Avatars Are the UI of the Internet: Why Every App, Game, Corp Will Have An AI Persona - Akash Nigam

Apr 28, 2026

Akash Nigam, CEO of Genies, builds portable stylized avatars used by the NBA, MLB and Sanrio. He discusses why avatars will be the visual layer of the internet. He explains rapid avatar generation, IP partnerships, stylized vs photoreal choices, and how interactive AI personalities deepen one-on-one fan relationships.

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INSIGHT

China Robotics Demos Highlight Capability And Data Risk

Recent robotics demos in China (humanoid marathon, Sony table tennis robot) signal fast hardware + AI progress and possible data/model proliferation risks.
Guests warn open-source/pretraining data rooted in China can create infiltration risks for western AI stacks.

ADVICE

Provide Landing Zones For Workers Displaced By AI

Companies and governments must create retraining and "landing zones" for workers displaced by AI to avoid social fallout.
Microsoft's voluntary retirement program for 9,000 signals early waves; broader reskilling infrastructure is urgent.

INSIGHT

Avatars Are The Visual Layer Of AI

Avatars will become the primary visual interface for AI personalities across apps, games, websites, and celebrities.
Akash argues Genies provides a portable visual layer that lets any AI persona have a consistent face and behavior across platforms.

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Akash Nigam has been building Genies since 2017 with a conviction that avatars will be the visual layer of the internet. As CEO of Genies, he's assembled IP partners including the NBA, MLB, Sanrio, and Kakao, with more major studios and agencies set to announce before the end of May. The pitch: every app, game, website, and celebrity is going to have an AI personality. Genies wants to be the framework that gives all of those personalities a face.

What separates Genies is portability and scale. A character that took eight weeks in 2021 now takes ten minutes. Staying stylized rather than photorealistic isn't just aesthetic — it's what got Hollywood to the table. Talent doesn't want deepfakes. They want a Genie: trained on private IP data, capable of one-on-one fan relationships that make Instagram feel thin.

AI XR News: Tim Cook stepped aside as Apple CEO with hardware chief John Ternus taking over. Humanoid robots ran a half marathon in Beijing while a Sony robot defeated professional table tennis players, opening a conversation about Chinese robotics capabilities and AI data infiltration risks the US is still underestimating.

Key Moments:

[00:06:45] Tim Cook steps aside: what the Apple leadership transition signals about wearable AI
[00:12:00] Humanoid robots and table tennis: China's robotics flex
[00:13:00] The data infiltration argument: open-source risk and a warning for the US
[00:24:00] The IP land grab: NBA, MLB, Sanrio, Kakao, Naver Webtoon
[00:28:00] From photo to avatar in 10 minutes: how Genies' generation pipeline scaled
[00:32:00] Why Instagram feels thin and how Genies enables one-on-one fan relationships
[00:49:00] 80 people, $150M raised, and why Bob Iger sees Genies as the future of Disney

If AI personalities are going to be everywhere, what do they look like? Akash has been building the answer for nearly a decade. Q3 is when it goes live.

Brought to you by Zappar and Mattercraft — the leading visual development environment for immersive 3D web experiences. Mattercraft now includes an AI assistant for design, code, and debugging in real time.

Start building at mattercraft.io.

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