3160: The Intersection of AI, Immersive Tech, and Cultural Preservation

[00:00:04] How is AI transforming industries while preserving and celebrating cultural heritage? Something we don't talk about very often on this podcast, and I'm keen to correct that today, because my guest, Hussein Halak, is the founder and CEO of a company called Next Decentrum, a visionary company at the forefront of blending AI and immersive technology.

[00:00:28] And if you're a regular listener, you will know it's when technologies converge. That's the magical moment that has always excited me. And my guest today has got 25 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur and thought leader. He's helped launch more than 20 ventures and trained thousands of entrepreneurs around the world.

[00:00:48] But his work at Next Decentrum is redefining how businesses harness emerging technologies to create meaningful customer experiences and foster innovation. But today, I want to talk about the growing role of AI in traditional industries, from reimagining corporate branding to revolutionizing cultural institutions.

[00:01:09] How can this convergence of technology enhance learning? This is a question I want to ask, as well as accelerate global knowledge sharing and make cultural heritage more accessible. And what lessons can we take from my guest's value-driven approach to tech adoption? Well, get ready for a fascinating conversation about the potential of AI to shape the future of both business and culture.

[00:01:35] So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are and what you do? Thank you for having me, Neil. I really appreciate it. I'm looking forward to this conversation. My name is Hussain Halak and in many ways, I am someone who is a creative at heart. Everything I've done actually stems from that. I love technology and I love building companies.

[00:01:59] And all of these things are things that I got into without kind of prior planning. It was more like I saw something I like and I pursued it. So if there's anything that defines me and defines what I do is I see things that are inspiring, usually at the intersection of creativity, culture, technology, usually advanced technology in particular and like the cutting edge.

[00:02:25] And I would pursue that. So, um, you, I'm the kid who wanted to be an astronaut when a rocket scientist when I was young. I absolutely love that. And you say you're creative at heart and that really shines through when I was doing a little research on you. I mean, you've got more than 25 years of experience across branding, tech, gamification, and so many other areas that I could talk about too. But I'm curious in everything that you've seen,

[00:02:51] and as someone that is passionate about new things and things that inspires them, how have you seen AI evolve, especially in impacting maybe some of those traditional industries? And what is it that inspired you to focus on harnessing AI and immersive technologies with your work today? I feel this, there's gotta be a story there because you've seen this grow from the beginning, right? Well, yeah, I've, I mean, I've been fascinated with technology for forever now.

[00:03:17] I remember for, for those of us who haven't, who haven't been around when the internet was not a thing, it, we had newspapers, right? And there was a newspaper, a particular one that had on the last page, always the small, small section, I think like around combined of all the news around 500 words about the latest technologies. And I would wait patiently for my dad to, to walk, walk in from his, from his job, bring the newspaper.

[00:03:45] And when he finishes or while he's reading the, the headlines and I'm, my, my eyes are fixated on the last page, just reading what's the latest, what have they invented? So I would say the reason I'm into AI and the latest technology is because it is the latest. And if, if I'm going to be part of this world, I want to, I want to be involved in the latest happenings. It's just, I'm fascinated with these kinds of things and hope that I'll be able to contribute in some way.

[00:04:15] So that's kind of the drive, the kid in me that drives all of this. And that's why I get into the fields that I get into. And there's no, like, like Steve Jobs says, the dots connect looking backwards, not forward. There's no, absolutely no strategy to what I'm jumping into sometimes it feels like, but when I look back, I was like, oh, this makes sense. But AI has, has exploded in the past few years.

[00:04:38] And the reason is that happens with every technology, just like, let's say, if we take the internet, the internet has been in the making before. I use it as an analogy because people can understand and kind of wrap their head around the internet and they use it. They have used it for the last, let's say, 20, 30 years, but it has been in the making since the fifties. And it, it took all of the communication technologies and electronics and all of the advancements to make the internet happen.

[00:05:08] And the same thing is applicable for AI. AI as separate technologies and as a field has been in the making for decades. And what ended up happening is because of the overlap of several breakthroughs in different technologies, but connected, it has given rise to where AI is right now. And quickly, those are data science and big data. We were able to manage and store and manipulate massive amounts of data.

[00:05:38] Technology as in the processing power, it's cheaper, far cheaper right now and far, far more stronger, like in, in, in, in multitudes of ways. So that gave us the ability to process things really fast. And then the, the few breakthroughs in the kind of language models that, that has been achieved over the past decade. Those things combined together gave us the AI revolution that we are experiencing right now.

[00:06:06] And this is probably a great opportunity to introduce everyone listening to next decent room. And you guys have picked up a reputation of being somewhat of a global leader in digital innovation that helps organizations transform the way that they engage with audiences through. And again, you said you're creative at heart. And it's so, it's so apparent here because you do this through immersive storytelling, advanced technology, and seamless digital experiences.

[00:06:32] And there's a lot of talk and hype at the moment around AI and how it has the potential to maybe redefine customer experiences. But I've got to ask, how are you leveraging AI to transform how businesses approach branding to engage with their audiences? Because we hear a lot about the buzzword AI, but I think learning more about that, that real value, that real ROI that you can get from it. So what are you noticing here and how are you using it? There's, there's three things for every technology that are true.

[00:07:01] There's the hype where, you know, people assign things to the technology, which the technology is not able to do. Sometimes by the people who are making the technology themselves, like we noticed when first AI came, everybody's talking about, you know, AGI and how is going to take over the world. Because this is fascinating and people rather talk about that than boring, you know, desktop applications. And of course, there's also the, there's what the technology can do actually. And there's the impact of technology.

[00:07:29] Every technology has an impact that AI will definitely change how we work, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Like, it's like, this is like with science and scientific explorations and scientific achievements. It's, uh, these things do have multiple, multiple, let's say facets and elements. And it's hard to kind of talk about them all. It doesn't make a good story, but good stories will, will go like a story about AI taking over the world and, and making our lives easier.

[00:07:59] The fact is, AI right now is impacting the most mundane of tasks. So, and that's probably where AI actually going to be the most beneficial, uh, at the moment or the most felt, let's say by regular audiences. So let's say things that used to take forever when you're talking to your, I don't know, a telco operator to get some, some response or feedback because they don't have enough people waiting on the phone.

[00:08:26] These kinds of things can be taken over by AI agents that are fully aware of what the company does, a fully aware of their terms and conditions, and they can address you and answer you really quickly. So the sense of speed will be able to achieve that. We've been experiencing AI with the use of Amazon. Let's say when you order stuff, it kind of promotes things for you. And, and we experienced with social media and media, the recommendation algorithm.

[00:08:49] These are things that make life supposedly easier and it kind of, uh, personalizes things around us where AI is gonna, um, kind of, um, I would say, uh, the hype and, and that's, that's, that's coming up.

[00:09:03] And where it's exciting is where AI really helps with, uh, in breakthrough areas where we had stagnation, let's say, or it's, it requires a lot of computing power and it's an unknown area like, uh, uh, biology or biochemistry, uh, let's say the development of medicine and stuff like that.

[00:09:23] Or in, in, in medical applications where, uh, you need, you need a lot of experience and it takes a long time for, let's say for a human being to, to go from no knowledge to becoming very knowledgeable. It takes the doctor, I think anywhere between, I think six to 10 years to become the doctor that you can rely on. So technology can help accelerate these kinds of things and, and, and make it, uh, we've, we've used it already with robotics and, you know, doing, uh, procedures that are more accurate, less error.

[00:09:52] So we'll see technology and especially I impacting those areas heavily. Um, and the last element, which is the, I would say the, um, the challenges of any technology, every technology comes with its own challenges. AI is, is powerful in certain areas, but we can vary in a lot of other areas, let's say, uh, a bias, uh, the training data, right? I is already running out of, let's say training data already.

[00:10:15] Uh, and we're seeing social media companies suggesting that they will use AI, uh, P instead of people to kind of interact with you. So the world might be far more isolating than we already think it is already. So, uh, there are, there are all these elements and next centrum.

[00:10:33] And the reason we, we built this company is to help, uh, companies who are wanting to do great things in the world to navigate these challenges of, of technology, not just AI, all emerging technologies in particular, and the overlap of those technologies. And if we were to take an area such as cultural institutions, they're often perceived as being slower to adapt to emerging technologies. And there is a certain amount of resistance and in some cases, even fear.

[00:11:02] So if we take an industry like that, how do you see AI playing a role in preserving and enhancing cultural heritage? And what kind of challenges do we need to address to accelerate its adoption? Because it's one of those areas that doesn't want to get left behind. Yeah, for sure. Um, I love museums and I love galleries every minute, wherever I travel. The first thing I want to visit is a museum and what galleries exist.

[00:11:28] Art is, and culture are, let's say, what makes us who we are, I think. And what connects us across borders, uh, across any challenge that we feel culture brings us together. So I think, uh, these institutions definitely, I think the challenge is not that they are, let's say, averse to technology. It's just that their mandate is about preserving and, and, you know, focusing on these artifacts. And in fact, they use a lot of technology to protect and take care of those artifacts.

[00:11:58] But the, the technology that we kind of connect with consumers, um, are, they're slow to adapt. Number one, because of budgets. I would say that's the key thing. They, they don't have like an enormous amount of budget, which is something that is, I would say, uh, really, really not good for us. We should be supporting our cultural institutions, our art and culture in a great way because it's what makes us great and what makes us who we are. So I say, I would say funding.

[00:12:26] The second thing is it takes a lot to learn and apply those technologies in, in, in a great way. So a lot of, a lot of, not just those cultural institutions, a lot of companies rely on outside players and outside partners to do that. The challenge is the agency model in our opinion doesn't work anymore. We need a partnership model. So somebody that comes in and does something for you and then go into, you know, uh, go, go in the merry way.

[00:12:52] It doesn't work because you're left with managing those things and they're becoming far more complex and far more interconnected into the, into the business. So I would say, uh, that is, that is what's needed for them to, to enter, to enter into this world. They need the technology partners that are far more involved in all of the aspects of technology impact. So right now technology impacts, not just, you know, in the past we would hire a computer, we would buy a computer and the computer would, you know, would, would make, let's say our faster and better in such ways.

[00:13:22] But right now technology will impact how we interact with customers, what we say, you know, uh, how we manage, let's say, uh, our, our reputation, um, internal, uh, let's say internal speed of communication, how we write those communications. Technology is going to be inserted or it's already been inserted in all of these elements. So a technology partner is crucial to give you training and to help the, uh, the implementation itself.

[00:13:49] And to also, uh, work with the, with the institution to make sure that it's used to, to get them to their goals. A lot of times technology is used as a utility, uh, to serve a purpose. Right now it can be seen in my opinion and, um, with the emerging technologies that are coming up as an accelerant that can get you to your objectives far more faster and help you achieve far grander vision than you thought possible. Technology is at that place right now. And that's why it's so exciting.

[00:14:19] And one of the things that's always excited me is when different emerging technologies converge to almost create new experiences. And when researching next Decentrum, one of the things that immediately stood out for me was how you're pioneering the use of immersive technology, but alongside AI. And do you have any examples that you can share of how these technologies work together to deliver more innovative experiences, especially in industries like education, art, or entertainment?

[00:14:48] It feels incredibly exciting, fresh and new. We are looking into that. The, the way we work is we don't come in with a, with a preconceived notion to the client that we work with at the end of the day, they are our partner. So we sit down and we understand what are their challenges and what they want to really achieve. And then that's why I say it's creative. We come up with ideas and together, and we, we brainstorm on how best to utilize technology to do that. We look at technology as kind of how you, how you look at Lego.

[00:15:18] So there are so many ways you can actually, you can stick to the, to the catalog and build something nice. And some people like to do that. We like to break things apart and kind of assemble them based on what you want to do. So that's actually how I've always been. I've been a lover of Lego for forever. So we, we approach it in that way and we say, what do we really want to do here? What is the funnest, most impactful thing that we can do? And that leads us to different areas. For example, with immersive technologies, how do we use that in, let's say tourism?

[00:15:48] We are working with some tourism partners, uh, in particular in Egypt to explore how emerging immersive technologies are not just, you know, a wow to, to give a wow factor, but to be an attraction and something that can at the same time achieve several goals, educate, entertain, become an attraction. And, uh, really do something that would, that would put that partner on the map on a global scale.

[00:16:14] Uh, in fact, right now, one of the, one of these projects is about holograms and how you can, uh, create almost like, um, the, a presence of someone or the agent, let's say the AI agent that you created or the human agent that is now led by AI, um, in a, in a hologram that, that makes you feel like you're talking to someone.

[00:16:36] To a real person rather than to a screen and, uh, it kind of gathers or tracks, let's say how you're feeling so that it can change its tone based on that. So these are exciting areas because what it does, it, it amplifies, uh, while I would love for everything to be human and we want everybody to be empathetic and everybody to be well-trained. That's unfortunately not, not the, not the case. And it takes a lot if a company wants to grow really fast.

[00:17:05] So I don't see just like technology has been by our side all this time. I don't see it as replacing people. I see it as, um, and of course we need to be worried about that and we need to actually take, let's say set up some, um, uh, rules and regulations to take care of people and make sure they're well taken care of. That's a given.

[00:17:26] Um, but I would say is that having technology to enable companies, let's say to grow faster, to have, uh, people trained in a, in a very, uh, in a good way to have access to these, uh, let's say hologram AI trained agents that can deal with, uh, let's say complex issues with customers. Uh, these are, these are exciting areas that are fun, that are, uh, that kind of, I don't know how it can grow and we're just exploring and testing with it. So it's exciting stuff.

[00:17:55] Well, in my former life working in it, I did say all too often what happens when stakeholders got distracted by shiny new tech solutions rather than starting with the problem first and then looking to tech second. And as someone that has launched what over 20 different ventures, you are creative at heart and incredibly passionate about your work for anybody listening.

[00:18:17] What advice would you give to those entrepreneurs looking to integrate AI into their business models, particularly in traditional industries that, that might be resistant to change any advice that you would pass on there? Absolutely. Thank you very much for the question. I would say the, the main question that we've always, or the main, let's say focus and the process is always seek to add technology, not for the, the hype, but for the real value. Technology brings a lot of great value. And sometimes the hype attracts us to it.

[00:18:46] It was like, Oh, what, what can we do with this? But when implementing the hype goes away really quickly. And if you pursue the hype, the, you're going to fail on delivering something of real value. For example, when I talked about that hologram, if the idea is like, Oh, we'll put a hologram and everybody will, will wonder, you know, and we'll, we'll be excited about it. Just like anything, any technology at its first introduction, people are wowed by it, but it's a given the next two, the next two, three days. It's like, what can I do with it?

[00:19:15] Uh, and so if you focus on real value and delivering real value to customers and your stakeholders and for the company, really doing something extraordinary in the sense of, um, how they uplift people's lives, how they deliver on their promises, their brand promise. And their products are well-made. I think technology is an accelerant. And I think that is, that is how people should see it.

[00:19:43] So they should focus first on the value and the vision they want to achieve. And then everything also needs to be realistic because it's, these technologies have an implication. So while access to AI technology now is cheap, but if you integrate AI into everything, which is what the big AI companies want at a certain point, uh, right now they're, they're, they're offering. It's a cheap price to dominate the market. Once they dominate the market, they raise their prices.

[00:20:09] And if everything you're reliant on, um, you're going to struggle to deliver the same element. So a lot of times you have to calculate, well, can I sustainably deliver this value on for a long time? Because people will come to expect it from me. And the third, uh, element is always, is it, can I do this with the existing, let's say element, simple, clean, clear, and then add to it? So can I really deliver what's the core of my value? Is the core of my value driven by the technology and technology alone?

[00:20:38] Or is the core of my value is my commitment to a certain promise, uh, and a certain, uh, let's say, um, delivery to the, to the audience. And then technology can accelerate that can enhance that, which is the ideal scenario. Uh, in my opinion. Now, some tech companies like open AI, the technology is itself the, um, let's say the product. Um, but again, even them, they delivered it in that chat format so that people can use it.

[00:21:05] If they said, well, we, we made an LLM that is for language, large language model that is incredible and does all these stuff and people couldn't use it. They wouldn't have that notoriety that they do. So usability and ability to deliver that value is, is crucial. And that's the heart of what entrepreneurs should do. And ensuring that we don't leave anybody behind is so important. And you're someone that's trained thousands of entrepreneurs around the world.

[00:21:31] So I'm curious, how do you see the intersection of education and AI evolving and what role do you think immersive technology could play in the future of learning? Cause it feels like there's a lot of opportunities here too. Yeah, absolutely. The, the, well, first of all, you can learn anything right now. I mean, you could be before because of YouTube, we are in probably a learning revolution. Um, and you should be learning all the time.

[00:21:57] I think the, the, one of the joys of life, it's sometimes we see learning because we grew up and we had to go to school as a, and I think that's unfortunately one of the, the negative impact of let's say go in school. I love going to school to be, but not the school, some of the schools I went to, um, is that learning is seen as something like a, like a chore or something that you have to do as opposed to some of the joys of life.

[00:22:24] So I think flipping that on its head and thinking of learning as a joy, you get to learn. In fact, that's how I pursued everything that I, that I wanted to do. Most of the things that I did and the companies that I built are because of an area I was curious about and I wanted to learn more about. Uh, Stephen Covey, who wrote the seven habits of highly effective people, he says, uh, the best way to, to learn is to teach.

[00:22:46] So, uh, so learning and then having, having the ability or offering yourself to teach other people. And now you can do that with the help of AI where you can actually practice and, uh, and you can, uh, test some of your ideas with, uh, a chat bot or, or one of these agents. And it can hone your skills. So instead of training in front of the mirror, it can become your mirror and can give you that early feedback.

[00:23:15] Uh, so instead of having to go through hundreds of people to, let's say, master your, let's say, uh, presentation skills, you can actually go through 50 because you've already trained with the AI and said, here's what I'm going to say. Here's, you know, the points that AI can give you that feedback based on a lot of learning.

[00:23:32] So I see it as very interactive and imagine if that kind of becomes a visual, more immersive to all of your other senses, learning can really become something not just fun. It also can become something that is, that is lasting something that you want to do all the time. You spend a day or two. I mean, if we look at audio books, for example, um, and I, I love reading books, but audio books gave me access to be able to listen to that book.

[00:24:02] And, and, and understand it while on, let's say walking. So I could do two things instead of having to sit somewhere and having to open the book and read it. I don't have to engage my eyes so I can kind of engage with nature. So these kind of, and this is just a shift in technology that is simple, but it's extremely powerful. Imagine that shift with an AI agent that can teach you, that can immerse you in a, in a, in an environment. How fast can you learn? How much deeper can you learn?

[00:24:29] Um, I think we were just about to, uh, to open a revolution in education. If we're able to use these technologies as well. And you're talking to me today from Vancouver and I'm always passionate about shining a light on areas outside of Silicon Valley. But before you came on the podcast today, I was reading that you were recognizing Vancouver as one of its top tech influences.

[00:24:52] So congrats there. I know you're far too humble to bring that up yourself, but I mean, from your perspective, how is the local tech ecosystem in Vancouver adapting to some of the AI innovations that we're talking about here? And what role does it play in fostering some of the global advancements in technology? Cause I'd love to shine a light on this and, and some of the great work you're doing here too. Thank you. Vancouver has always been an incredible city.

[00:25:18] I landed here 10 years ago and, um, and, uh, I was able to engage in the community and add value to the point that the community recognized in many ways. One of them is this funny way of, uh, you know, like I'm one of the influencers seeing my face next to some of the people I highly respect and looked up to is like was, uh, was surprising. Surprising and kind of surreal in a way. So thank you for bringing that up. Vancouver is a wonderful city for entrepreneurs, wonderful city for techies.

[00:25:45] It has a history of, of, of engineering companies that have graduated many highly technical and very capable people. And it has that uniqueness of combining several industries that are, that are, they are exceptional at. So for example, when it comes to immersive technologies and when it comes to, let's say media, Vancouver is a heart of, let's say, uh, many of the VFX studios, many of the animation studios and, uh, film production happen in Vancouver.

[00:26:15] A lot of times, uh, some of the favorite films. So, uh, that overlap of that tech, let's say industry with, uh, a lot of people we have, I think we say in, in Vancouver, we have the hottest place on earth and the coldest place on earth because we have, uh, D waves, which is, which does quantum computing. And we have, uh, fusion technology as well in, in Vancouver. So we have, we have the hottest and the coldest. So there's a lot happening in Vancouver. Vancouver is not that good in telling the world about it.

[00:26:45] Uh, but yeah, there's a lot of innovation here. And I think it is set to, if the city is given the amount of attention and care by the government, because we can't ignore that rule, uh, Vancouver can definitely be one of the hottest areas for innovation in general, digital innovation in particular, and the overlap of these technologies, not one technology in particular. And that is very unique about Vancouver. It's not just diverse with its cultures and the people it brings together, but it's also diverse in.

[00:27:14] And the kind of technologies that, and evolutions that we have, we have several unicorn companies out of Vancouver as well. So, but the biggest challenge is that the, we are far from the centers of influence in Canada. So a lot of the government money goes into the, the big city, Toronto and, uh, and the east side of Canada. And we, we don't get much of it.

[00:27:36] And if we get it, we, uh, we get it through those, through partners that are not aware of the city and the intricacies and the, let's say what's special about Vancouver. So I think, uh, the government can pay far more attention to this. And I think, uh, the Canadian government should pay more attention to, uh, to innovation and they not doing as much. And if they do, Vancouver is definitely one of those cities that, uh, that is poised to, uh, to explode in that way.

[00:28:04] I mean, it's already, we have a, we have a very vibrant entrepreneurial community that are founders that are highly skilled, very entrepreneurial, always pushing the, everyone is working on something. So, um, and we have those, uh, students that are graduating from incredible schools here, like UBC, like, uh, um, uh, some of these brilliant universities and, uh, the, let's say, uh, some of these institutes as well. So I think, um, this is, this is the place where things can be happening.

[00:28:34] It does require like everything requires money, attention and support. And we find ourselves in Q1 of 2025. It's that almost magical time in here where everyone's full of optimism. So if I ask you to look ahead, what do you think are the most exciting opportunities that you see for AI to not just redefine customer experiences, but also the way that we interact and understand things like cultural heritage and on a global scale too? Oh, absolutely.

[00:29:04] Um, well, I would imagine the first thing is the ability for things to move faster. So we know that most of, let's say, let's take technology. Most of the innovation is coming out of, let's say, uh, the U S and the Silicon Valley companies. And that innovation or advancements coming, let's say, at a certain language with AI that, that translation. Uh, and I don't mean like the usual translation to give it to a translator.

[00:29:30] Now you can actually speak and let's say record the YouTube video and that YouTube video can speak in another language with a high level of accuracy. It's not perfect there, but that's incredible.

[00:29:41] So the transfer of information and knowledge can be incredibly fast and that's important for cultures to know each other while we becoming, unfortunately, far more divided and far more, you know, um, uh, with the, with the kind of, uh, I would say the, the perpetuation of, uh, the, uh, let's say misinformation.

[00:30:03] And, uh, a lot of the challenges that are happening in the world, having a technology that enables us to connect more and connect on things that I would hope that we have less disagreement about, you know, how cultures lived, how they, how, what we understand about our history as a species. And how can we work together to build a better future? I think cultural institutions have the, I think they are the schools of the future because they preserve history. They don't politicize history.

[00:30:32] At least I would say most of them, uh, that I know of most of the people that work there are really about education and spreading knowledge and, and helping people understand. So there's that scientific technology and, uh, an education element coming together. And I think they are the, they, they can become beacons of that, of bringing us together.

[00:30:54] So, uh, I'm very excited about how these institutions can use technology to further their mission and become those beacons and, uh, overcome some of the challenges they face. Um, so these are the areas and I see it as a speed. So technology will impact the speed within which that happens. The, the shape within the, within which that happens. So it'd be far more exciting.

[00:31:18] You don't, you no longer, hopefully if, if they are, if they are kind of adopted, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars or have to spend thousands of dollars to travel to a city, to be able to, to enjoy the artifacts of a certain museum. I wish that for everybody, but that's not feasible. Uh, not in any way, not financially, not even logistically for everyone to visit every museum, but everyone has to learn all of those.

[00:31:45] Like, just like knowledge is available on the internet for, for free, let's say that you can learn almost about any topic. You should be able to learn about any culture and visit every museum with that ease, with that ease. And I think technology can enable that. And I think that's the next frontier for those institutions to leave the, go beyond the walls of their institutions. There is, of course, something unbelievably beautiful about standing in front of a Picasso painting. I love Picasso.

[00:32:14] And I still remember the first time I saw a painting after 30 years of being in love with his work. I saw his painting when he was painting for the first time. So why can't I enjoy those paintings in many different ways available to me around the world, instead of me having to travel to New York and then Barcelona to see that. I had to wait decades. I'd have to spend a lot of money to do that. Uh, so the, this is, I think the future where technology can impact those institutions.

[00:32:44] And I think that's a powerful moment to end on. So thank you so much for sharing your insights today around how businesses can harness AI and immersive technology. But before I let you go, I'd love to, love to ask you to share one final gift to everyone listening. And that is a book that has maybe inspired you or mean something to you, or you've read recently that you'd recommend that we can add to our wishlist over here for everybody listening to check out. So what book would you like to add to our list and why? Thank you.

[00:33:14] I, my favorite book of all time is great by choice by Jim Collins and, uh, and Morton T. Henson or Hanson, I think. So Jim Collins is an incredible writer and he writes in stories and he, he builds on, on, on data. So he uses data for like 30 years market data and he weaves it in such a story. And it's a business book after all.

[00:33:38] And it's about one of my favorite things is that how do you basically navigate chaos and uncertainty, which is what entrepreneurs should do. And it's unfortunately becoming the status quo of every company that chaos and uncertainty is the status of the world. So I believe this is a brilliant book done very well, uh, very fast and very fascinating to read. And I think it opens up and it has the word that I value the most, which is choice.

[00:34:03] And I think it opens up, uh, when you read it, it opens up like choice for you and, and, uh, opens up the future and how you can make choice regardless of how uncertain it is. So I hope you enjoy reading it. I loved it. And I still, one of my favorite books. Absolutely love that. I'll get that added straight to our Amazon wishlist. And for anybody listening wanting to find you or your team online, talk about, uh, or explore anything in more depth that we've, uh, discussed today. Where would you like to point everyone listening?

[00:34:32] A hundred percent. I love for people to, to have a conversation about anything that, uh, that you find interesting and we can work on. So go to nextdecentrum.com or search Hussein Halak on LinkedIn, connect with me on LinkedIn. Uh, and, uh, and that's probably the best ways to find me. You can always find me also at husseinhalak.com as well. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with me today.

[00:34:56] I, for one, have just loved exploring how AI is transforming traditional industries from corporate branding to cultural institutions and looking into the future, the potential of AI and how it can redefine customer experience. And cultural heritage. Something we don't talk about enough, I think. So thank you so much for shining a light on this today. Thank you for having me.

[00:35:17] As my guests shared with us today, technology has both the power to accelerate creativity while also connecting people in ways that extend far beyond any hype. Would it be using AI to preserve cultural heritage to leveraging immersive technology for customer engagement? I think Next Decentrum is leading the charge in transforming how we approach both business and culture.

[00:35:42] And my guests' emphasis on sustainable value and real world impact, I think, offers an inspiring framework for organizations that are looking to harness emerging technologies in meaningful ways. So what role can AI play in shaping industries and bridging cultural gaps as we move forward? And how can businesses adopt a more creative, value-driven approach to technology? The conversation doesn't have to stop here.

[00:36:10] Email me, techblogwriteroutlook.com, tech, Instagram, LinkedIn, just at Neil C. Hughes. Keep those questions, thoughts, and anything in between coming over. So thank you to Hussain for joining me on the podcast today, sharing his insights on innovation, creativity, and the future of AI. And thank you, my loyal listener, for tuning in every day and offering your feedback, your insights. I'll return again tomorrow with another guest, but just a big thank you for listening as always.

[00:36:38] And hopefully, I will speak with you all again tomorrow. Bye for now. Bye for now.