Aaron Frank

Singularity Fellow: Mixed Reality, Researcher, and Writer

Location
United States
Area of Expertise
Mixed Reality, Foundational Concepts, Exponential Thinking
Type
Fellow

Aaron Frank is a researcher, writer, and consultant who has spent over a decade working in Silicon Valley, where he most recently served as Principal Faculty at Singularity University. In his work there, his research explores the business, governance, and cultural impacts of a broad set of emerging technologies.

Over the past ten years, he has built, deployed, researched, and written about technologies related to augmented and virtual reality and virtual environment technologies; his core area of focus. In this domain, he routinely advises large companies, startups, and government organizations with clients including Ernst & Young, Sony, FC Barcelona, and many others.

Currently, Aaron also serves as a co-facilitator and host of Singularity’s flagship Executive Program focused on the impact of exponential technologies. He is also a guest lecturer for courses at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, EY Tech University, and many others.

As a writer, his articles have appeared in Vice, Wired UK, Forbes, and Venturebeat.

Aaron also volunteers with and serves on the board of Saint Francis Living Room, a community kitchen for homeless and low-income seniors in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.

Aaron has a degree in Communications and Philosophy from the University of Maryland and an MBA from the University of Oxford. He is currently based in San Francisco.

Sessions

Intro to Exponentials

Introduction to Exponentials, Accelerating Change, Convergence, Philosophy of Technology, Disruption

In this session participants will cut to the core of the mechanisms driving much of the radical change felt across civilization. Thinking exponentially is core to everything we teach at Singularity, and getting into this mindset is a fundamental first step for gaining insight into the future. During this session, participants will come to understand the basic concepts of exponential growth, but will more importantly explore its implications in order to shift away from a linear way of thinking.

Traditional linear thinking often leads us to overestimate growth in the short term and underestimate it in the long term. This is the deceptive aspect of exponential growth. This matters because many technologies (including artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, advanced manufacturing, and more) are driven by exponential improvements in computation and progress in ways that can leave us astonished and unprepared. Exponential growth is democratizing access to these tools, once limited to wealthy labs, enabling small teams and individuals to achieve what was once exclusive to governments and corporations.

This session prepares participants to understand exponential growth patterns, understand their implications, and how to apply them within their industry.

Futures Wheel Workshop

Disruptive threats or significant opportunities for your business often come from unexpected places. In this session participants will take a collaborative and systematic approach to mapping possible futures by working from the known and venturing into the unknown. Identify 1st- and 2nd-order implications cascading from transformative developments and trends.

This workshop prepares participants to identify the often-hidden implications of new technology developments by exploring unintended consequences, points of convergence, and the dynamics of disruption from unusual places.

Participants will come away with a practical and easy-to-deploy tool for future exploration. This system can be easily implemented within meetings, brainstorming, or working strategy sessions.

Life in The 3D Revolution: Exploring Mixed Realities, Digital Twins and a Shift Toward Spatial Computing

Mixed Realities, Digital Twins, Spatial Computing

In recent years, the world of computing has undergone a remarkable set of changes transitioning from conventional 2D interfaces toward 3D, immersive, and spatial environments. This is one of the most significant developments in all of digital technology and companies like Apple, Meta, NVIDIA and many others are now reorienting their entire business toward this world of ’spatial computing’. Technologies like augmented and virtual reality, digital twins, game engines, and simulation tools are reshaping everything from training and development, design and manufacturing, and immersive consumer experiences. The impact of these technologies are already impacting industries like healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, retail, energy, and many others.

Underneath a term like ‘the metaverse’, certainly an overused buzzword in recent years, is a deeper principle that our life online will also be transformed by these spatial environments. We’ll see a dramatic shift in the way we work, play, shop, and connect with friends. In this session we’ll explore the broader context and impact of spatial computing and explore its real world applications. This session offers an understanding of both the consumer and enterprise opportunities of these developments and the related business, social, and ethical implications.

The Virtual Economies of Life Online

Second Life, a two decade old virtual world has an in game economy larger than some real world countries. Fortnite, a video game that is entirely free to play, generates billions of dollars per year in revenue. As society has become more native to the internet, economic activity and the exchange of virtual goods and services is growing into a sizable portion of the global economy.

In this session, participants will learn the foundational concepts underpinning the development of virtual online economies; one of the biggest societal developments in a generation. The session weaves together concepts ranging from virtual currencies, new business models of the internet, and the role of virtual economies in our life online. In the session, Aaron Frank will draw on his decade of work researching the development of online virtual environments to explain the ways these virtual economies are shaping the modern internet.

He describes in simple language, concepts including ‘web3’ (a contentious vision of a decentralized internet), and the role that the financial value of tokens and cryptocurrencies may play in mediating this new kind of internet. This session is relevant for executives hoping to understand the intersection between the ‘metaverse’ and the future of the internet, with the world of money and finance.

The Future of the Consumer

This session will explore how a variety of global scale disruptions are reshaping the relationship between consumers and the companies they support. Among these shifts are the rise of the internet and our networked society, the extraordinary and rapid improvements of digital technology, and a range of environmental and social emergencies now threatening our civilizational systems. It is within these contexts that we’ll explore the shifting nature of consumer life today. This session will explore concepts like peer-to-peer networks, the sharing economy, crowdsourcing, and crowdfunding - all expressions of an internet-driven society and their impact on R&D, innovation, and a company’s go-to-market strategy. Next we’ll explore the ways consumer habits and preferences are transformed as a result of digital technologies with a focus on the concept of ‘personalization’. Finally we’ll assess how mounting regulatory and consumer pressures are forcing businesses to rethink their strategies in an era where "business as usual" threatens our planet’s life-support systems. Participants will come away with an understanding of these three megatrends and the impacts they will have on shaping the future of commerce.

The Rise of Physical AI: The Era of Autonomy, Robotics, and Intelligent Machines

If a ChatGPT moment is coming for robotics, physically embodied AIs must develop a spatial intelligence rooted in our three-dimensional world. As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicts, any machine that moves may soon be autonomous. To get there, developers are increasingly using AR/VR based imitation learning and 3D virtual worlds that replicate the physics and complexity of the world. In these environments, AIs learn through direct experience, marking a pivotal shift away from explicit programming toward self-taught behavior. These embodied AIs will power everything from warehouse robotics, inventory drones, autonomous vehicles, farmer-less tractors, humanoid robots, and so much more. This promises to transform our supply chains, reshape our mobility networks, and change the way business leaders manage their operations. This session is structured at the convergence of three key areas: AI foundation models for spatial intelligence, industrial and consumer robotics, and spatial computing which includes breakthroughs in 3D simulation and generative AI world models. This session explores both the operational challenges ahead and the disruptive potential of physical AI in our world.

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Aaron Frank

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