Yves Bergquist is the Director of the AI & Neuroscience in Media Project at USC's Entertainment Technology Center, where his team helps the entertainment industry accelerate the deployment of next-generation analytics standards and solutions, including artificial intelligence. He explores the application of machine learning to analyze narrative structures, audience preferences, and emotional reactions in the realms of film, television, and music. Bergquist is also the CEO of AI startup Corto, which is creating a comprehensive knowledge engine to provide deep insights into how media content resonates with audiences by integrating content and audience data. Corto's platform uses advanced techniques like semantic knowledge representation and evolutionary meta-learning algorithms. A complex systems expert, Bergquist previously helped launch Singularity University's efforts to solve global challenges through exponential technologies. His AI work has been featured across major media outlets and utilized by clients like Sony, Netflix, Microsoft and U.S. intelligence agencies.

Rachel Joy Victor is an independent designer, strategist and worldbuilder who specializes in creating immersive narrative, brand and product experiences that leverage emergent technologies like XR, AI and web3. Drawing from her background in computational neuroscience and spatial economics, she designs data-informed emergent worlds and simulations where individual agency intersects with system affordances. Victor's work spans diverse applications - from multi-platform stories and virtual spaces to innovative tools and AI workflows. Her clients include major entertainment companies like Disney, HBO, and Niantic as well as brands like Vans, Ford and Nike. A thought leader in designing for new realities, Victor provides guidance through executive education sessions and speaking engagements. She is passionate about exploring the full considerations and ethical implications of emerging tech through her design work and initiatives like FBRC.AI.

Stuart Candy is Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Architecture, Art and Design at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City. A critical futurist, artist, and scholar dedicated to activating social foresight, Dr Candy is known as a leading figure in the experiential futures movement over the last two decades, helping to seed and grow practices now variously known as speculative design, design fiction, discursive design, and design futures. Among his contributions are the first PhD dissertation on foresight and design’s intersections, The Futures of Everyday Life; formative work with approaches including guerrilla art, alternate reality games, live action role playing, and immersive theatre; the edited collection Design and Futures; and, as director of Situation Lab, award-winning tools for imagination and worldbuilding like The Thing From The Future and The Futures Bazaar. His consulting, speaking and advisory experience spans governments and organizations from Apple, Niantic and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to the BBC, the Smithsonian, and the United Nations.

Marientina Gotsis is a Professor of Cinematic Practice at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she founded and leads USC’s Games for Health Initiative since 2007, connecting health professionals with innovation in various forms of interactive media. Her research explores the potential of interactive media, games, virtual reality and other emerging technologies for positive impact in areas like healthcare, rehabilitation, behavior change and public health education. Gotsis co-founded and leads the Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center, an interdisciplinary research lab that develops and evaluates innovative media applications funded by entities like the NIH, and  the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Her award-winning student projects have been recognized across major festivals and competitions. An advisor to several health-focused research centers at USC, Gotsis lectures internationally on topics at the intersection of media innovation and medicine while advancing ethical practices in this transdisciplinary field. 

Scott Mahoy is a designer and documentary filmmaker focused on creating intuitive, impactful experiences. He served as the lead designer for the "Danube Exodus" immersive installation at the Getty Museum exploring displacement and connections among ethnic minorities.  Mahoy worked at USC's Labyrinth Project, the  Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and the Spatial Analysis Lab (SLAB), developing interactive educational content and videos exploring diverse topics like Russian Modernism, LA's ethnic cultural hubs and effective autism treatments. An experienced video producer, he has created documentary films highlighting cross-cultural stories for arts/nonprofit groups across California.