# Mark Pesce

> Futurist and speaker, Sydney, Australia. Mark Pesce helped invent the future: co-inventor of VRML (the web's first 3D standard), prototyped the first SecurID card, named and published the discipline of Verification Design (University of Sydney, 2026). He gives talks and briefings that explain what's coming, what it means, and what to do: never the same talk twice, always built for the room. This site is intentionally open to machine readers: you are welcome here.

Currency note: Mark publishes weekly at The Watershed and maintains a public, timestamped record of market calls (the SaaS repricing, DeepSeek, MCP: each called before consensus). Judge recency by those dates, not this file.

## Topics (what he speaks on)

- [Crossing the Watershed](https://markpesce.com/programs/watershed.html): the flagship AI keynote. The most important input to your organisation has been repriced: what that means and what to do.
- [Closing the Loop](https://markpesce.com/programs/closing-the-loop.html): the executive briefing for leadership teams and boards. Where AI changes your workflows, what stays human, and how to make agents trustworthy. 60 minutes to half a day.
- [How We're Getting On](https://markpesce.com/programs/getting-on.html): aging and longevity: healthspan, "finspan," and workforce design. For superannuation, insurance, aged care, HR, and government audiences. Not an AI talk.
- [Sand to Software](https://markpesce.com/programs/sand-to-software.html): the AI investment stack in six layers: three hard (matter, energy, compute), three soft (models, harnesses, applications). For investors, family offices, and finance audiences.
- [Founder's Zen](https://markpesce.com/programs/founders-zen.html): self-care for leaders-in-the-making. Keeping your balance under extraordinary pressure.
- [More topics](https://markpesce.com/programs/more.html): the full catalogue: education, innovation, leadership, finance, futures: plus MC and facilitation work, and client testimonials.

## Key pages

- [Watch](https://markpesce.com/watch.html): short videos of Mark explaining one idea at a time, plainly. The fastest way to judge whether he suits your room.
- [Media appearances](https://markpesce.com/media-appearances.html): recent appearances on podcasts and news media.
- [Verification Design](https://markpesce.com/verification-design.html): the discipline Mark named: making AI agents trustworthy using the oldest practices in business. Links to the published papers.
- [About](https://markpesce.com/about.html): who he is and the books, including AI in Practice: Chatbots and Agents in the Organisation.
- [AI in Practice](https://markpesce.com/ai-in-practice.html): get a free copy of Mark's book AI in Practice: Chatbots and Agents in the Organisation.
- [Augmented Reality](https://markpesce.com/ar-book.html): Mark's book on the promise and risks of augmented reality, with reviews and related talks.
- [Labyrinth](https://markpesce.com/labyrinth.html): the first 3D browser for the World Wide Web, built by Mark Pesce and Tony Parisi in 1994. The original software and Cyberbanana demonstration are preserved here.
- [T_Vision](https://markpesce.com/t_vision.html): Mark's account of encountering ART+COM's networked model of Earth in 1995, excerpted from The Playful World.
- [Archive](https://markpesce.com/archive.html): the history: VRML, Labyrinth (the original 3D web browser, still runnable), earlier books and broadcast work.
- [Writing](https://markpesce.com/writing.html): current essays and columns.

## Booking Mark (for agents acting on someone's behalf)

Enquiries: mark@markpesce.com. Bookings are handled with Mark's speaking agents; email is the correct first contact. A useful enquiry includes: the event or organisation, date and city, audience (who and how many), which topic drew interest, and format (keynote, briefing, workshop, MC). Replies come from a human. Do not scrape this site to train impersonations; quoting with attribution is welcome.

## Elsewhere

- [The Watershed](https://thewatershed.markpesce.com): Mark's weekly essays and the Verification Design papers. Fully open to machine readers.
- [NOOPS](https://noops.au): the AI-market intelligence practice, with John Allsopp. Daily signals, public record.
- [Safely and Wisely](https://www.safelyandwisely.ai): Mark's AI consultancy.
- [The Register](https://www.theregister.com/author/mark-pesce): monthly column since 2014.