The Technology Everyone Uses But Nobody Knows They Do

Most people have no idea Snapchat is the biggest AR company on Earth, because nobody has ever called it that. We talk with Michael Guerin, founder and CEO of Imivisar, about where augmented reality is in 2026 and where it's going next. Guerin walks us through the history of AR from Ivan Sutherland's 1968 Sword of Damocles through Pokémon Go and IKEA, why the technology became enormous everywhere it isn't called augmented reality, and why his company is betting on something he calls spatial storytelling — longer-form, location-based experiences built for tourism, heritage sites, and the kind of physical places that benefit from a digital layer.He also takes us into the next shift, which is happening faster than anyone in the industry expected: AR glasses are coming, Meta and Apple are now openly competing on form factor, and Mark Zuckerberg has called glasses the ideal form factor for AI because they can see what you see and hear what you hear all day. The thesis underneath the conversation is that the technology has been working for decades, the language has been the problem, and the next ten years will hide AR even further inside experiences nobody calls AR.---Guest: Michael Guerin, CEO, ImvizarTopics: Augmented reality, spatial storytelling, Snapchat, Salesforce, museum technology, tourism, employee onboarding, AR designLocations mentioned: Spike Island (Ireland), Salesforce offices (East Coast, West Coast)Please enjoy the show.Stay curious.Keep Thinking on Paper.Mark and JeremyPS: Please subscribe. It’s the best way you can help other curious minds find our channel.Other ways to connect with us:⁠Listen to every podcast⁠Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠Follow us on ⁠X⁠Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠Read our ⁠Substack⁠Email: [email protected](00:00) The Story of Augmented Reality(03:46) Snapchat & AR Post-Pokemon Go(06:24) Snoop Dogg In A Wine Bottle(08:12) Salesforce AR(13:13) What Is Digital Storytelling?(17:07) AR In Tourism(18:25) Designing The Spike Island AR Experience(22:49) How To Do AR Well(26:26) Meta, AI And AR Glasses (29:40) Privacy(32:33) Mark's Terrible Thought Experiment(33:58) What do we want humans to be?