A talk from the Developer Track at AWE USA 2019 - the World's #1 XR Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, California May 29-31, 2019. AWE USA 2019: AR Cloud: Promises and pitfalls Jason Fox | Microsoft Jan-Erik Vinje | Open AR Cloud In this talk Jan-Erik will present his vision of how AR Cloud tecnology can enable a digital upgrade of our shared physical reality and how that holds the promise of enhansing every aspect of our digital lives you can imagine and beyond. The AR industry needs this technology to be able to realize what futurist and sci-fi authors have been envisioning for the last few decades and what the speaker himself has been dreaming of since his teenage years. On the flip side of the great potential that AR Cloud holds for good, there is also the real risk of falling into "Black Mirror" scenarios. If we are careless about this technology things might descend towards a digital prison rather than a digital upgrade. Already we see how Shenzhen, China is using exponential technology to monitor and track every person everywhere - the invasiveness of this practice will become much worse if or when the authorities deploy AR-Cloud technology. Towards the end of his talk, Jan-Erik will also say a few words about how Open AR Cloud is bringing together people from all over the world to build an open and interoperable spatial computing ecosystem for the benefit of all. By bringing together the best minds we have a fighting chance to avoid the pitfalls and usher in a great new era! https://awexr.com