Exclusive interview with Lewis Davey, Co-Founder Pixelagency.ai Founder & Creative Director at IDEA FARM

You’ve built a career around making brands culturally relevant through human creativity. What convinced you that the next frontier of storytelling might involve entirely virtual personalities?

AI Influencers have been around since 2018, but the technology has made huge strides in the past 18 months – and now hyper-realistic virtual personalities are exploding in popularity. Having worked in PR for 16 years, I think it’s good to be curious and I committed myself to learning about this space and becoming a bit of an expert – I was particularly interested in how brands could leverage AI Influencers as a new marketing channel. At Pixel what we present to brands is how AI Influencers can solve specific business challenges, drive efficiencies, and reach new audiences. This technology is much more than fancy images on Instagram.

Launching the world’s first AI Influencer Talent Management Agency sounds less like a business expansion and more like a prediction. What future did you see emerging that others weren’t paying attention to?

We launched Pixel 18 months ago with the intention of operating like a traditional talent management agency, connecting brands with existing AI Influencers. It’s certainly evolved, as the industry has gained more traction – and we’re banking on all brands owning their own AI Ambassador in the future.

Pixel isn’t just representing AI influencers, it’s helping brands create them. Why do you believe ownership of digital talent will become strategically important for brands?

Custom build AI Influencers is where we think the future is for brands. This is desirable for brands because they have an always-on marketing asset that can be online 24/7, with full creative control and tailored brand messaging. The AI Influencer can slot into their influencer portfolio, working alongside human influencers.

How do cultural sensitivities in the Middle East actually strengthen the case for AI Ambassadors rather than limit them?

I’ve always felt strongly that the Middle East is the perfect market for AI Ambassadors to thrive. There are reputational risks that come with working with real influencers, whereas a brand can have full control over messaging with its own AI Ambassadors. There’s 200 nationalities in Dubai – the other big selling point for AI Ambassadors is they can communicate in hundreds of languages, giving brands a versatile asset to target different demographics.

From a technology standpoint, what sits behind a successful AI Ambassador today, generative AI, language models, synthetic media, behavioural design, or something else entirely?

Of course, technology is important, and through our exclusive deal with The Clueless – the team behind the world’s biggest AI Influencer, Aitana Lopez, we’re bringing the best Gen-AI tools and talent to the GCC. But for me, it’s still the importance of the human behind the AI Ambassador – this is typically talented creatives, or social content creators, planning content schedules, leaning into culture and trends, and engaging with followers. Humans still have an important role in the storytelling element.

What safeguards should exist as AI-generated personalities become increasingly indistinguishable from humans?

It’s a fast-moving industry, and new rules and regulations will undoubtedly continue to come in. The EU will release new legislation in August, which could include the requirement of a watermark. The main one right now, which all our clients follow, is AI disclosure on Instagram. In an industry witnessing significant change, it’s important that responsible operators like Pixel and other partners work together to steer the industry in the right direction.

In an era of misinformation and rapidly evolving news cycles, how valuable is having a communication asset that is always accurate, controlled, and aligned with brand values?

I think it’s super important. During the recent conflict, we saw a segment of human influencers become unreliable, either posting misleading or sensationalised content. That’s troublesome for brands, so owning their own AI Ambassador that aligns with their values is going to become increasingly important. Now is the perfect time for brands in the Middle East to future proof their influencer strategy and consider an AI Ambassador.

Rohit Chowdhary, Head of Advanced Consulting Services at Nokia, sat down with The Integrator to share insights into the company’s vision for enabling the AI supercycle. He outlined how Nokia’s end-to-end portfolio spans everything from AI-ready connectivity and energy-efficient 800G data centre networking to intelligent, self-optimising home Wi-Fi experiences powered by AI.

A key focus of the discussion was Nokia’s shift from strategic advisory to real-world execution through its dedicated Automation Excellence Practice, helping operators translate ambitious transformation roadmaps into measurable outcomes. The conversation also highlighted the growing importance of integrated, intelligent and secure networks that can support rising AI workloads, eliminate infrastructure bottlenecks and unlock tangible business value, while maintaining the highest standards of security, privacy and resilience

Could you begin by telling us about your role at Nokia and the journey that brought you here?

I lead Nokia’s Advanced Consulting Services business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. My journey with Nokia spans nearly seventeen years, beginning at a time when consulting was largely focused on network transformation initiatives. Over the years, I have worked closely with operators around the world on transformation programmes, analytics adoption, customer experience management and digital modernization.

As the industry evolved, so did our consulting focus. Following the Nokia and Alcatel Lucent merger, we established what is today known as Advanced Consulting Services. The organization now spans several domains, including security, business monetization, cloud and technology transformation, autonomous operations, and data and AI.

More recently, we launched an Automation Excellence Practice. The idea was simple. Customers often appreciated our strategic blueprints but needed practical expertise to implement them. Today, we have specialized engineers who combine telecom expertise, AI capabilities and software development skills to turn strategic visions into real automation pipelines, AI-driven workflows and production-ready use cases. Our role is to help customers move from concept to measurable business outcomes.

Nokia is often associated with connectivity, but the company is increasingly talking about AI readiness. How does Nokia’s infrastructure portfolio support this transition?

AI is creating what we describe as an AI supercycle. It is transforming everything from data centres and cloud infrastructure to network architectures and edge computing. Supporting this shift requires a complete ecosystem rather than isolated technologies.

Nokia’s portfolio addresses this across multiple layers. On the network side, we continue to innovate in radio technologies, including AI-RAN capabilities developed alongside strategic partners such as Nvidia. We also have a strong optical networking and IP portfolio that enables the high-capacity connectivity required between data centres, edge locations and cloud environments.

One area that excites me is our innovation in data centre networking. We are introducing highly efficient coherent optical technologies and advanced switching platforms that significantly reduce infrastructure footprints while improving performance and energy efficiency. These innovations are becoming increasingly important as organizations invest in AI factories, AI grids and large-scale inference environments.

Beyond connectivity, we also provide intelligent automation layers through our autonomous networking platforms, enabling operators to manage complex, multi-vendor environments more efficiently and intelligently.

What are some of the biggest infrastructure bottlenecks you see operators and enterprises facing as AI adoption accelerates?

One of the biggest challenges is understanding that AI infrastructure is not just about compute power. Organizations often focus heavily on GPUs and processing capabilities, but connectivity can quickly become the limiting factor.

You can deploy the most powerful AI infrastructure available, but if the network cannot support the required data movement between racks, data centres and edge locations, performance suffers. This is where intelligent networking becomes critical.

At Nokia, we are helping customers design what we call AI-ready connectivity. This includes high-capacity optical networking, intelligent routing and the seamless interconnection of compute environments. As AI workloads become increasingly distributed, the ability to move data efficiently becomes just as important as the ability to process it.

On the consumer side, Nokia has been showcasing AI-driven Wi-Fi management capabilities. How does this improve the end-user experience?

The home network has become far more complex than it was a few years ago. Consumers expect flawless connectivity across multiple devices, applications and services.

Our AI-enabled Wi-Fi solutions continuously monitor network performance and user experience. They can identify coverage gaps, detect congestion, analyze interference patterns and even recommend or automatically implement corrective actions.

The goal is to create a self-optimizing network environment where many issues can be resolved autonomously before they impact the user. This reduces support requirements for service providers while delivering a more consistent and reliable experience for customers.

The Middle East is witnessing an unprecedented surge in data centre investments. How do you see this shaping Nokia’s opportunities in the region?

The Middle East has emerged as one of the most dynamic markets globally for AI infrastructure investments. Governments and enterprises are actively investing in sovereign AI capabilities, advanced data centres and digital ecosystems.

This creates significant opportunities, not only for Nokia but for the broader technology industry. The success of these initiatives depends on having secure, scalable and efficient connectivity between compute resources, cloud environments and end users.

Our role is to help customers build these foundations. Whether it is data centre interconnectivity, optical networking, intelligent routing or autonomous operations, Nokia’s technologies are designed to support the scale and performance requirements of AI-driven economies.

As data volumes continue to grow, security and data sovereignty are becoming increasingly important. How is Nokia addressing these concerns?

Security is deeply embedded into Nokia’s strategy and innovation roadmap. As a European technology company, trust, resilience and security have always been fundamental principles in how we design and operate our solutions.

While we continue to invest heavily in AI innovation, we are equally focused on strengthening security capabilities across our portfolio. This includes advanced network security architectures, AI-driven threat detection and preparations for future technologies such as quantum-safe networking.

We are actively engaged with industry bodies, standards organizations and ecosystem partners to help define the next generation of secure digital infrastructure. As AI becomes increasingly pervasive, security must evolve alongside it, and that is an area where Nokia continues to invest significantly.

Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of AI-driven networks?

What excites me most is the convergence of AI, automation and connectivity. Networks are evolving from passive transport layers into intelligent platforms that can learn, adapt and optimize themselves.

The future will be defined by autonomous operations, AI-native networks and real-time decision-making at scale. Organizations that successfully combine these capabilities will unlock entirely new business models and levels of operational efficiency.

For us, the opportunity is not just about deploying technology. It is about helping customers transform the way they operate, innovate and create value in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Spokesperson – Yassine Mannai, Associate Sales Director at Shure MEA

Across the Middle East, continuity is being shaped by the quality of connection people experience every day. In classrooms, places of worship, and collaborative workspaces, that connection often begins with one essential factor: audio clarity. At Shure, we recognised this gap early and understood its growing importance across these environments.

When sound is clear, people stay present. Students follow lessons more easily, engage with greater confidence, and absorb information with less strain. This becomes especially important in hybrid learning environments, where every participant needs to feel equally included, whether they are in the room or joining remotely. Research cited by Shure shows that poor audio affects one-third of all virtual meetings, while four out of five common video conferencing frustrations are linked to audio issues such as background noise, echo, dropouts, and difficulty hearing others.

The same reality carries into places of worship. The ability to hear with clarity shapes how messages are received, how people remain attentive, and how connected they feel to the moment itself. In these spaces, sound supports focus, presence, and the overall quality of the experience.

In workplaces and institutional settings, audio has become central to how teams communicate and make decisions. Strong collaboration depends on being able to hear and respond without friction. As hybrid work continues to reshape professional life, the need for dependable communication systems has become more visible. [1] Shure’s regional insight, referencing IDC research, notes that 67% of professional workers are now at least partially remote, underlining how important it is for institutions to support communication across distributed teams. That understanding has been reflected in the solutions across our portfolio, including the MXA920 Ceiling Array Microphone for hybrid learning, the MXA320 Table Array Microphone for collaboration environments, and the DCA901 Broadcast Microphone Array for places of worship, where audience capture can bring greater depth to livestream experiences.

Across the region, institutions are moving toward smarter, more adaptable spaces where audio performance, system simplicity, and digital integration work together more effectively. Reliable audio has become part of how organisations sustain engagement, support participation, and deliver a better experience for the people who rely on them every day.