Charles Fink

Charlie Fink is the producer and co-host of The AI XR Podcast. He is the producer of the vertical gen AI social media series Linda's Last Podcast, and serves as CEO of Cinemation.AI, an AI animation studio he co-founded with film director Rob Minkoff. Fink's 40-year career at the intersection of storytelling and technology began at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he famously conceived the idea for The Lion King and became the studio’s youngest-ever creative vice-president.

Fink's work in immersive technology began in 1992 as COO of Virtual World Entertainment, a groundbreaking location-based VR company founded by Tim Disney.

In 1995, AOL recruited him to serve as senior vice president and chief creative officer of AOL Studios. After selling his subsequent venture-backed startup, eAgents, to American Greetings Interactive, Fink served as their president and chief creative officer (2000–2004), acquiring its two biggest competitors, Blue Mountain and eGreetings, and transitioned the company from free to freemium.

Fink is the author of the critically acclaimed AR-enabled books Charlie Fink’s Metaverse (2017) and Convergence: How the World Will Be Painted with Data (2019). From 2016-2026 he wrote about AI, XR and The Metaverse for Forbes, earning him a place in the AWE Hall of Fame.

Fink spent a decade as producer and chairman of the New York Musical Festival, which nurtured Broadway hits Title of Show, Next to Normal and Guttenberg! The Musical.

He teaches the courses “Cinematic AI” and “History and Future of Media” at Dodge College and as part of Arizona State University’s Narrative and Emerging Media MFA program.