NFT
Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk annual VeeCon conference is underway this week and the core mix looks familiar: panels and interviews with notable celebs, creators and business executives combined with concerts and activities, all in an NFL stadium in the Midwest.
But this year’s move from Minneapolis to Indianapolis brings another change, Vaynerchuk said Decrypt: a growing focus that is less focused on NFTs And Web3. In particular, he said via video call, he is hyped about the rise of AI tools and their impact on business and creators.
Last year, Vaynerchuk described VeeCon Decrypt as a “summer camp” of sorts, designed to educate participants about NFTs – and entertain them, too. But this year with the NFT market see a strong decline over the past year, he said the goal was to expand the event and make VeeCon the “coolest business conference in the world.”
“Cool” is intended to “represent contemporary voices and individuals representing the ‘now’ in business and popular culture,” he explained, albeit within a conference setting still focused on business, marketing and enterprise. Vaynerchuk further described the evolution as a “strategy shift” from the original event.
Overall, the speaker lineup hit a similar vibe to last year, featuring celebrities (Drew Barrymore, Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Alba) plus NFT artists and project creators (Erick “Snowfro” Calderon of Art Blocks and pseudonym Deadfellaz co-founder, Betty), together with musician Timbaland, spiritual thinker Deepak Chopraand entrepreneurs from different industries.
We are offffffff…. If you see me say hello at @veecon pic.twitter.com/80LUhr0GTl
— Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) May 19, 2023
But the event’s lineup of panels and chats with NFT tickets has a broader scope, ranging from sports partnerships to blending business and culture – and AI is also in the mix. Vaynerchuk said AI conversations could have dominated the event if they approached it like VeeCon 2022.
“Last year I was incredibly focused on training new innovation,” he said Decrypt. “If I did it this year, 80% of the panels would be about AI”
Vaynerchuk said his Vayner3 consulting firm has similarly expanded its focus from Web3 to broader tech innovations, including things like augmented reality and AI. The company is now helping brands navigate the new and potentially thorny generative AI space.
And he’s also personally excited about the technology. Vaynerchuk told Decrypt that he believes AI will streamline and simplify many everyday tasks, giving people the freedom to “use our incredible brains and hearts and souls to do new things”. He compares the rise of AI tools to the creation of the tractor, which he says sparked a larger wave of progress and innovation.
“I think AI is about to free up a lot of hours for highly creative people,” he said, adding that cutting out hours typically spent on complicated tasks — like developing a visual idea from scratch in Photoshop – by tapping AI “going to be really good” for humans.
Vaynerchuk added that he uses AI “less than I want to” amid his hectic schedule of VeeCon planning and his other myriad business ventures, but it’s already impacting his routine.
About last night 🙌🔥 pic.twitter.com/A0Aj3UMixs
— VeeCon (@veecon) May 19, 2023
“I use it several times a week — I wish it was 50 times a day, given how profound it is — but several times a week to give me insights,” he explained. “I use it as a thinking partner [for] observations and curiosities.”
In spite of the Decline in the NFT market about the past year and VeeCon’s growing focus, Vaynerchuk said Decrypt that he still believes that a sustainable NFT market will one day emerge.
Vaynerchuk quickly noticed his prediction for 2021 that “99% of [NFTs] going to zero,” and said many people didn’t really believe him at the time. But he also noted that in markets such as art and sports cards, 99% of such items are not significantly valuable – and the collector of CryptoPunks and other expensive NFTs are excited to find out what retains value in the long run.
“What will be most neat for someone like me who likes collecting and collecting is what is the 1% of this era in 30 years?” he asked. “[It] will be fun to watch.”