Sony
- Neal Manowitz is the president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics North America.
- AI can help creators, but they also fear being replaced by the technology, Manowitz said.
- Manowitz's insights are part of Business Insider's year-end leadership series, "Looking Ahead 2024."
Most people are likely familiar with Sony Electronics products — they're used in music publishing, photography, movie creation, and gaming.
As the president and chief operating officer for North America, Neal Manowitz wants to get close to content creators, from cinematographers making multibillion-dollar films to photojournalists, bloggers, YouTubers, and wedding photographers, he told Business Insider.
Like many top execs, Manowitz has focused on AI this year. "There's the excitement and wonderful opportunity that we see, but there's also a fear of the unknown," Manowitz said. "There's this opportunity of how we can become more creative? How do we use this AI, this incredible tool? But the converse part is the fear of is it going to replace me?"
He added, "There's not a single hotter-button pressing the creative community than authenticity."
Manowitz's insights are part of Business Insider's year-end leadership package, "Looking Ahead 2024," digging into vision, strategy, and challenges across corporate America.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What are you most excited about for 2024?
I'm excited about getting our products and technologies into the hands of creators and seeing what they'll be creating that will go beyond our imagination.
What are you most worried about for 2024?
AI is empowering creators. For example, we're using artificial intelligence to identify people so we can autofocus better and make the camera easier for people to use.
Naturally, we're thinking about how we can use AI to be a tool for creators and how we protect their rights. I'm worried about the converse act of that — the concern around this technology being used for bad purposes.
An example is generative AI in imagery. It empowers creators to be more creative but also bears the risk of imagery being manipulated and misinterpreted. We've been working with the industry on in-camera-authenticity technology to validate the content's origins. Facts matter.
What was one thing you got right in 2023?
Getting closer to creators, listening to their feedback, and having their voice directly in our products. While their voice has always impacted our development, this year we saw great proof points of the deep impact they had.
Over the past several years the industry has trended toward making filmmaking more accessible and removing the gaps between what independent filmmakers could make and big-budget Hollywood films. The technology is advancing to align with what storytellers need and want.
Through our relationship with creators, we have a vested interest in the success of this community. The relationship is symbiotic. We know each other, we talk to each other, and we come together. We want to bring everybody in and find ways of connecting.
What was one thing you got wrong in 2023?
Underestimating the lasting impact of COVID on our industry. From a social perspective, people's desire to go back out and experience the real world more. We underestimated the negative impact that would have on at-home entertainment products but then saw incredible demand for on-the-go products like headphones and cameras.
We stayed close to our creator community for that continuous feedback loop, which has been key. The camera-authenticity technology is a great example of how staying close to creators has kept us in line with the growing concern about fake images.