Chris Duffey Interview
00:00:50:00 - 00:00:55:18
Speaker 2
Hello. Thank you for taking the time to have this chat today. Would you please introduce yourself and your work?
00:00:55:20 - 00:01:21:19
Speaker 1
Great to be here. I'm Chris Duffy from Adobe. I head up our strategic development for emerging solutions. And what that really means is it's all about the strategy to gain greater awareness for our newer products and also to create great use cases with our products and then celebrate those mutual successes with our customers and our products.
00:01:21:21 - 00:01:38:04
Speaker 2
And services. Search. Anything you expound on. Can you tell us about your role at Adobe? And, you know, the board of and and CTA and what is your involvement in shaping the company's strategies and vision?
00:01:38:06 - 00:02:03:20
Speaker 1
It really is quite an exciting time to be in the creative industry. so much is happening. We talk a lot about the disruptive technologies coming into the world at this moment. in the past, it happened every 10 to 15 years, and we're really seeing an acceleration of that happening every couple of years now. Right now, I would say, dare I say the D word, the disruptive technologies are coming in.
00:02:04:01 - 00:02:29:03
Speaker 1
We have this advent introduction of generative AI. We also have this introduction of immersive and metaverse like technologies. And then thirdly we have Web3 technologies. And what we're seeing as individually each of those are quite exciting. But when you converge those three a lot of opportunity is emerging. So at Adobe we're quite excited about all of these.
00:02:29:03 - 00:02:47:10
Speaker 1
And really it's, amplifying the ability to create faster and more effectively than ever before, but also, to really create greater, emotional connections with your customers, through wonderful, immersive experiences.
00:02:47:12 - 00:02:53:12
Speaker 2
in your own words, what is immersive mean to you and how has your understanding of it evolved over the years?
00:02:53:14 - 00:03:20:21
Speaker 1
And quite simply, not to get overly academic, quite simply, I think of immersive as, simply put, as this convergence, compression of the physical and digital worlds coming together. And obviously that is really ushering in this new age of creativity and ability to create greater personalized experiences going forward at scale.
00:03:20:23 - 00:03:25:10
Speaker 2
How did you first become interested in immersive and what led you to explore this field?
00:03:25:12 - 00:04:02:16
Speaker 1
Yeah, looking back, I don't know if it was just one, event, but I think it's probably a compilation of different, events or experiences over the years. I think, you know, we as a human species have always been intrigued by great immersive experiences, whether that be through movies, through amusement parks or just, wonderful, memorable experiences. And I think now with that convergence of the digital and physical world, through these new technologies, we can now amplify that ability to create really memorable and immersive experiences.
00:04:02:16 - 00:04:18:04
Speaker 1
So I'm quite excited to see how the the hardware, software and distribution channels are really, amplifying the ability to create these immersive experiences going forward.
00:04:18:06 - 00:04:28:12
Speaker 2
let's go back to your earliest, earliest memory of a truly captivating experience. What made it so memorable, and how can we apply those principles to design modern experiences?
00:04:28:14 - 00:05:04:20
Speaker 1
earlier today we were talking about, Nike, which was one of my, brands that I really found a great affinity to towards when I was growing up. I grew up in Wisconsin, and I would have a subscription to Sports Illustrated and, one, one day, one week. they had a double page spread of the new Nike Air Max, and they cropped it very artfully so you could just see that, beautiful air bubble and, that really, provoked a lot of interest, thought in my mind that they did that intentionally, too.
00:05:04:20 - 00:05:27:16
Speaker 1
Then at that time, there was no internet. So you had to go into the store. And so that really was, a moment of, provocation for me that, marketing and great design and technology coming together can really create kind of a memorable experience. And in that way, it, got me into advertising and design and technology.
00:05:27:16 - 00:05:56:22
Speaker 1
So I referred to that, quite often to dig a little deeper into that story. The Nike designer who designed it went to Paris to get inspired, and he went to the museum called the Pompidou. And that design architecture of the museum had the the inside architecture on the outside. And that was his moment of inspiration for the new Nike Air Max, where at that time, where they showed the inside of the shoe on the outside.
00:05:57:00 - 00:06:27:05
Speaker 1
And I think in many ways that's a wonderful metaphor still to this day, of how we're flipping the script, in terms of the opportunity for a greater business reinvention going forward, how we approached design and business models of the past no longer apply. And so I think within the education system, we're seeing the rise of new ways of reinvention to connect with customers, brands and experiences.
00:06:27:07 - 00:06:36:11
Speaker 2
In your experience, how does storytelling play a role in creating immersive experiences? And can you share an example of a time when storytelling elevated an experience?
00:06:36:13 - 00:07:11:12
Speaker 1
When I first got into the business, creativity was solely defined by storytelling in the marketing sense that quickly evolved into product design. And there again, that's where storytelling, became a central part to a wonderful experience, through the digital world. Shortly thereafter, the next evolution of that was experience design. Once again, we saw the power of storytelling, the ability to stitch these different moments of delight together across the customer journey.
00:07:11:17 - 00:07:33:17
Speaker 1
So I think throughout all of these different phases, we've seen the power of storytelling and storytelling can take the form of many different ways. moments of delight, moments of surprise, but also moments of adding friction. If you look at, sometimes when you go to your favorite coffee store, they'll take a pause and they'll ask you for your name.
00:07:33:21 - 00:07:57:11
Speaker 1
And that's, in this world of greater efficiency is a moment of delight in many ways, because it's it's acting as a point of friction, but it's giving you a moment of delight because they get to know you. And so I think that's the power of storytelling. It can really, provoke and introduce a lot of different opportunities, along the customer experience.
00:07:57:13 - 00:08:07:19
Speaker 2
As an author, you've written about tough topics like AI and creativity. How do you see the intersection of immersive technology and AI influencing the creative process?
00:08:07:20 - 00:08:45:18
Speaker 1
I think it's infinite, this intersection of storytelling technology, going forward. So, we're seeing the just the early innings of where we are currently, artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI is going to amplify creativity. Going forward. It's going to help us get to starting points faster. It's going to help take away some of those basic, repeatable tasks and give us time to do higher level critical thinking, to inspire us to create new business models, to create new experiences, and so on.
00:08:45:18 - 00:09:10:22
Speaker 1
And so I think we're really entering in this golden age of creativity going forward. And by no means do AI or Adobe think that, generative AI is going to replace creativity. It is going to amplify AI. It it's going to accelerate and really, allow us to do what we do best, and that's to innovate, to create and to be creative.
00:09:11:00 - 00:09:22:13
Speaker 2
As a speaker, what are the key messages you often share about the future of media? Perhaps your personal definition of what the metaverse is, how these messages evolved over time.
00:09:22:15 - 00:09:52:21
Speaker 1
As a speaker or presenter? quite often, I love to start off with what the future may may look like in the in the very near term, I think, in this day and age, to go much further out than 1 or 2 years is near impossible at this rate of change. And so this art of the possible is quite, I think, interesting for businesses and, customers to really be aware of, but to be, you know, contemplate as well.
00:09:52:22 - 00:10:22:16
Speaker 1
I think the interesting, point that we're in right now is we can all be the change that we want the future to be. And, in many ways, I always felt a little remiss that I wasn't able to be part of the early days of the internet. And much like those days where we're at, really, I think inflection points in society where generative AI, the metaverse, immersive technologies and Web3 are coming together.
00:10:22:18 - 00:10:43:04
Speaker 1
And I just encourage everyone to be the change that they want, create the future that they would want. So that's, one of the big takeaways, I hope, I try to convey that we can all really be creators and build, a future, for, a greater tomorrow.
00:10:43:06 - 00:10:51:15
Speaker 2
Could you share examples of exciting and innovative projects or collaborations that you've been involved with?
00:10:51:17 - 00:10:55:01
Speaker 2
Both in within the field of immersive experiences.
00:10:55:03 - 00:11:19:00
Speaker 1
It's, it really is endless. I would highlight, a number I did recently in terms of the health care realm. obviously health care is, you know, quite important to all of our, our, states. And so I think, health care, really is a harder use case, but in many ways, more meaningful use case for immersive.
00:11:19:02 - 00:11:54:01
Speaker 1
And so we're seeing over the last 5 to 10 years, it has been growing the need for more immersive experiences for the patient, for the caregiver, for the physician, and so these technologies are really, helping, amplify the ability for greater health care, whether it be to do predictive analysis on, on your state, of, health, whether it be to, be a sounding board, to find, and define what the symptoms are and so on.
00:11:54:01 - 00:12:30:16
Speaker 1
And so I think that's a really interesting use case, obviously, currently heavily focused on, creativity for the enterprise. And we're seeing a number of interesting immersive use cases where, again, we're combined in that physical and digital world together across the entire, customer journey, experience across the brand. And so I think this it's not just immersive in isolation, it's immersive stitched in within this broader tapestry of the experience that gets quite exciting.
00:12:30:18 - 00:12:36:18
Speaker 2
What businesses do you think are being disrupted the most right now, and what's the next disruption.
00:12:36:19 - 00:13:06:02
Speaker 1
That, that, to calculate or quantify which industries are getting more disruptive than, than the other? It's pretty tough. I would offer we're we're all at equal levels of disruption. And I tend to try to use the word opportunity for reinvention. over disruption. There's still feels something a little destructive about disruption. And reinvention feels a little more constructive.
00:13:06:02 - 00:13:30:06
Speaker 1
And so I think, that's another lens I would love to offer and leave people with is, Gen AI immersive has this ability to reconstruct many of the, the ways that we've done things in the past, and it can really have additive value going forward. And I think the ultimate goal is we build a world for greater empowerment.
00:13:30:08 - 00:13:45:06
Speaker 1
And, you know, if we can get to a world of greater abundance in terms of food, education, less disease in the world, it's going to be a, greater world for all of us to live in.
00:13:45:08 - 00:13:54:09
Speaker 2
As a member of Adobe's board, how do you contribute to Adobe's long term vision and decision making regarding immersive technology and other innovation areas?
00:13:54:10 - 00:14:24:11
Speaker 1
So at Adobe, we, heavily focused on what is around the corner and, currently around the corner. We're heavily focused on generative AI. I think the next wave will be some individualized lens large language models. And so those models may be comprised of multiple models, but ultimately that vision looks like the ability to have very individualized experiences going forward at scale.
00:14:24:17 - 00:14:58:03
Speaker 1
And so the companies that will be able to leverage that opportunity will be the winners of tomorrow. I think the the other one, coming up very quickly, is this ability to have this more immersive experience, whether it be through 3D and, the ecosystem across the hardware, landscape is greatly evolving. And so I think that that merging of 3D immersive software with these newer hardware tools is going to be quite exciting, going forward as well.
00:14:58:05 - 00:15:05:17
Speaker 2
What are the most significant challenges and opportunities you see in the adoption of immersive technology, both for individuals and businesses?
00:15:05:19 - 00:15:32:13
Speaker 1
Over the past year, I have gone on a bit of a an awareness tour, but also a listening tour. And I think there's five or so themes that are consistently coming up. The first is, and these are all very heavily focused on generative AI or immersive AI. I think the first one is all about what is that ultimate vision, and how can we create that North Star architecture and reverse engineer to get there?
00:15:32:15 - 00:16:01:14
Speaker 1
The second one is the ability to create, more responsible, immersive AI experiences going forward. And that's everything from privacy to security to regulation and so on. And so I think that's another fundamental pillar to keep in mind. The third one is a big question from an organization standpoint or a business standpoint, what is the value of these technologies going to have on the business.
00:16:01:14 - 00:16:30:10
Speaker 1
Because there is an investment to go, into the these new emerging areas. And so I think, there are frameworks to have a value realization framework to really, quantify the success of those. The next is, very straightforward, in terms of the thought, but a bit more complex in the implement. And that's really how do I implement and adopt these new immersive AI technologies.
00:16:30:10 - 00:17:03:23
Speaker 1
And there's a number of great, I think, metaphors that we've learned over the years that we can adhere to. The fourth would be, just pure, adoption. and, awareness of what are the services and products, out there that can help get us there quicker in terms of, value realization. And so those are just a few of, some of the, the, themes that have been coming up over the last 12 months or so.
00:17:04:01 - 00:17:15:04
Speaker 2
Adobe is known for its creative software. How does the company approach the integration of immersive technology into its product ecosystem, and what benefits does this bring to users?
00:17:15:06 - 00:17:47:04
Speaker 1
I think over the last few months, there is not so much of a hard, delineation between immersive and the creative software. I think there starting to be really compressed, one in the same in many ways, the experience of creation can and should be more immersive. And the output can and should be more immersive. And so I would offer that they are becoming more, one in the same going forward.
00:17:47:06 - 00:18:18:12
Speaker 1
I would also share that Adobe is not just a creative software company. We're, truly a platform and an end to end platform that can allow, you know, organizations and creators to create more efficiently and effectively distribute, measure and optimize, and with the ultimate goal to create this flywheel, round trip ability to distribute that data, create it, measure it, and then do it, better and better every time, faster and faster.
00:18:18:12 - 00:18:30:16
Speaker 1
And so I think that's where it's going to get quite exciting really fast, where you have this ability to do that and then make it more immersive and then more individualized going forward.
00:18:30:18 - 00:18:38:13
Speaker 2
Can you share some real world examples of how Adobe is leveraging immersive technology to enhance user experiences and create it?
00:18:38:15 - 00:19:23:15
Speaker 1
We have a wonderful suite called Adobe, substance. And so, Adobe Substance is really, founded on the premise of helping to democratize 3D. Obviously a number of different use cases, applications within 3D. I think E-comm is going to become one of, the early entry points use cases for 3D going forward. We have a number of projects, called Project Sunrise, where it's allowing to take, 3D assets and really create multiple variations very quickly, which is quite exciting from an efficiency and ultimately, an efficacy standpoint.
00:19:23:15 - 00:19:51:12
Speaker 1
And so just on a, small enterprise, perspective, I think that that's a great example of how that is really leveling the playing field. And then from a large enterprise standpoint, it's a great example of increased scalability. Quite often we talk about this demand for more content faster than ever before. And things like that are really going to allow us to get there faster.
00:19:51:14 - 00:20:01:21
Speaker 2
What advice would you give to aspiring professionals who want to make a meaningful impact in the field of immersive technology, and who aim to engage with Adobe's products more effectively?
00:20:01:23 - 00:20:27:07
Speaker 1
I don't know if there's, a one point answer or solution to that, but I, I would maybe boil it all down to, just create, continue to create thoughtfully and, mindfully and, I think, a lot of the use cases and inspiration will come out of the, the practice of just, creation. There's a lot to be said for the ability to play.
00:20:27:09 - 00:20:42:01
Speaker 1
And so a big advocate of learning, and, through building, quite honestly. And so I would offer that to, this, this college to just continue to, create and play.
00:20:42:03 - 00:20:57:20
Speaker 2
Can you share a specific instance from your experience where users face difficulties adopting a new feature or technology, and what strategies or approaches did you employ to help them overcome these challenges and successfully integrate the new technology into their workflows and daily lives?
00:20:57:22 - 00:21:27:07
Speaker 1
It's a wonderful question in terms of how do you create experiences and software that are more accessible, that have less friction points? And over the last, recent months, we've really kind of contemplated that and almost inverse that approach in terms of we no longer just think about how can we create tools or softwares or experiences that are easier to learn, but actually inverting that thought process?
00:21:27:07 - 00:21:48:11
Speaker 1
And how can we create tools that learn to come to the user or to the customer? quicker, than ever before? And so I think that's a really interesting metaphor going forward, that the systems are going to help, learn from us. And so we're actually training the system. The system is not training us.