that Caines actually said like
Speaker 2: one hundred years ago, which is the idea of technology
Speaker 2: is supposed to be used to eliminate drudgery so that
Speaker 2: we can do what humans do best, which is be creative.
Speaker 2: And what better medium then music and media in general, right,
Speaker 2: which is how do you use AI and building a
Speaker 2: place that is helping build efficiencies, but keeping those guardrails
Speaker 2: to protect the talent to really leverage into what is
Speaker 2: the stronger.
Speaker 1: Components of the industry, which is its people. At the
Speaker 1: end of the day.
Speaker 3: I'm so glad you said that, because I think the
Speaker 3: human touch is so critical here and sometimes I think
Speaker 3: that gets forgotten when companies are really looking at these
Speaker 3: balance sheets trying to get them together, and they forget
Speaker 3: about the importance of people. But speaking of people and
Speaker 3: speaking of radio organizations, how do radio companies build the
Speaker 3: spirit of innovation inside their walls in the years ahead?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Well, I think there's a few paths to that. One
Speaker 2: is actually sometimes taking a look inward at your own employees.
Speaker 2: You know, I've talked with some other folks in the
Speaker 2: media exec space in the past, and they've talked about
Speaker 2: competitions for innovation. How do you get your employees even
Speaker 2: in terms of thinking about, well, what sort of technology
Speaker 2: or what sort of approach can we use to really
Speaker 2: improve our operations and looking and leaning into the people
Speaker 2: that they already have, and you can create it in
Speaker 2: a friendly competitive set where it's all right, we're going
Speaker 2: to adopt one of these solutions. Maybe that's you know,
Speaker 2: incentivized financially by the way, that's a morale boost inside.
Speaker 2: Some of it is also not being afraid of bringing
Speaker 2: in that outside expertise on technology and how do you
Speaker 2: adopt it. And this is a balancing at that not
Speaker 2: just media companies but companies in general are starting to
Speaker 2: consider right is as AI, but also all these other
Speaker 2: technologies get a little bit more complex, get a little
Speaker 2: bit more detailed. There's a lot of data going around,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of privacy going concerns to think about
Speaker 2: how do you make sure that you have that expertise.
Speaker 2: And sometimes you have that internally, sometimes you have that externally.
Speaker 2: But when I look at something like radio in particular,
Speaker 2: I think that there's a tendency in the industry. And
Speaker 2: I'm a long radio fan. I think we've both known this.
Speaker 2: I'm from the New England area. Originally I grew up
Speaker 2: listening to a lot of independent radio, like ninety two
Speaker 2: to one or one seven FNX, which no longer exists.
Speaker 1: Rest in peace.
Speaker 2: But I grew up listening to that, and I think
Speaker 2: what made that very clear was what made it great
Speaker 2: well its radio personalities. They did start to pivot to
Speaker 2: use some technologies quite well, I thought, which is when
Speaker 2: they went to digital, they went into an online presence,
Speaker 2: especially after the loss of the radio station itself. But
Speaker 2: this is one of those things where they started trying
Speaker 2: to lean in and maybe it was a little too
Speaker 2: late in this example, but lean into how do we
Speaker 2: use other technologies in general to keep.
Speaker 1: Our product alive?
Speaker 2: Or let's go with one that still exists today, which
Speaker 2: is metal Arc Media. That is Dan Lebtard who had
Speaker 2: his radio station on ESPN for years talking about sports
Speaker 2: metal Arc.
Speaker 1: After the separation of ESPN, they are no longer on radio.
Speaker 2: Because they successfully pivoted to video using draft kings of
Speaker 2: all people to fund their sponsor. We're talking about a
Speaker 2: betting company coming in and saying, hey, media matters. And
Speaker 2: they built a podcast in digital empire as well as
Speaker 2: a video stream empire on Twitch, which is leaning into
Speaker 2: a new generational demographic.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So at their peak of ESPN, they were on Twitch, Radio,
Speaker 2: TV and to a podcasts. They were using an Omnich
Speaker 2: channel approach, which really starts to attract those younger generations.
Speaker 3: So every year at CEES you are able to find
Speaker 3: these companies that, you know, maybe surprise people in terms
Speaker 3: of the amazing work they're doing or they're preparing to
Speaker 3: roll out. Are there a couple of examples this year
Speaker 3: that will be surprising to folks in terms of what
Speaker 3: companies are showcasing at CEES twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, I think about especially let's let's say with music,
Speaker 2: and you think about all the different ways that audio
Speaker 2: goes right, Like you have Victrola be back, you know,
Speaker 2: a company from nineteen oh six, how are they developing
Speaker 2: their latest turntables which have started to get a little
Speaker 2: bit of a comeback in terms of some of the
Speaker 2: not just the high fidelity audio, but there is a
Speaker 2: for gen Z they are surprisingly like they like to
Speaker 2: go to sometimes that tech that maybe is a little
Speaker 2: bit older, not just for the novelty, but because it
Speaker 2: still has that high power immersive performance. When we think
Speaker 2: about audios shift in general, people are looking for immersive experiences.
Speaker 2: So a company like Patrola is innovating in that place.
Speaker 2: On the turntable side. Another path that I find interesting
Speaker 2: is well, what is music used for?
Speaker 1: In general?
Speaker 2: We tend to lean right to entertainment, but right before
Speaker 2: you know, I go on stage or I talk to anyone,
Speaker 2: I actually usually listen to music as a way to
Speaker 2: sort of calm myself down, to train myself. I usually
Speaker 2: have like a go to playlist of different things. And
Speaker 2: when I tell you the genre is quite ranging, it
Speaker 2: is all over the place.
Speaker 1: But there's a company.
Speaker 2: That's going to be that's at SESS called Alphabets, which
Speaker 2: I really like. It's a patented solution. It wins one
Speaker 2: at CS Innovation Award. It's actually used for athletic performers.
Speaker 2: And what it does is it bases on neurofeedback and
Speaker 2: individualized music to help recovery and relaxation and focus and flow.
Speaker 2: So how are you using music to actually help athletes
Speaker 2: in this case perform their very best. So I think
Speaker 2: that's the other thing is when we think about music,
Speaker 2: when we think about media, we tend to go down.
Speaker 1: This route of content and entertainment.
Speaker 2: And that's a massive, massive market. But I think at
Speaker 2: its core, what is the staying power of music really is?
Speaker 2: It's not just it taps into a culture, It clearly
Speaker 2: taps into something quite primal and instinctual. And so seeing
Speaker 2: a company like Alphabets really lean into that, I think
Speaker 2: is incredible. And then lastly, I just will say, really quick,
Speaker 2: you're going to see companies like iHeartMedia and Serious XM
Speaker 2: talk about what their overall strategies look like, whether that's
Speaker 2: from a content perspective or they're leaning into talking about well,
Speaker 2: what's our new offerings in our strategy and how do
Speaker 2: we use technology to enhance that.
Speaker 3: So I produced this other podcast which is called Music
Speaker 3: Save Me. It's about the sort of healing power of music.
Speaker 3: Linn Hoffman as the host of that podcast. It's sort
Speaker 3: of was born out of taking a walk. So can
Speaker 3: you speak even in a little bit more detail towards,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe the therapeutic aspects of maybe products. You
Speaker 3: just alluded to it to a degree with the prep
Speaker 3: before going on stage, But are there any offerings that
Speaker 3: sort of match what Music Saved Me is about, which
Speaker 3: is this you know, real incredible force that music has
Speaker 3: to do good and help people.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, as I said, I think that first example really
Speaker 2: speaks to this company called alphabet is where they're really
Speaker 2: leaning into this idea of well, how do we use
Speaker 2: just basically it's focusing and calibrating it to neurofeedback, which
Speaker 2: that gets into there's a whole psychology I feel called psychoacoustics,
Speaker 2: which is how are you using sound to trigger a
Speaker 2: particular emotional response, a typical, a certain physiological response.
Speaker 1: They're working on that, SiriusXM. We'll be talking about that
Speaker 1: a lot.
Speaker 2: They have a team called Studio reson I actually serious
Speaker 2: ExM will. It has a keynote at CES they're going
Speaker 2: to be talking to the host of Crime Junkie, a
Speaker 2: true crime podcast. But in addition to that, the Studio
Speaker 2: Resonate team will be there and their whole focus is
Speaker 2: on this idea of psychoacoustics. How do you get that
Speaker 2: sort of space to really use sound and audio cues to.
Speaker 1: Evoke a certain type of reaction.
Speaker 2: Now there is a focus that they use it for
Speaker 2: for advertising and marketing. Certainly, right when we hear the
Speaker 2: sound of Netflix go off, right, even just the quick
Speaker 2: whole theme music, you don't even need to see the
Speaker 2: Netflix logo to know what happens, right, or the taco
Speaker 2: bell chime that's the sort of psychology that they're going with.
Speaker 2: And then there's a musical component to it as well,
Speaker 2: which is all right, it's not just the sound effect book,
Speaker 2: what's the musical side of it.
Speaker 1: The other one too, is there.
Speaker 2: Will be companies that we talked about the therapeutic side, but
Speaker 2: music also is a really tremendous educational tool.
Speaker 1: I know, you know growing up.
Speaker 2: So both my sisters are teachers, and one is a
Speaker 2: Spanish language teacher, and and she follows a tried and
Speaker 2: true form which is teaching Spanish language songs because if
Speaker 2: you learn a tuned to certain words and not I
Speaker 2: was talking about all the fun alphabet song, but if
Speaker 2: you learn actual music from the countries, you can actually
Speaker 2: learn slang in a context that really helps you into
Speaker 2: the future.
Speaker 1: So music has a.
Speaker 2: Therapeutic and educational role. It's really it's what are you
Speaker 2: tapping into at the end of the day. And I
Speaker 2: think all of us at the end of the day
Speaker 2: can think about certain tracks that bring us to the
Speaker 2: right emotional state time. And so these companies I've listed, Alphabets,
Speaker 2: Miko's this company that's worked on educational side, and even
Speaker 2: stereos xm are all finding how do we get that
Speaker 2: there from different paths, whether that's a learning robot, a
Speaker 2: therapeutic app, or just our content platform as a whole.
Speaker 3: So, your boss, Gary Shapiro, the president of the Consumer
Speaker 3: Technology Association, has a new book out, Pivot or Die,
Speaker 3: great title. You wrote a chapter in there for the book, Loo,
Speaker 3: how do companies sort of jump off the curb and
Speaker 3: do what's necessary, get their fears out of the way,
Speaker 3: and make the necessary pivot to thrive in today's world?
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, Well, I think the lot of that
Speaker 2: is what I think the first step is when you
Speaker 2: think about how to thrive, I think technology is the
Speaker 2: pathway to do so, and I think you have to
Speaker 2: first examine, well, what is your relationship with technology? And
Speaker 2: I think there's really kind of four types of relationships
Speaker 2: and technology. I think that there's companies that are enablers,
Speaker 2: and these are companies that they are making the building
Speaker 2: blocks of a particular technology. They are the ones who
Speaker 2: are there making either the hardware or the software platform
Speaker 2: that allows it to happen. This is why, for example,
Speaker 2: Nvidia is doing so well in our official intelligence. They
Speaker 2: make the chips the literal hardware foundation for AI, but
Speaker 2: they also make the software.
Speaker 1: That's one relationship. One is called.
Speaker 2: Engagers, and these are companies they lean fully in to
Speaker 2: technology as their main products, so they oftentimes offer a
Speaker 2: software a service.
Speaker 1: The last two might sound close.
Speaker 2: To one another, but I think a lot of companies
Speaker 2: will fall into the fourth category could be the third easy.
Speaker 2: So the third categories enhancer. So after you go for
Speaker 2: enabler or to engage, go to enhancer. These are companies
Speaker 2: that use technology. It's not their core product, but they
Speaker 2: find a way to leverage their technology that can influence
Speaker 2: the whole space itself. And lastly that you have companies
Speaker 2: that are what you would call a user, which is
Speaker 2: they might use technology, but it's not really their flesh
Speaker 2: and blood or to their core, to their identity as
Speaker 2: a product. Enhancers are really fascinating to me because these
Speaker 2: are companies where they might do one thing, but it
Speaker 2: turns out that they have an incredibly good product somewhere else.
Speaker 2: So when I think about someone like Chick fil A,
Speaker 2: for example, is a really good example of this. They're
Speaker 2: very good at chicken sandwiches and in meals, but what
Speaker 2: they're also really good about doing is bridging community through
Speaker 2: their media platforms. So they're actually launching an app to
Speaker 2: bring families get It's not food ordering app, but it's
Speaker 2: simply a way to bridge their communities together.
Speaker 1: And that just launched in the last week.
Speaker 2: This is really kind of this example of they went
Speaker 2: from being kind of a user where we have really
Speaker 2: good technology for making our meals, but then they realize, oh,
Speaker 2: we have really good logistics technology because have you ever
Speaker 2: really waited in a long line at Pick fil a?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: And then we have really good ability connect with people.
Speaker 2: So they actually now sell a lot of their logistics
Speaker 2: technologies and advise companies on how to improve their retail
Speaker 2: footprint or they're telling people how to make apps, and
Speaker 2: this is something I think is really important. They've gone
Speaker 2: from what you call a user at the end of
Speaker 2: the spectrum of people just use technology to enhancing leaning
Speaker 2: into this technology idea and raising it.
Speaker 1: Chick fil A is a good example of this.
Speaker 2: Delta who is keynoting at CS is another great example
Speaker 2: of this.
Speaker 1: We think of that as an airline, but really at the.
Speaker 2: End of the day, they've pioneered a lot of the
Speaker 2: artificial intelligence that's used to track flight algorithms, assess weather
Speaker 2: patterns to avoid delays, as well as creating technology that
Speaker 2: that leverages sort of multi virtual reality or something called
Speaker 2: parallel reality to allow different customers and passengers to have
Speaker 2: a seamless flight experience that's very individualized. That's the type
Speaker 2: of technology that they're leaning into adopting, and then can
Speaker 2: easily export to others in the field should they want to.
Speaker 2: And I think at the end of the day, it's
Speaker 2: assess your relationship. Am I just using technology? Or can
Speaker 2: I enhance this technology industry by really leaning into what
Speaker 2: works for me?
Speaker 1: And I think radio is a good example of this.
Speaker 2: No one has better localized data I think in the
Speaker 2: world about customers in general, in terms of they have
Speaker 2: these local markets, they know what their users want, their
Speaker 2: consumers want in this area that tourra data is invaluable
Speaker 2: to things like an AI program. And you can look
Speaker 2: to Reddit, who monetize and leverage their AI content quite successfully.
Speaker 2: They're at ces and they've gone revenue growth. I would
Speaker 2: look at someone where it's radio saying well, what can
Speaker 2: we do with our data to maybe actually lean forward
Speaker 2: and be engaging with technology rather than AI coming at.
Speaker 1: Us and feeling like we're reacting all the time.
Speaker 3: So over the years, the show is really deeply immersed
Speaker 3: in the automotive business and specifically even the connected car
Speaker 3: when we talk about radio or entertainment, and now, of
Speaker 3: course with EV being an important development over the years,
Speaker 3: you add that in what can we expect at this
Speaker 3: show to see in terms of automotive innovation?
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course, Well, I think you're correct. We lean
Speaker 1: into it.
Speaker 2: Arguably, we're the largest mobility show, and I use mobility
Speaker 2: very intentionally because it's all it's more than just the auto,
Speaker 2: and I think that there's four pathways where you'll see
Speaker 2: mobility change. The electric story is still massive, and we'll
Speaker 2: see EV makers from across the world, not just the US,
Speaker 2: but from Korea, from China, even showcasing where electric cars
Speaker 2: are going. But I say electrification very intentionally because we'll
Speaker 2: have companies like Brunswick they're showcasing electric boating technology. And
Speaker 2: then there's a whole infrastructure component to it that's vitally
Speaker 2: important because it's not just about how can we empower
Speaker 2: our cars more efficiently, But when you start introducing new
Speaker 2: charging technology from exhibitors at the show, like link charging
Speaker 2: in LG, you're starting to really think how the.
Speaker 1: Grid is more sustainable.
Speaker 2: There's a sustainability story that's equally important that's occurring under here.
Speaker 2: That's one path. The other two are very linked. This
Speaker 2: is sensors and self driving. Essentially, how do you are
Speaker 2: autonomous vehicles be more correct, actually you would want to
Speaker 2: say autonous vehicles because sometimes boating technology, you're boating, you're
Speaker 2: not driving or flying in some cases, because there will
Speaker 2: be exhibits showcasing autonomous flying vehicles like Invo station. But
Speaker 2: you think about it on autonomus vehicles and you think
Speaker 2: about sensors, which is how do you get more information
Speaker 2: onto your car itself? How does it become essentially a
Speaker 2: software divide vehicle or a smart smart device on wheels,
Speaker 2: And a lot of that is advanced safety data, more
Speaker 2: data referring to just the health of the car in
Speaker 2: general in terms of power output. But then there's also
Speaker 2: an infotainment story, which is a lot more personalized audio,
Speaker 2: a lot more personalized heads up displays, and immersive experiences
Speaker 2: in there. That's the second and third pathways combined. The
Speaker 2: last one is industrials, and I think that's something that
Speaker 2: has really grown in our show over the years, which
Speaker 2: is how do you take wattrification, autonomous capabilities, and others
Speaker 2: and apply it outside the passenger themselves.
Speaker 1: And now our show, you'll see the show.
Speaker 2: You're seeing companies like Caboda, Oshkosh, Deer, Caterpillar, all these
Speaker 2: what I call the big truck companies. The little kidd
Speaker 2: of me is so excited walking across the floor. But
Speaker 2: how are they making a lot of the industries I've
Speaker 2: described that they work in are like mining or heavy industrials.
Speaker 2: How do you make those safer and more sustainable? Well,
Speaker 2: maybe you take some of the innovation that's occurring in
Speaker 2: the automotive that we know and mobility in general and
Speaker 2: apply it to your industry. And that's what's clearly happening
Speaker 2: on the show.
Speaker 3: For this year. So in closing, as a futurist, do
Speaker 3: you size up particular trends at each show that you
Speaker 3: then start dissecting as the year progresses to see if
Speaker 3: it's truly a trend or just a little bit of
Speaker 3: a blip or a fad or a marketing plan or something.
Speaker 3: How do you see the future and is there one
Speaker 3: or two things that you're going to be sniffing around
Speaker 3: for in particular at this year's show?
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, that's God, this is such a good question.
Speaker 2: It's a bit of all of the above, right. Some
Speaker 2: of it is I yeah, as a futurist that I
Speaker 2: think people maybe evokes like I don't know, like Tony
Speaker 2: Stark meets Crystal Ball, predictions of what's happening next. Oftentimes
Speaker 2: it's a lot of reading, and it's a lot of
Speaker 2: just looking and trying to get understan what the show
Speaker 2: looks like. But then when you get to the show,
Speaker 2: the beauty is as much as I can try to
Speaker 2: predict a trend, I'll be surprised. I am surprised every
Speaker 2: year by something on the floor. So what I do
Speaker 2: is I go back and I do start to parse out.
Speaker 1: Well, what are we seeing?
Speaker 2: And I think one of the big ones is last
Speaker 2: year going to the show, every company was like, we're
Speaker 2: an AI company.
Speaker 1: We're an AI company.
Speaker 2: Genera of AI and chat GPT have taken off, and
Speaker 2: they have, but how do you contextualize that into something larger?
Speaker 2: And I think CEUs twenty twenty five and the years
Speaker 2: ahead will really reframe AI where it's not just about
Speaker 2: generative I it's about a fundamental evolution in terms of
Speaker 2: how we relate to tech. There is an old phrase
Speaker 2: and I used to do this consulting with the Coastcard,
Speaker 2: called digital transformation. It's been around for sixteen years. How
Speaker 2: do companies get on the cloud?
Speaker 1: How do they get cyber? How do they get AI?
Speaker 2: I don't think that's an up to date term anymore,
Speaker 2: and I think CS is starting to be the proger
Speaker 2: of this.
Speaker 1: I would say it's digital coexistence.
Speaker 2: Arguably, when we're doing recordings for a lot of I'm
Speaker 2: sure with your podcast you're not just taking a walk
Speaker 2: with people in person. You're using zoom, You're using all
Speaker 2: these digital mediums. You are probably shopping online. Most people
Speaker 2: are working online or in an office, or learning at
Speaker 2: school or online. Arguably, our digital lives are getting to
Speaker 2: the point where they're at parity with our physical lives.
Speaker 2: So how do technologies like AI, cloud and cyber work
Speaker 2: to create this sort of ecosystem. That's the first big
Speaker 2: one that I'm seeing shape up. I was seeing shape
Speaker 2: up ahead of the show, during the show and except
Speaker 2: after the other one is how is sustainability changing? And
Speaker 2: I think this is in relation to the AI component
Speaker 2: as well. AI and data centers take a lot of power,
Speaker 2: especially when you think about the emissions that come from
Speaker 2: the data center and how much it takes to cool them.
Speaker 2: Forty to sixty percent of cooling, AI, cloud, cybersecurity, all
Speaker 2: that is coming from data centers that are pretty much
Speaker 2: found in Dulles Corridor and DC and Virgil the area.
Speaker 1: They take a lot of power.
Speaker 2: And so how do you rethink sustainability to really focus
Speaker 2: on what's called the energy transition? Human society has lived
Speaker 2: through two already, and this is the other part about
Speaker 2: a futurist. You have to know your history, you have
Speaker 2: to know the past. And so the first one was
Speaker 2: we went from firewood to coal as humanity. Then we
Speaker 2: went from coal to oil and fossil fuels. We're on
Speaker 2: the third one now, which is how do we get
Speaker 2: from fossil fuels to renewables because we know that there's
Speaker 2: emissions coming from fossil fuels and we know data centers
Speaker 2: take a lot of them. So we're looking at and
Speaker 2: we're seeing on the show for companies that are focusing
Speaker 2: on renewables like solar and wind. We're seeing companies that
Speaker 2: focus on that cooling issue. So HVAC innovation is more
Speaker 2: important than ever, believe it or not. And what does
Speaker 2: that mean? An energy transition? And I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 2: In the year to come, we're already seeing announcements of it.
Speaker 2: Nuclear is going to be forefront of a lot of
Speaker 2: conversations of how does that which is a high energy
Speaker 2: density technology that has zero emissions get involved in this transition.
Speaker 2: So those are the two that I'm watching close to
Speaker 2: this idea digital coexistence and energy transition. And at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, why are they important? Why am
Speaker 2: I spending a lot of time talking about them? They're
Speaker 2: all interconnected through a variety of technologies. Technologies oftentimes are
Speaker 2: not innovating in a vacuum. They're not just breaking through
Speaker 2: in one way or the other. As we've talked today,
Speaker 2: we've talked about how AI relates the music, how music
Speaker 2: relates to data, and we're doing this now between energy
Speaker 2: digital coexistence. That's what I look for in parts through,
Speaker 2: which is where are these overall narratives in the stories.
Speaker 3: Oh, Brian did a great job making very complex issues digestible.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: For all this. Always excited to be at the big show,
Speaker 3: the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and thanks for
Speaker 3: being on taking a walk.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Buzz, it was an absolute pleasure.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Speaker 1: Walk podcast.
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