Walt Disney is creating a new group to coordinate the company’s use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and mixed reality, as the media giant explores applications across its film, television and theme park divisions.
The newly formed Office of Technology Enablement will be led by the film studio’s chief technology officer Jamie Voris, who led the development of Disney’s app for the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality device, an email seen by Reuters on Friday showed. Eddie Drake will succeed Voris as CTO of the studio.
“The pace and scope of progress in AI and XR (extended reality) is profound and will continue to impact consumer experiences, creative endeavors and our businesses for years to come – making it critical that Disney explore the exciting opportunities and potential.” Deal with the risks,” Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman wrote.
“The creation of this group underscores our dedication to doing just that.”
Bergman said the unit will focus on fast-moving areas of technology such as AI and mixed reality, which blends the physical and digital worlds. It will not centralize work on these projects, but will ensure that various projects around the company fit in with its broader strategy.
Voris will report to Bergman. The technology enablement office, which launches with a core leadership team, is expected to grow to about 100 employees, a person familiar with the matter said.
Reuters was first to report that Disney had formed a task force to study artificial intelligence and how it could be implemented across the entertainment group.
Various divisions within Disney are exploring applications for augmented reality, which places digital elements into the real world; virtual reality, which immerses the user in a simulated environment; and mixed reality, which combines the two.
Disney is building expertise across the organization to take advantage of emerging technology.
For example, Kyle Loughlin, a Disney veteran with a background in augmented and virtual reality and AI, returned to the company in March as senior vice president of research and development for Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative force behind Disney’s theme park attractions. . He left Disney sometime in 2019 to lead Amazon’s Alexa gadgets division.
Just as Meta and Snap unveiled a new generation of lightweight glasses that offer consumers a fashionable alternative to bulky VR glasses, Disney has been quietly assembling a team focused on what the company’s How to best use technology to bring new experiences to theme parks and consumers’ homes. , seven sources told Reuters.
Data from market research firm IDC shows that tech companies have sold about 1.7 million AR/VR headsets so far this year. Meta is still the clear market leader with 60.5% market share, but is facing pressure from competitors such as Sony, Apple and ByteDance in the sector.
Google is also hinting that it may make a comeback into the AR/VR market this year.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
