Emerson Collective

Time's Event Strategy Drives Revenue Surge to 50%

Legacy news brand Time has rapidly transformed into an events-driven business, with events and their digital extensions projected to account for roughly 50% of total revenue in 2025, up from 28% in 2023, according to Chief Strategy Officer Dan Macsai. Within advertising specifically, events represent nearly 80% of ad revenue. Time scaled from 11 events in 2022 to more than 40 events in 2025, and advertising revenue grew 23% year-over-year in 2025 after consecutive prior gains. The publisher treats events as a customer-acquisition channel — 91% of 2025 event partners also invest across other Time platforms — and builds integrated sponsorships with repeat partners such as Toyota, Booking.com, Cognizant, Pinterest, Rolex and Target. Time is also expanding event franchises including Time Sports, a Time 100 AI Leadership Forum, and a B2B Executives of the Year platform.

AI Blurs Line Between Human and Agent

Exponential View published a transcript and recording of the inaugural "AI Vistas" panel, convened and hosted by Azeem Azhar, that examined where human agency ends and AI begins. Panelists Nicholas (Nick) Thompson, Nita Farahany, Eric Topol and Rohit Krishnan discussed first‑hand experiences with agentic tools (Azeem described using an OpenClaw agent), risks of de‑skilling in medicine and education, and how AI changes creative practice and knowledge production. Practical techniques and concerns were raised — for example, Nita’s use of a hostile "potato prompt" in Claude to surface counterarguments — alongside debate about retaining human competencies while using AI to increase productivity. The session explored long‑term implications for judgment, pedagogy and the composition of synthetic content in public information ecosystems.

World Labs Secures $200M to Revolutionize 3D Design

World Labs secured a $1 billion financing round that includes a $200 million investment from Autodesk. The funding round also includes backers such as AMD, Emerson Collective, Fidelity and Nvidia. As part of the Autodesk investment, the two companies will collaborate at the research and model level to explore how World Labs’ world models — AI systems that generate and reason about immersive 3D environments — can integrate with Autodesk’s design tools, with an initial focus on entertainment use cases. World Labs launched its first product, Marble, in November to create editable, downloadable 3D environments. Autodesk says it will act as an adviser, the companies will not share data as part of the agreement, and Autodesk is advancing its own "neural CAD" models for generative 3D design.