A3E 2026 Anaheim
A3E is excited to be back LIVE and at the NAMM Show 2026! A3E + ARAS will once again be providing their forward thinking educational programming examining the evolutionary process and the Future of Music, Audio + Entertainment Technology™.
In 2021 A3E introduced the industry to an important new imperative: Artificial Creativity (AC) — the intersection of content creation with AI, neuroscience, and human-centric design. At A3E 2025 Anaheim we began by exploring how neurodata and the essence of human creativity itself are being captured, trained on, and reimagined through AI systems. The 2025 program challenged artists, technologists, and executives to confront both the profound opportunities of AC — adaptive, personalized creative experiences across music, film, gaming, and social media — and the equally profound risks: data ownership, manipulation, commercialization of expression, and the devaluation of human artistry.
As we move into 2026, A3E builds on that foundation with a program designed to guide the industry through both the immediate realities of AI adoption and the long-term imperatives of AC. AC is no longer an abstract concept at the edge of research — it is here, shaping workflows, business models, and human creativity in real time. The question is no longer whether AC will impact content creation, but how we as an industry will guide, govern, and integrate it.
The A3E 2026 program reflects this evolution with two interconnected days. Friday, January 23rd focuses on Creative Tools, Production & Performance, exploring the tactical realities of AI adoption in the studio, on stage, and inside creative workflows. Sessions will examine on-device AI in DAWs and instruments, new safeguards for voice cloning, and the use of game engines and neuroadaptive systems as performance tools — all while highlighting how AC is beginning to extend these technologies beyond automation into co-creation. Saturday, January 24th turns to Rights, Governance & Business Models, addressing the frameworks and responsibilities needed to ensure AC develops responsibly — from training data and attribution, to disclosure and platform enforcement, to neurodata ethics and even the cognitive health of creators in an AC-driven world.
A3E’s mission remains clear: to bring together R&D leaders, artists, technologists, and executives to ask the hard questions and uncover the next wave of answers. The 2026 sessions are designed not just to map today’s realities, but to probe tomorrow’s imperatives — ensuring that Artificial Creativity enhances, rather than diminishes, the uniquely human spark at the core of music and entertainment. Human-Driven Content Creation (HDCC) vs AI-Driven Content Generation (AICG) underscores A3E’s drive to “Define, Label, and Protect Artistic Originality”.
New Sessions, Speakers, Panelists, and Moderators are being added daily. Please check back for updates.
A3E 2026 Anaheim Special Sessions + Events
| A3E 2026 Anaheim Special Sessions + Events | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Session/Event | Date | Time | Location |
| A3E Presents: "Imagining the Future of Creativity in Motion - From Education to Innovation" in Collaboration with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus | Thursday, January 22nd, 2026 | 3:00PM - 4:00PM | Anaheim Convention Center, Hall A, Booth 12304 |
A3E SESSION TYPE COLOR KEY
A3E GENERAL SESSION = BLACK/CHARCOL
A3E WORKSHOP = PURPLE/SHADED
A3E SESSION TYPE COLOR KEY
A3E GENERAL SESSION = BLACK/CHARCOL
A3E WORKSHOP = PURPLE/SHADED
| A3E Workshops: At-A-Glance Saturday, January 24th Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
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|---|---|
| 10:00am - 11:00am | A3E Workshop: Directions of GenAI 2026 - Workflows, Interfaces & Agents: Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
| 11:00am - 12:00pm | A3E Workshop: IASIG Workshop: AI In Interactive Audio: Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
| 12:00pm - 1:00pm | A3E Workshop 11 TBA: Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
| 1:00pm - 2:00pm | A3E Workshop 12 TBA: Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
| 2:00pm - 3:00pm | A3E Workshop: Artist-First AI Workflows - Accelerating Creativity With Ethical Intelligence: Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
| 3:00pm - 4:00pm | A3E Workshop: Expanding the Creative Toolkit: Unlocking New Dimensions of Musical Expression Through Sonification & Spatial Sound: Hilton Anaheim, 4th Floor, Palos Verdes Room |
Thursday, January 22nd, 2026; 3:00PM – 4:00PM Pacific Time; Anaheim Convention Center, Hall A, Booth 12304
A3E Presents: “Imagining the Future of Creativity in Motion – From Education to Innovation” in Collaboration with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus
As a prelude to A3E 2026 Anaheim, this special preview experience invites NAMM attendees to join A3E and the legendary John Lennon Educational Tour Bus for a firsthand look at how technology, education, and artistry converge to shape the next generation of creative innovation. Hosted by A3E, this expert forum explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial Creativity (AC) are redefining how music and media are learned, created, and shared, and why the next generation of artists, technologists, and educators must approach these tools with both imagination and responsibility.
The session will include an overview of this mobile Dolby Atmos production studio, where attendees will hear about emerging technologies – from immersive sound design and AI-driven workflows to neurodata-inspired creativity – while discussing the vital need for ethical governance, cognitive well-being, and human-machine collaboration. This joint forum underscores how initiatives like the Lennon Bus and A3E can work together to empower creators, foster cross-industry partnerships, and protect originality in an era defined by exponential innovation.
This interactive gathering sets the stage for A3E 2026 Anaheim, inviting attendees not just to imagine the future of creativity, but to help build it responsibly.
Shari Reich | Manager, Developer Relations: Intelligent Content Creation, Audio and Music | NVIDIA
Shari Reich is the Manager of Developer Relations, Intelligent Content Creation for Audio and Music at NVIDIA. Shari leads strategic initiatives within the Media2 organization to empower developers working at the intersection of sound, AI, and immersive technologies. With over 15 years of experience in the music industry—including A&R roles at Sony Music, Warner Bros. Records, and Concord Music Publishing—Shari brings a deep understanding of both creative and technical workflows.
Her background spans music supervision for film, and documentaries, as well as artist and producer management, giving her a unique perspective on how technology can enhance the creative process. At NVIDIA, she champions tools and platforms that enable next-generation audio experiences, helping bridge the gap between developers, artists, and the future of AI-driven sound.
Dani Deahl | Head of Communications & Creator Insights | BandLab Technologies
As a prominent figure in music, Dani Deahl has been at the forefront of artist discovery and meaningful industry change for over a decade. She currently is a DJ, producer, public speaker, and Head of Communications & Creator Insights at BandLab. She developed the coverage for the intersection of music and technology for The Verge, helmed YouTube series The Future of Music, and is also Trustee for the Recording Academy Chicago chapter.
BandLab Technologies is a collective of global music technology companies on a mission to break down the technical, geographic, and creative barriers for musicians and fans. Empowering creators at all stages of their creative process, the group’s wide range of offerings include flagship mobile-first social music creation platform BandLab, award-winning, legendary desktop DAW Cakewalk, powerful artist services platform ReverbNation and recently acquired global beat and music marketplace Airbit. BandLab Technologies is headquartered in Singapore and is a division of Caldecott Music Group.
BT | CEO | SoundLabs
BT is a music industry icon with an impressive 25+ year career as a Grammy-nominated producer, composer, technologist, and songwriter. His pioneering work in Trance and IDM laid the groundwork for modern EDM, and he’s also a classically trained composer and songwriter. BT’s signature plugins like Stutter Edit 1 & 2 for iZotope and Phobos & Polaris with Spitfire Audio have become essential tools for producers worldwide. BT has written, produced, and remixed for top artists such as David Bowie to Madonna, composed for films, and worked on groundbreaking projects like Tomorrowland’s music at Disneyland Shanghai and NFTs in web 3.
SoundLabs is a cutting-edge music production and software company founded by BT, Joshua Dickinson, Dr. Michael Hetrick and Lacy Transeau. With deep roots in the music industry, SoundLabs is poised to revolutionize music production with its next generation tools. This deeply dedicated team of veteran musicians and developers brings unparalleled expertise, having created award-winning plugins, groundbreaking albums, blockbuster film scores, and top-selling sound libraries. Blending human creativity with the vast power of AI, SoundLabs crafts intuitive, inspiring, and ethical tools that transform imagination into reality, redefining what is possible in music production.
Daniel Rowland | Head of Strategy and Partnerships | LANDR
Daniel Rowland is a unique combination of audio engineer, music producer, tech executive, and educator. He is Head of Strategy and Partnerships at LANDR Audio, co-founder of online DAW Audiotool, and longtime instructor of Recording Industry at MTSU. For nearly a decade, his primary focus has been on the empowerment of music creators via LANDR’s ethical AI-driven tools and accessible design, sharing that message on dozens of panels and podcasts.
As a creative, he has worked on Emmy/Oscar-winning and Grammy-nominated music projects totaling 13+ billion streams for Disney/Pixar, John Wick, Star Wars, Marvel, Jason Derulo, Seal, Nine Inch Nails, Nina Simone, Flo Rida, Adrian Belew, Burna Boy, and hundreds of others.
Eros Marcello | Founder + AI Design Engineer, Quantum ML | ethereal computing
I’m a multi-disciplinary Design Engineer (front-of-the-frontend) specializing in human-interfacing AI and Deep Tech. I’ve shipped AI-native interfaces, products and experiences @ Apple, Meta, Salesforce, Samsung, Pfizer and many others. I founded ethereal computing inc. in 2023, where we’re building a Quantum M- enhanced SDK for neuroadaptive human-machine interfaces for high-perf, high-compliance sectors including Defense + Military with dual-use for consumer + enterprise applications. I live/work out of NASA Ames Research Park on Moffett Field in Silicon Valley, California.
Rithik Kundu | Co-Founder, Researcher, Producer | NYU Generative Audio & AI
Rithik Kundu is a researcher and producer bridging the gap between music, technology and people. He is the Co-Founder of NYU Generative Audio & AI, an interdisciplinary research group studying the translation between academic research and real-world music applications. His work explores how AI and other technology can reshape music creation and production. Rithik is currently conducting a research project The Future of Music Production: Is AI Taking Over?, a blind listener preference study between AI and human music advised by NYU Music Tech Director Paul Geluso, GRAMMY winner Mr. Sonic and NYU MARL faculty Dr. Morwaread M. Farbood. He is also co-author of Building a Simple AI DAW Part 2: MCP and Agents, a technical paper exploring creative AI with collaborators from Udio, Abbey Road Red, Masterchannel, Mozart AI, and others.
With the strategic perspective of a music producer and researcher, he sits on the advisory boards of various companies and research organizations looking to tap into creative AI for music and audio, including the newly founded Munich Music Labs at TUM, an AI music research initiative partnering with Mozart AI and ElevenLabs. Rithik has presented his research and perspective on the state of AI in music on panels at industry conferences such as Music Frontiers, Mondo, and Eurosonic, even moderating two panels at Mondo. He is also serving on the jury of the International Sound Awards, bringing his unique perspective on how music and technology can intersect.
Outside of AI research, he built a miniaturized prototype of the Ableton Push MIDI controller in 2023, and in 2024 followed that development with a bluetooth MIDI-controller dubbed the “KYTAR” which utilizes a pad-control interface as well as distance sensors to create theremin-based pitchbending. Under the stage name “RKY”, he scored the film Redamancy which won awards at the Flight Deck Film Festival and Wild Geese Gallery, the rom-com musical Down Bad which debuted in April 2025, collaborated with a major-label A&R, and produced and engineered the 2025 Tiny Desk Submission for the GRAMMY U-accepted band The Millers.
Brian Rothschild | Co-Founder/Executive Director | John Lennon Educational Tour Bus
Brian Rothschild grew up listening to the great harpsichord and piano music of the 18th and 19th centuries. His mother was a concert pianist and music educator who began giving him lessons at an early age. By 15, he was writing music and songs, and after graduating from Hampshire College with a focus on music composition, he was signed as an artist with Columbia Records under the name Iam Siam.
In 1998, along with Yoko Ono Lennon, Brian created the first version of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus and has since devoted his time to expanding the project around the world with support from corporate sponsors including Apple, NVIDIA, Avid, Montblanc, Genelec, LANDR, Taylor Guitars, Roland, Adobe, Juniper Networks, and many more. Today, Lennon Bus Europe and Lennon Bus U.S. provide young people with free, hands-on opportunities to create original digital media projects, including music, videos, short films, documentaries, games, apps, and livestream productions reflective of their ideas and concerns.
Brian has been a frequent spokesperson, appearing on the Today Show, CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, BBC, Fox News, Huckabee, MTV, and E! News, as well as countless local television and radio programs. He has also been a speaker at major events and conferences including the UNESCO Youth Forum, NAMM Show, GRAMMYS, CES, TED, NAB, IBC, NVIDIA GTC, SXSW, AES, and Musikmesse.
Paul Sitar (Moderator) | President, A3E | CEO, Sitarian Corporation
Paul began his professional career as an aerospace underwriter, commercial pilot, and certified flight instructor. However, his passion for information technology led him to transition into the field of emerging technologies that impact all aspects of business and life. He accomplished this by launching research projects, trade shows, and conferences for prominent organizations such as Gartner, Inc. and Advanstar Communications, Inc., as well as for several of his own ventures such as NlightN, Inc., Sitarian Corporation, A3E LLC, and the The Electric Vehicle + Energy Infrastructure Innovation & Sustainability Exchange™. These efforts and projects have included a global footprint.
Paul has focused his attention on several areas, including music and entertainment technology, electric vehicles and next-generation mobility, healthcare informatics, electronic commerce, artificial and creative intelligence, robotics, IT security, cyber terrorism prevention, and critical infrastructure protection.
Paul’s experience also includes founding and managing a software security company for seven years. During this time, he successfully patented and commercialized a deviceless one-time password authentication system. Today, Paul continues his work in research, trade show and conference creation, and the launch of innovative projects in technology driven industries.
A3E, A3E Research and A3E Summits + Events operate and conduct their practices as an independent, unbiased, objective and agnostic industry resource, with the primary goal of providing realistic, actionable, practicable business insights, information, as well as educational programming and content.