The Future Is Now: Drew Hills Of Veritone On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The Tech Scene
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Two fold…authenticity is one. Allowing someone to own their brand forever. Giving them 100% control of where and when it is distributed. In addition, allowing more control and distribution at scale. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t again mention producing content in multiple languages in the talent’s voice. This is an ultimate dedication to inclusion and truly serves so many people on a large scale. Not only offering authentic and personalized content to audiences in their native language but also allowing talent to connect with their audience like never before.
As a part of our series about cutting edge technological breakthroughs, I had the pleasure of interviewing Drew Hilles, SVP Global Commercial Sales.
Currently, SVP/General Manager of Veritone Inc. Veritone’s Operating System for Artificial Intelligence (aiWare) orchestrates and unlocks the power of cognitive computing to transform and analyze audio, video, text and more into actionable insights. Drew runs Media and Entertainment Globally for Veritone. Veritone’s aiWare enables media companies, brands, networks, teams, and political groups to grow their audience, enhance workflow efficiencies, improve the efficacy of ad campaigns, index live and archived media content, and unlock hidden revenue streams.
Drew was one of the key founding Senior Executives of dMarc Broadcasting (later acquired by GOOGLE for $1.4 Billion). For GOOGLE, Mr Hilles served as a Senior Director of Sales overseeing Content Partnerships and Advertising Sales & Operations ($25 Billion in revenue). Drew was a key Senior Executive of GOOGLE’S North American Organization for 4 years. Drew worked on many key projects at GOOGLE including a GOOGLE sales restructure and and integration of YouTube’s Sales Organization.
Thank you so much for doing this with us !Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career that lead you to Veritone?
The “AI sunami.” Some say artificial intelligence will be as impactful to the human race as fire. I want to be a part of that impactful pursuit for good. We were the first to develop an AI operating system (aiWARE™) and I knew that would accelerate the impact AI could have on companies and people.
Can you tell us about the cutting-edge technological breakthroughs you see in use of the Veritone’s MARVEL.ai? How do you think that will help people and/or the industry?
I can’t think of MARVEL.ai these days without thinking about scale and localization. Localization is not a novel idea or technological advancement, however localization in the original talent’s voice is — and it’s mind blowing. Think about releasing podcasts, radio programs, movies, and TV shows in multiple languages in that same actor’s voice. It’s incredible and it will fundamentally change how not only the media and entertainment industry operates but also corporations for training materials and government agencies issuing critical announcements. Content curation and distribution has accelerated by multiples over the last several years and synthetic voice can aid in keeping up with that pace from; localization, distribution, etc…
How does Veritone’s MARVEL.ai fit into a Future Now technology that might change the world?
Expanding on the previous question too, this type of authentic localization and dubbing at scale will not only change how these organizations do business but it will change the way audiences relate to and engage with content. Inclusion is a challenge for nearly every single company out there and now those same companies have a way to include audiences who speak a different language in a way that is more personable and genuine.
What will be the “tipping point” for MARVEL.ai?
Certainly there are numerous media companies who clearly see the benefit and value in synthetic voice for advertisements and endorsements, localization, regionalization, news, financial and weather reporting, scene narration, audiobooks, etc. Emergency public safety announcements, corporate training materials across all industries, education –- we are already seeing demand in these areas, the tipping point will be when these industries outside of media and entertainment realize the benefits at scale.
What revenue opportunities are there for media companies, brands, celebrities and influencers that are using MARVEL.ai?
Celebrities, athletes, and influencers are often in highest demand during their busiest times of the year. An ethically created and authorized clone of their voice makes it so they are accessible even when they are on the road, playing a game, or otherwise performing. Perhaps more importantly, their voice clone can be put to work when they are at home spending valuable time with their families. In other words, synthetic voice reduces the time needed to produce content such as audio endorsements, saving production costs and accelerating voice talents’ ability to monetize their brand (and the brands’ benefit as well).
What is Veritone doing to ensure that the use of MARVEL.ai is not abused for unethical such as voice authentication fraud?
First and foremost, Veritone will not ever produce a clone of someone’s voice without verbal and written consent from the talent themselves or in the case of the deceased, the estate and/or IP owner. Once that is in place, from a technical standpoint, we have implemented protective measures such as inaudible watermark and traceability. Furthermore, the voice owner has full control over who can license their voice and for which projects. Additionally, Veritone is an active member of governing bodies such as The Open Voice Network and the IAB. We uphold extremely high standards of security, and believe that transparency maintains that trust. We will always protect the t, their voice identity, and any IP you create with our technology.
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. 🙂
Two fold…authenticity is one. Allowing someone to own their brand forever. Giving them 100% control of where and when it is distributed. In addition, allowing more control and distribution at scale. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t again mention producing content in multiple languages in the talent’s voice. This is an ultimate dedication to inclusion and truly serves so many people on a large scale. Not only offering authentic and personalized content to audiences in their native language but also allowing talent to connect with their audience like never before.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I really like to study great leaders. I think to be a great leader you first need to be a great Student. I think great students are great leaders. You should never stop being a student
- Always be curious
- Always learn
- Be open
- Understand that you don’t know everything
- Ask question
To be a great leader you need to be willing to be a great student.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
The Future Is Now: Drew Hills Of Veritone On How Their Technological Innovation Will Shake Up The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
