The Era of Watching Video Is Over: The New Age of Interactive Video Powered by AI
Session Overview
For more than a century, video has been a one-way medium: creators make it, and audiences watch it. Everyone watching the same video has essentially shared the same experience.
But AI is beginning to change that structure. Video can now listen to viewers, respond to their actions, and adapt the experience to each individual. The audience is no longer simply watching from the outside — they can become active participants inside the content itself.
Drawing on his experience helping build the creator economy at YouTube and his current work creating interactive video at Make Believe, Ben Relles explores what becomes possible when video evolves from a one-way medium into a two-way experience.
From education and e-commerce to entertainment, this session looks at how video can respond differently to each viewer's words and actions — and how that shift could create entirely new forms of content.
Key Topics
- From viewer to participant — how interactive video transforms passive watching into active participation
- Personalized video experiences that change according to each viewer's questions, actions and responses
- New content formats made possible by AI across education, e-commerce and entertainment
For more than 100 years, video has been a one-way medium.
As AI gives video the ability to listen and respond,
viewers move from spectators to participants —
and content evolves into entirely new formats
that were never possible before.
Speaker
Throughout his career, he has worked at the intersection of video and technology, developing new ideas, experiences and content formats.
Before founding Make Believe, Ben worked closely across Reid Hoffman's venture investment portfolio. Together, they developed Reid AI, a digital twin trained on 20 years of Hoffman's books and content.
The project won the 2025 Webby Award for Best Use of AI in Film & Video.
Ben also spent ten years at YouTube, working with creators and channels across the platform. He founded the comedy channel Key of Awesome and co-founded Vsauce. Together, the two channels have generated more than 10 billion views.
He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Wharton School.