Makers of The Metaverse: Anand Srivatsa Of Tobii On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality Industries

An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Vision — Understanding the kind of company you want to be a part of and aligning with their vision is essential. Setting the vision or aligning your vision with what the company is trying to build is crucial because we are talking about creating technology for the future.

The Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality Industries are so exciting. What is coming around the corner? How will these improve our lives? What are the concerns we should keep an eye out for? Aside from entertainment, how can VR or AR help work or other parts of life? To address this, we had the pleasure of interviewing Anand Srivatsa, CEO of Tobii, the global leader in eye tracking and pioneer of attention computing.

Anand Srivatsa is the chief executive officer of Tobii AB. He first joined the company as division chief executive officer for Tobii’s previous business unit Tobii Tech in 2019, bringing two decades of high-tech industry experience. Previously, he was vice president of the Client Computing Group and general manager of Intel’s Desktop, Systems and Channel Groups. Anand holds a MSc in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you grew up?

I grew up in different parts of the world and moved around a fair amount. I was born in India, in the city of Bangalore. But I grew up for most of my life in Mumbai, which is the financial and culture capital of India. I had the chance to go to boarding school relatively early in life. But in general, my experience was one of moving around in different cities, meeting new people, and making new friends. Then when I was 11 years old, my family moved to the United States, to New York City. That was a major opportunity for me to experience a new culture and new lifestyle. And I’ve been fortunate this has been a trend that has continued throughout most of my life.

Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?

My response here is not actually related to a book, film, or podcast. But I would say watching Michael Jordan play basketball had one of the biggest impacts on my life. In Michael Jordan, I saw somebody who was highly skilled. But at the same time recognized he needed to put a lot of work in to make himself successful. And that was something that I unconsciously internalized from a young age. So I understood that to be successful or make an impact, you need to have a combination of talent, discipline, and commitment. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to achieve what you want.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in the X Reality industry? We’d love to hear it.

Even though it is not specific to the virtual reality industry, the first story that stands out to me is the book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, which has some elements of science fiction and future fiction. Parts of the story show what the Internet could become in terms of driving a public opinion from concealed actors. I enjoyed the book very much from a pure science fiction perspective. However, over the last four or five years, I saw how science fiction could portray not just the technology we use but what kind of social outcomes are possible with it. In the book, we see how mass communication platforms can be used to shape public opinion in a way that is not transparent. And over the last few years, we’ve witnessed polarization in our society, in many cases being driven by people online, and it’s unclear who’s driving the agenda. So, understanding how some of these technologies, like the metaverse and virtual reality, will have a broader implication on society is one of the things that inspired me to work in the industry.

I’m also a big Star Trek fan, so I see the metaverse playing out like the hollow deck type of construct. This is a space where you can make whatever you need for that particular exercise, whether it is a simulation or training or enjoyment or entertainment. And in my view of the metaverse, we will be able to go and enjoy all kinds of different scenarios that are either dangerous or impossible to get to in our physical world. Through the metaverse, we would be able to transcend those limitations.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this fascinating career?

One of the most significant risks I’ve taken was the decision to move from the United States to take a sales job in Taiwan. It was a professional risk because I was moving away from my comfort zone, moving into a new culture, and working with a team at Intel I did not know very well and in a different part of the business. On the personal side, my wife was pregnant with our first child, and we were going to move when the child was less than eight weeks old. When I got the opportunity, my wife was in the second trimester. But we discussed it and decided that despite all risks, there were a lot of exciting opportunities both personally and professionally. I got the job and what was left was to go and see Taiwan, which we had never been to before. We take the trip, and on the plane, my wife says, “Ok, I’m looking for a sign”. For me, that meant there was no way we were moving. Five days of the seven-day trip go by, and no sign apart from the fact that it was a nice place. That day, we took the subway during rush hour, and as we were standing on this crowded train, my wife felt this tug on her arm. A very kind older woman guided her to a seat reserved for pregnant women and the elderly. And my wife then said, “yes, that was the sign”. So that’s how we decided to move to Taiwan. And the rest of my career has been a consistent willingness and ability to take risks. I can tell you that if I had not taken the risk to move to Taiwan, my career would’ve been quite different.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

This is something that happened during the launch of one of Intel’s marquee gaming products. At the time, I was leading the desktop business, and we were always on the lookout for the next best gaming processor. And I had the opportunity to lead the product definition. This was a product that was going to set the bar for processors, and I planned a big launch event for it in New York City. We knew this was going to be the best technology out there at the time, so we made sure everything about the launch was perfect. After the event was over, I took my team out for pizza to celebrate. But all of sudden, the PR team on the west coast calls to say the press was writing that Intel was faking benchmarks. This is one of the few times we had worked with a third-party company to set the benchmarks rather than waiting for the press to create them after the launch. And it turned out that the benchmarks provided by the third-party company, and shared during the event, had a mistake in how they configured one of the competitors’ parts. The data was going to show that Intel was by far the best product, but the ones we provided showed us doing better than expected, which became the center of attention after all. This turned into two months of crisis communications. The lesson here is that you can never control everything, even when you think things are perfect.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I give a lot of credit to my wife for helping to drive me to be the kind of person I am. Being Indian and growing up in a fairly conservative Indian family, there’s a bias towards being quite conservative in your choices and not taking too much risk to go outside your traditional norms. And as expected, I was an engineer, did a master’s degree in engineering, and got a job as an engineer. But as I started my career, I realized my interests were in many ways outside of this realm and in places like business or sales, which were quite different than what I studied. These would also put me outside of my comfort zone and the safe environment I had been preparing myself for. So the person who encouraged me to take these risks was my wife. I look back now, and most of the success I’ve had has been thanks to the ability to go and take risks, putting myself in new situations to demonstrate I can contribute. Without a doubt, the diversity of my experience has been a key asset in allowing me to grow, try new things, and be chosen for challenging tasks. If I had not been able to take risks with the encouragement of my wife and or the support of my family to move around the world, I certainly would not be where I am today.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

The technologies we work on at Tobii have immense opportunities to make the world a better place. In fact, this is part of our mission statement to improve the world with technology that understands human attention and intent. The application of these technologies can drive some massive improvements across the globe. For example, there is a lot of potential for contribution in areas like education, where our technologies can be used to help more broadly assess how students are learning and help them learn in a way that is better for them. This can be a huge tool towards bridging the education divide we see between developing and developed nations and helping children everywhere achieve their potential.

We also see our technologies helping power new medical diagnostic devices, enabling more accurate brain health or eyesight-related diagnostic devices. We have tremendous opportunities in many fields, and I’m excited to see that future become a reality.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. The VR, AR, and MR industries seem so exciting right now. What are the 3 things in particular that most excite you about the industry? Can you explain or give an example?

The most exciting part to me, both in VR and AR, is that these types of devices can give us experiences beyond our physical limitations. For example, it can enable us to simulate or train in environments that are not possible to replicate safely. Or we could all experience being in a different environment, like Mars or the Moon. Those kinds of things are super exciting in the VR and AR space. These can also help transcend our limitations, whether that is the ability to remember all the information we need, help improve our lives or make us more productive. Hopefully, these devices will also save us some time to help us get more free time to enjoy our lives.

What are the 3 things that concern you about the VR, AR and MR industries? Can you explain? What can be done to address those concerns?

• First, we have a physical challenge. These devices will be on people’s heads, so they need to be comfortable and something they will want to wear for extended periods of time.
• Second, there is a technology challenge. On the VR side, we need to deliver on the promise that users will be able to use these devices to mimic what would be an experience that they could not have in the physical world. We need a level of immersiveness that is not available today. This is something our technology at Tobii can help enable more quickly.
• The third challenge is users are concerned about more of their data being tracked or stored by companies. We are now entering a new type of digital and physical experience, so the feeling is their data will be more exposed. Today we already have scenarios where we feel companies are tracking our data in ways that are not transparent to the user. To make these kinds of experiences successful and something users really want, the tech industry as a whole has to think about how we are going to put users in control of their data, so as they are experiencing these great new immersive environments, they aren’t worrying about what is being tracked. In fact, at Tobii, we have a Data Transparency Policy all clients using our technology must agree to.

I think the entertainment aspects of VR, AR, and MR are apparent. Can you share with our readers how these industries can help us at work?

Today, from a work perspective, we are looking to transcend our physical limitations more than ever before. We’ve seen this in the last couple of years when as we’ve dealt with the pandemic and needed to collaborate with our colleagues without meeting them face to face anymore. VR can potentially help make those collaboration experiences more immersive and efficient than just being on a video conference. So from that perspective, it will help bridge colleagues across the world. It will hopefully create an environment where people from all over the world can collaborate and be more productive.

With AR, there are also significant opportunities to improve and create new tools for frontline workers or people who need information at their fingertips while working. Today many frontline workers, like surgeons, are in scenarios where they are using their hands, so they cannot carry a tablet with them at all times. And if AR can enable them to get the information they need to be more productive, I think there’s a massive opportunity for commercial use cases around augmented reality as well.

Are there other ways that VR, AR, and MR can improve our lives? Can you explain?

VR, AR and MR can help create more online communities where people can meet others with similar interests and break down barriers. Typically, we’re only limited to interacting with people in our own community, city, or country. But the metaverse could help make the world seem like a smaller place and create more of a sense of community. That hopefully is something that will manifest itself when the metaverse becomes more real.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about working in your industry? Can you explain what you mean?

There are a couple of different myths.

• First, if we look at it from the context of high tech, there is a myth assuming almost everybody in the high-tech industry is an engineer or has studied engineering. But there is a tremendous opportunity when we look at the kind of products that we deliver for a range of backgrounds to create value to build the future these devices and our technologies will enable. And this ranges from sociologists to finance people, to technologists, and on and on. So, I think the myth that the industry is only populated with engineers is probably overstated.
• The second myth is that companies aren’t thinking about the impact of technology. So maybe they don’t see both the positive and negative elements of the technology created. This is something that at Tobii, we debate a lot. How is our technology used, and what is the intention with the technologies we put out? I think that is quite a common scenario in most companies. People, in general, are not just building technology for the sake of it. But we’re really trying to develop products to make people’s lives better.

What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The VR, AR or MR Industries?”

1. Vision — Understanding the kind of company you want to be a part of and aligning with their vision is essential. Setting the vision or aligning your vision with what the company is trying to build is crucial because we are talking about creating technology for the future.
2. Persistence — This industry has been through a hype bubble where people have expected VR to already have become quite mainstream. And, of course, these technological changes take much longer than expected. Thus, sticking to your guns and being persistent about what you think will be the future and create value is necessary.
3. Innovation — Technology challenges us to overcome difficulties to create solutions that delight users. So constant innovation is key.
4. Creativity — Creativity is also very important and needs to be paired with innovation to go back in and think about how you can continue to deliver experiences even if the technology doesn’t currently meet everything you need.
5. Setting the right expectations — There is no big explanation here, but setting expectations internally and externally is an integral part of a constantly-evolving industry.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

Justice in education would be my personal passion. Every child should be able to access education that can help them reach their potential. If all children had access to high-quality education, it would give people a similar kind of start. So I would love to be part of a movement that enables that and makes that real.

We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

That person would be Barack Obama. He is a leader who has broken through numerous barriers. I would love to hear from him how he was able to persevere, despite the obvious challenges in getting to the positions that he’s gotten to.

Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!

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Makers of The Metaverse: Anand Srivatsa Of Tobii On The Future Of The VR, AR & Mixed Reality… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.