John Gauntt is host of the Culture & Code podcast and newsletter out of Seattle. Culture & Code explores Creativity and Artificial Intelligence. What is it? What does it mean? Who benefits? Who pays? Aimed at creative professionals in media & entertainment, marketing, and communications; Culture and Code spotlights innovation happening across storytelling, AI technology, and audiences. John’s analysis of the impacts of advanced technology on media and marketing have been featured in The Economist and eMarketer while his speaking credits include South by Southwest, Infinity Festival Hollywood, Podcast Movement and the Monaco Media Forum. John holds degrees in Computer Information Systems and English Literature. In 2019, he earned an executive certificate in technology leadership from the MIT Sloan School in partnership with the MIT Computer Science & AI Laboratory (CSAIL).

Shyamala Prayaga is a distinguished Senior Software Product Manager at NVIDIA, where she serves as a driving force behind innovation and creativity in the fields of Conversational AI, Generative AI, Deep Learning, and User Experience (UX). With a career spanning over two decades, Shyamala has solidified her reputation as a visionary leader, speaker, and author in the realm of artificial intelligence and inclusive design. She has not only played key roles at prominent companies but has also ventured into the realm of education as the founder of the Digital Assistant Academy. Shyamala's career is marked by her dedication to user experience (UX) and voice technology. With over 23 years of experience, she specializes in designing intuitive and user-centric interfaces, contributing to the usability and customer satisfaction of various platforms. Her journey encompasses over ten years of expertise in crafting voice interfaces for Connected Home Experiences, Automotive, and Wearables, showcasing her deep knowledge in the field. In addition to her practical contributions, Shyamala authored the book "Emotionally Engaged Digital Assistant: Humanizing Design and Technology." The book provides frameworks and principles for implementing trustworthy and emotionally engaging voice interfaces, making it an invaluable resource for those in the field.

Carin Gilfry is an award-winning voice actor, singer, and producer. She is the vice president of the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), the co-chair of the VOcation Conference, and the founder of Voice Actors of NYC. Carin has voiced thousands of commercials, instructional videos, IVR systems, eLearning programs, documentaries, and video games, and narrated and produced over 150 audiobooks. Her past and current clients include CVS, FedEx, Volkswagen, Citibank, Pfizer, Quaker, Clairol, Estee Lauder, Neutrogena, GrubHub, Little Tikes, Play Doh, and many more. She is the narrator for many true crime series including Final Moments on Oxygen, and has appeared in video games including Saints Row 2022, Warframe, and Heroes Charge. She plays the Game Master in Voice of Card 3, Beasts of Burden. Carin Gilfry began her career as a singer. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Arts from The USC Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in Vocal Arts from The Juilliard School. She has performed as a principal and soloist with New York City Opera, The Los Angeles Opera, Opera San Jose, The Santa Fe Opera, The Phoenix Symphony, Le Theatre du Chatelet and many more. Carin also frequently sings children's music, and in 2015 produced a children's series called Rosie's Place which she wrote, composed, hosted, and acted as puppeteer.

Noelle Russell, Chief AI Officer, AI Leadership Institute: Noelle Russell is a multi-award-winning technologist with an entrepreneurial spirit who specializes in helping companies with emerging technology, cloud, AI and Web 3.0. She has led teams at NPR, Microsoft, IBM, Accenture, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is a consistent champion for Data and AI literacy. She has built over 100 conversational AI applications since 2014 and has over 2 million unique users, and 30K 4-5 star reviews on Amazon Alexa. She also influenced almost a $1 billion in revenue for Microsoft AI during her tenure there speaking to Fortune 500 executives, running whiteboarding technical sessions, and leading internal hackathons for her clients. In the last year, she was awarded the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Artificial Intelligence (for the 3rd year) as well as VentureBeat’s Women in AI Responsibility and Ethics award.