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Scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. Areej is the Founder and Director of Alfaisal's AI Center, a Center of Excellence for AI research, teaching, theory, and practice. She joined Alfaisal University in 2020 after serving as the Executive Director of IP Enablement in the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property, where she spearheaded the national network of technology and innovation support centers (TISCs). Prior to this, she was Principal Investigator at the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) within the Center for Complex Engineering Systems at KACST and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is currently a Research Affiliate with MIT's Media Lab and the Director of the Masters in Applied AI (MAI) in the College of Engineering and Advanced Computing at Alfaisal Computing, with a teaching focus on Human-Centric AI in Extended Reality and Generative AI for Creativity and the Arts. She held a series of leadership positions of increasing responsibility in various academic and research institutions within the Kingdom, particularly in the scope of research and development. Areej holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, with a Postdoc from (MIT)'s School of Engineering and received her MSc degree in Computer Graphics and Multimedia from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at George Washington University. With over 15 years in research and development, she has led humanistic co-design programs across the public, private, and non-profit sectors and has been an industry champion for diversity and inclusion. She is involved in several professional and civic organizations, including the Advisory Board of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) for women and the national IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group in Saudi Arabia and serves on the jury for the pre-collegiate National Olympiad for STEM; and was formerly the founder and president of the chartered chapter of the Arab Women in Computing for Saudi Arabia. Areej's research experience includes extended reality (XR), AI in health, neurotechnology and brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Her current work focuses on human-centric AI and the impact of AI-generated art on defining art, the dynamic between artists and their tools, the process of digital curation, and the question of whether AI systems can match human creativity. In her research leaders roles, director of the AI Center and HCI Lab at Alfaisal University, her research strategies focus on driving organizational and societal transformation by strengthening the role of science and promoting innovation through strategic initiatives, academic alliances, and governance processes.

Rogelio Cardona-Rivera is an Assistant Professor in the Entertainment Arts and Engineering Program and in the School of Computing at the University of Utah, where he directs the Laboratory for Quantitative Experience Design. His research focuses on computationally modeling how game players think and act inside video games, as well as developing tools that use these models to help game designers design. Cardona-Rivera has interned as a computational narratologist at Sandia National Laboratories and Disney Research, and his research has been supported by the GEM Ph.D. Fellowship, the Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects' Agency, Oculus VR, and Activision | Blizzard.

Joined Tencent Games in 2008 and played a key role in establishing a comprehensive business security framework spanning the entire game lifecycle, delivering a reliable and secure digital gaming experience for players worldwide. Led the development of a unified data foundation for Tencent Games, providing robust core support for data-driven operations and strategic decision-making. Currently spearheading the systematic integration of cutting-edge gaming technologies to build an AI-powered efficiency toolchain. This initiative is advancing intelligent production of digital assets, deep in-engine integration with real-time generation, and AI-driven intelligent NPCs, thereby driving an intelligent transformation in game R&D methodologies.

Dr. Richard Cole is Lecturer in Digital Futures at the University of Bristol, where he also co-programme directs the MA Games Design (Narrative). His research investigates how video games, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence open up new avenues for humanistic inquiry. He has published widely on games, from inquiries into gameplay structures and immersion, to worldbuilding, paratexts, and gender representation. He has coined key terms for game analysis and has led ground-breaking player studies into AI-native games. As co-Director of the Bristol Digital Game Lab, a pioneering hub connecting academia with the games industry, he aims to unlock the power of play for cultural, educational, and civic transformation.

A seasoned intellectual property (IP) litigator, Perkins Coie Counsel, Jake Dinifocuses on trademark, copyright, and trade secret law in federal courts. Jake Dini often represents clients in the gaming, technology, and retail industries in their IP matters. He implements programmatic IP enforcement initiatives to identify and address policy violations and other enforcement priorities. Jake also has extensive experience implementing and managing trademark and copyright enforcement programs, including Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown requests and domain name claims before the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) arbitration panel. As a trusted adviser, Jake helps businesses protect their IP and maintain the integrity of their platforms. He designs and leads comprehensive enforcement programs that strategically safeguard clients' IP rights and prevent exploitation by bad actors. Additionally, Jake’s experience extends to general commercial litigation matters, including breach of contract disputes.

Harvey Elliott is the founder and CEO at Playstack, a leading light in indie game publishing. Playstack supports developers to create innovative and captivating games that are enjoyed by players worldwide. Playstack prides itself on putting developers at the heart of everything it does and works tirelessly to maximise the work of its developers and help them realize their full potential. An early interest in development and a hunger to gain more knowledge about gaming led to Harvey being offered a role with Acclaim Entertainment in 1996. At Acclaim, Harvey worked his way from European Product Development Coordinator to general manager of three game studios. In 2003, Harvey joined EA, where he led development teams across a variety of well-known brands including Burnout 3, the Harry Potter games series, numerous Hasbro titles and SimCity. In 2011 Harvey left EA and took the leadership role at Marmalade Technologies; an innovative technology platform and integrated game development studio, continuing his work with Hasbro and partnerships with Google, LG, Samsung, Activision Blizzard, Intel and many more. From 2012 to 2016 Harvey became chair of the Games Committee at BAFTA joining its Board of Trustees; and helping to celebrate the work of the games industry within the creative industries as a whole. Harvey brought all of his experience together to form Playstack in 2016, with the aim of publishing exceptional and inventive games.

Julian Frommel is an Assistant Professor in Interaction/Multimedia at Utrecht University. In his work, he studies the design and implementation of interactive digital systems that provide enjoyable, meaningful, safe, and healthy experiences for users, often focusing on the benefits and harms of games and game technologies such as artificial intelligence, streaming, and XR. He teaches courses on AI for Game Technology and Serious Games, has given presentations at international conferences (e.g., CHI, CHI PLAY, FDG), and PAX Australia. He has consulted for and worked with game companies like &ranj, Roblox, and ESL FACEIT. He is a member of the CHI PLAY Steering Committee and the Thriving in Games Group (previously Fair Play Alliance). 

Sam has spent his career leading teams and companies across the video game industry. He has successfully built and sold three game studios, including two in the medical games space. Before his foray into games for doctors, Sam was CEO of Funtactix, the studio behind mobile and social F2P titles for top-tier Hollywood franchises such as The Hunger Games, Mission: Impossible, and Narcos. He previously led the DirectX graphics team at Microsoft, where he drove the development and standardization of GPU capabilities across Xbox and the global hardware ecosystem. Sam began his career as an animator at LucasArts and has served on graphics and gaming advisory boards for Intel, AMD, Microsoft, Khronos, and others.

Steven Guris, Threat Intelligence Lead at risk3sixty, is known for leading complex cyber investigations and litigation support efforts for the video game industry. He has directed precedent-setting anti-cheat enforcement investigations, including work supporting Bungie, Inc. in landmark cases that shaped legal approaches to video game cheating and online misconduct. Steven has delivered expert witness testimony on cheating technologies, player behavior, and digital evidence, significantly influencing judicial outcomes in high-profile lawsuits. A cybercrime threat intelligence analyst by training, he specializes in advanced data collection methodologies and translating technical findings into clear, courtroom-ready intelligence.

Graham Henry founded METATAILOR with a singular mission: to simplify the developers' workload. Driven by the belief that technical hurdles should never stifle creative expression, his vision focuses on automating the most tedious aspects of character production. Drawing from his extensive experience at Epic Games on iconic titles like Gears of War, Infinity Blade, and Fortnite, Graham is uniquely positioned to address industry-wide inefficiencies. By replacing manual, repetitive tasks (specifically the skin-weighting bottleneck) with intelligent, automated systems, he empowers developers to move faster and focus on what truly matters: building immersive worlds and compelling characters.

Perrin Kaplan is a global marketing and communications executive known for her award-winning work in emerging tech, entertainment, and gaming. She is a principal of Zebra Partners, which opened doors following her role as vice president of marketing and communications, as well as company spokesperson, growing Nintendo's corporate brand and overseeing notable global phenomena such as the Wii; Pokémon; DS; and the brand ambassador movement. Kaplan's clientele includes innovative companies and brands, from indies to Fortune 500s, such as Meta/Facebook, Intel, Microsoft, Sony Pictures VR, DreamWorks, Aspyr, Reddit, Qualcomm, Gearbox, Samsung, NCSOFT, Wizards of the Coast, and many more. She started in the newsroom at Seattle's NBC affiliate with stints in political communications. Considered one the best in her field, Kaplan is profiled in several books (Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play, The Ultimate History of Video Games, Volume 2: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and the Billion-Dollar Battle to Shape Modern Gaming, Console Wars), articles and documentaries and is an active speaker for top events and organizations. She has been honored for her continued roles in female leadership growth. Perrin also serves on board and strategic advisory roles for Women In Games International (WIGI), GamesBeat, and Didimo Inc., as well as formerly for VidCon.

Hyunseung Kim is the AI Companion Team Lead and a Deep Learning Researcher at KRAFTON AI, where he leads the development of PUBG Ally, KRAFTON's co-playable character (CPC) initiative for PUBG. His work focuses on building LLM/SLM-based embodied agents capable of intelligent, real-time interaction within complex game environments. He is also a Ph.D. candidate at KAIST.

A seasoned expert in both digital operations and national security, Jang Kim currently serves as the Roblox TVE Product Support Manager. His career is defined by over 20 years of experience in military intelligence and counter-terrorism, with a specific focus on the intersection of technology and radicalization. Having spent over half a decade tracking terrorist activity online for the U.S. government, he now applies that rigorous analytical framework to managing complex product support systems in the gaming and tech industry for Roblox.

Eric Li is Director of AI Global Commercialization at Tencent Cloud, leading the productization and global adoption of AI technologies across interactive and real-time applications. His work focuses on agent development platform(ADP), Tencent PalmAI, and HY 3D that help teams build faster, automate workflows, and scale intelligent experiences. Previously, he helped build Tencent Youtu Lab's commercialization team and served as Chief Solution Architect and Chief AI Architect, delivering more than 100 AI projects across industries. He now works closely with developers and partners worldwide to bring production-ready AI from research into real-world products.

Chang Liu is game AI designer at NetEase's ThunderFire Studio, developer of Sword of Justice Mobile. After two years in NetEase's Fuxi AI Lab, Liu moved to ThunderFire four years ago to place large-model technology directly inside a live MMO. She now leads all AI-powered systems in Sword of Justice—including QuickShoot Stage and StageHub, the game's 3-D short-video platform, plus the Intelligent NPC network and open-world Bounty Board. Her focus is turning AI features into evergreen live-ops content that keeps players engaged well beyond launch. This session marks Liu's GDC debut.

Timothy Lu is lead Data Scientist on Discord's Intelligence Layer team. He helps improve Discord's gaming ecosystem intelligence by understanding Discord's players, the games they play, and the developers/publishers who make them. Timothy is a seasoned 10-year data professional with previous roles at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and The Walt Disney Company.

Keyang Luo is a computer vision and artificial intelligence researcher currently affiliated with LightSpeed Studios, known for his work in generative modeling and 3D reconstruction. He received his Ph.D. from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), where he was supervised by Professor Tao Guan. His academic work has been published in top-tier conferences such as CVPR, ICCV and SIGGRAPH.

Maykool Lopez is the Trade Commissioner of Costa Rica in the United States and Director of PROCOMER's New York office. With more than 25 years of experience in global business development, he specializes in expansion strategies, competitive intelligence, and international market entry. A passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and innovation, Maykool has led successful go-to-market strategies across North America. He connects global companies with high-value Costa Rican exporters in sectors including videogames, technology, animation, and more, driving trade growth and sustainable international partnerships.

Brad McCarty leads Product Marketing Manager at FusionAuth, where he turns authentication challenges into competitive advantages for gaming studios. He's helped companies reduce player abandonment by 60% while actually improving security (yes, both are possible). Brad spends his time reverse-engineering how top studios handle identity, tracking authentication patterns across platforms, and explaining why your login flow is probably killing your game. Before FusionAuth, he built competitive intelligence and go-to-market strategies for B2B SaaS companies, with a focus on developer tools that actually work.

CPO (Chief Product Officer) at AppMagic with a special love for games, education, AI, and coffee. Stan has worked both in large corporations and small start-ups, developing mobile games and gamified apps for hundreds of millions of users. Gladly chats about mobile app intelligence, competitors analysis, game deconstructs, and live ops. If this is your cup of tea, hit me up, and let's meet!

Kerri Norton heads Research & Data Analytics at Open World, the strategic brand consultancy dedicated to supporting the development, marketing, and long-term growth of the global video game industry and its communities. In her role, Kerri builds modern insight systems for game studios navigating today’s attention economy. She applies the rigor of data and analytics — grounded in deep industry experience — to craft launch strategies and ongoing brand and audience growth plans. By integrating playtest and survey feedback, behavioral data, and community intelligence, she helps teams make smarter, stage-gated decisions at every phase of development and go-to-market.With over 17 years in consumer insights across media and gaming, Kerri has worked alongside some of the industry’s leading franchises while developing forward-thinking research approaches that connect creative ambition with commercial impact. Though she’s partnered with major studios, she’s most energized by helping new games find their footing, bringing clarity, structure, and strategic precision to teams that need every marketing dollar to work harder.

Dr. Jeff Orkin is an AI researcher, serial entrepreneur, and game industry veteran.  Jeff is currently Cofounder / CEO of Bitpart AI, a startup developing advanced NPC technology that combines Machine Learning with Automated Planners. Previously Jeff founded Giant Otter Technologies, a conversational AI venture that grew out of his Ph.D research at the MIT Media Lab.  Giant Otter was acquired by Drift conversational marketing, where Jeff led the AI team for 4 years building products that learned from billions of chat messages. Jeff began his career as an AI specialist in the game industry for 10 years, at Sierra and Monolith Productions. His work on No One Lives Forever 2 (NOLF2) and F.E.A.R. won awards for the best AI in the industry.  F.E.A.R. was the first commercial video game to ship with a goal-oriented action planner (GOAP), inspired by STRIPS planning from robotics research. Jeff has served as a co-Author of the AI Game Programming Wisdom book series, Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games, and has presented at GDC, AIIDE, IEEE CIG, MIGS, AAAI, AAMAS, ICAPS, and SARA. Prior to MIT, Jeff earned a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington and Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Tufts University with a minor in Studio Art.

As President/CEO of IDG – a leading research, consulting and analytics firm in the games industry – Yoshio Osaki has been a trusted advisor, investor, and thought leader in the gaming space for 20 years, partnering with more than 300 clients across 50 countries. IDG has been named an Inc. 5000 company for each of the last two years as one of America's fastest-growing and most successful companies. IDG's global client roster includes the leading game platforms, publishers, and developers; 4 of the top 5 tech companies; 4 of the top 5 media companies; leading investment firms; prominent Fortune 100 brands; and key retailers, as well as indie developers and fast-growing startups. This client base has a combined market cap/valuation of over $12 trillion. Combining deep experience from Fortune 500 management consulting, II-ranked sellside research, and hedge fund investing, Yoshio's core focus areas include game development and publishing, transmedia, AI, game B2B tech stacks, web3, AR/VR, M&A + commercial due diligence, cloud streaming, xDevs, and esports. He has helped take startups from Day Zero to AAA success, employing a holistic tool kit of strategy, analytics, forecasting, and Wall Street finance to advise companies across C-Suite, publishing, studios, and corporate development. He is also an angel investor in 10+ startups. IDG has been leveraged as a data and analyst source in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, Associated Press, Barron's, and the Asahi Shimbun. Yoshio has also been a keynote speaker at a wide variety of international conferences and summits over the past 20 years. Osaki graduated from Stanford University, with a BA in International Relations and a BA in Political Science, and has been a guest lecturer at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. For more information, please go to http://idgintel.com.

Mike is CEO/co-founder of Modulate, which builds voice-native conversational intelligence for content moderation, fraud prevention, CX, and more. Mike leads Modulate's commercial segment, working particularly with Modulate's gaming customers including Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto Online, and Rainbow 6 Siege, and sits on a number of boards and working groups related to compliance and online safety, including a board seat with the Family Online Safety Institute in D.C. Outside of work, his passions include creating themed cocktail lists, long-distance running, and playing Nintendo games.

Founder and President of Fair Play Labs, Costa Rica's leading video game development studio, Claudio is a pioneer in the region's interactive digital entertainment industry with more than 20 years leading and shaping the country's game development ecosystem. Under his leadership, Fair Play Labs has developed both licensed and proprietary intellectual property while providing high-quality outsourcing services in software development, 2D and 3D digital art, animation, and music for the global gaming and edutainment markets. The studio made history by publishing Color Guardians, the first Costa Rican video game released for major consoles, including PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, a milestone that helped position Costa Rica on the global gaming map. Fair Play Labs has since expanded its international footprint with high-profile titles such as Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, nominated for Best Fighting Game of the Year. In addition to leading Fair Play Labs, he serves as LATAM General Manager at HatchWorks Technologies, driving innovation and growth across the region. His academic background includes studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and executive education at MIT Sloan School of Management, where he completed the program Building, Leading and Sustaining the Innovative Organization. A visionary entrepreneur, he is committed to advancing Costa Rica's position as a global hub for creative technology, innovation, and digital entertainment.

Shengju Qian is a computer vision and artificial intelligence researcher currently affiliated with LightSpeed Studios, known for his work in generative modeling, transformers, and representation learning. He received his Ph.D. from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he was supervised by Professor Jiaya Jia. His academic work has been published in top-tier conferences such as CVPR, ICCV, NeurIPS, and ICLR.

Dr. Dave Ranyard is a distinguished entrepreneur and innovator in the field of interactive entertainment, with a career spanning over two decades. He is the founder and CEO of Dream Reality Interactive, a cutting-edge development company specializing in creating games across multiple platforms from mobile to XR. Additionally, Dave is the Chair of award-winning narrative game studio, Interior Night, and advisor to several companies including Zenos Technology, Singer Studios, and Meeple Corp. Prior to founding DRi, he served as the Head of Sony Playstation's flagship studio in London, where he led groundbreaking projects in the gaming industry. Dave's passion for creativity and entertainment has been a driving force throughout his career. In his earlier years, he left school to start his own vintage business and was later signed to Warner Music Group, gaining valuable skills that he has seamlessly incorporated into the art of game development. His diverse background and multidisciplinary approach have resulted in unique and innovative projects that have made a significant impact in the gaming industry. In addition to his entrepreneurial pursuits, Dave holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, showcasing his deep knowledge and understanding of new technologies. His achievements and contributions in the field of interactive entertainment have earned him a reputation as a thought leader in the games and tech industries. His visionary leadership and dedication to innovation continue to shape the landscape of interactive entertainment, driving the industry forward into exciting new frontiers.

Michal Reszka is a Data Analyst with over three years of experience working with data. He's responsible for competitive intelligence and general modeling, primarily for the analysis, evaluation, and validation of the Social Value model within Wargaming's ecosystem - specifically in World of Tanks. He draws on 13 years of personal experience with the game to help design meaningful tests and gain deeper insights into its mechanics and social dynamics.

Andreas Rodman is a Swedish tech entrepreneur specializing in artificial intelligence and software innovation. With a background in computer science, Andreas focuses on building cutting-edge technology that pushes creative and technical boundaries. Andreas is the founder and CEO of Lingotion AB, a Swedish tech startup at the forefront of AI research in video game development. Lingotion offers on-device, performance-efficient, and legally compliant real-time AI-acting for video games, unlocking an infinite number of new possibilities for gameplay and character interactions.

Alexis Rolland is a seasoned technology leader with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of artificial intelligence, game development, and data analytics. As the Director of Ubisoft La Forge in China, he spearheads innovative R&D initiatives that bridge academic research and game development, driving technical prototyping and the adoption of cutting-edge AI solutions. Alexis began his career as a consultant at IBM before transitioning to the gaming industry, where he has played a pivotal role in shaping Ubisoft's AI and data strategy. Over his 13-year tenure at Ubisoft, he has held multiple leadership roles, including Director of Ubisoft China AI & Data Lab, where he managed a diverse team of data scientists, engineers, and product managers to enhance analytics, machine learning, and AI-driven innovation across Ubisoft's projects. A self-taught programmer with a passion for development, Alexis has contributed to numerous groundbreaking AI initiatives, such as Ubisoft's internal generative AI platform, Ghostwriter for narrative dialogue generation, and ZooBuilder, a tool for creating 3D animations from videos. His expertise spans reinforcement learning, computer vision, and generative AI, with his work showcased at major industry events like SIGGRAPH Asia.

Benjamin J. Siders is an intellectual property and technology lawyer, and Practice Group Leader for the Intellectual Property practice group, at Lewis Rice LLC in St. Louis, Missouri. A former software engineer, Ben brings a developer's mindset to his legal practice, providing cost-effective, actionable counsel to software and game development clients. His work focuses on helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups protect their creations with copyrights, trademarks and patents, and navigating complex technology licensing and compliance. Ben also maintains a niche practice working with video and board game clients. He has advised developers and publishers on a wide range of gaming products, including tabletop games, mobile apps, fantasy sports platforms, and digital publishing services. Ben's legal counsel is informed by his personal experience as a game developer. He has developed a multithreaded on-line RPG server in C++, dubbed "Archon," and open-sourced a ROM2.4 derivative MUD codebase. He is also co-inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 9,078,103 for a geogaming technology used to create "parallel reality" games. Ben is also a co-author of the American Bar Association's Legal Guide to Video Game Development, and has written for Landslide, the American Bar Association's intellectual property law journal, including an article focused on legal issues in board game design. He also co-hosts A Lawyer's Guide to the Galaxy, a podcast about the intersection of geek culture and the law.

Gillian Smith (she/they) is the Director of Interactive Media and Game Development at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and GDC Summit Advisor for the Educators' Summit. She teaches artificial intelligence, novel interface design, and design-based research, and has a research practice focused on critical AI literacy and the ethics of generative AI in creative industries. Gillian has previously spoken at the GDC Education Summit, has given keynotes at academic conferences including AIIDE and IEEE Conference on Games, and is a regular speaker at academic and para-academic conferences related to games and interactive media.

Matt Stevenson has worked as a Senior Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) for over 5 years where he directly assists studios in building, running, and growing games in the cloud. In addition to general cloud architecture, Matt specializes in generative AI and game streaming. He is a 2x AWS re:Invent speaker who also has a passion for exploring human skills such as connection, leadership, and collaboration in the age of AI. Arya: Arya Subramanyam is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based in Toronto, Canada, helping Independent Software Vendors architect and deploy cutting-edge generative AI solutions that push the boundaries of intelligent applications. Arya holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia. She specializes in multi-agent systems and production-ready AI architectures, and has presented on leveraging generative AI in gaming at multiple industry conferences including the AI & Games Conference in London, the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2025) in Ottawa, and AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. Arya actively contributes to the broader tech community through published technical blogs and thought leadership on emerging AI technologies.

Arya Subramanyam is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based in Toronto, Canada, helping Independent Software Vendors architect and deploy cutting-edge generative AI solutions that push the boundaries of intelligent applications. Arya holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Engineering from the University of British Columbia. She specializes in multi-agent systems and production-ready AI architectures, and has presented on leveraging generative AI in gaming at multiple industry conferences including the AI & Games Conference in London, the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2025) in Ottawa, and AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. Arya actively contributes to the broader tech community through published technical blogs and thought leadership on emerging AI technologies.

As a Senior Application Researcher, Zhipeng has dedicated his efforts to harnessing AI technology for game asset production since joining the company. His work involves two key areas: First, to employ differentiable rendering techniques to automate the downgrading of high-specification art assets, encompassing model LOD (Level of Detail) optimization, SOC (Software Occlusion Culling) proxy generation, and skeletal animation simplification etc. Second, he utilizes AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) algorithms to automatically produce high-quality assets. The overarching goal is to enhance the quality and efficiency of game asset development through AI, thereby reducing production costs while effectively tackling the challenges of game content diversification, multi-platform deployment, and globalization.

Steve started off about 20 years ago writing renderers for graphics engines, before hoping into Sony's ATG helping with platform technology on PSVita and PS4. He joined AMD in 2016, where - among other things - he led development of FidelityFX and worked on GPU hardware. Since 2024 he has been at Intel.

Michael Vella is General Counsel at AviaGames, bringing deep expertise in cross-border intellectual property, compliance, and complex disputes to support Avia's global operations and growth.

With nearly 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry—spanning AAA games, Hollywood blockbusters, and founding FZD School of Design—I have dedicated my career to IP creation. At FZD, my focus was not just on teaching artistic skills but on developing courses that explore the core principles and practical steps behind crafting compelling IPs. In 2024, I joined Lightspeed Studios, where I now work on next-gen AAA games, integrating my IP development process into the studio's workflow. Our goal is not just to create successful games, but to build memorable and engaging intellectual properties.