David Colleen | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University |
| Occupation(s) | Architect businessperson |
David Colleen is an American businessman and architect. [1] [2] [3] He has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of SapientX since co-founding it in 2016. [4] [5] Previously, he founded Planet 9 Studios and was its CEO from 1994 to 2016. [6] [7] [8]
Born in the United States, Colleen attended Cornell University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in architecture, business administration, and management in 1981. [8]
After relocating to San Francisco, Colleen joined an architectural firm, where he specialized in designing commercial buildings. [2] During that period, he adapted 2D drafting software, developed in the 1980s to create 3D design simulations. [2] He later collaborated with Harley Wagner Integrated in West Michigan to expand his firm's outreach. [2]
In 1991, Colleen founded Planet 9 and served as its CEO until 2016. [1] [9] Under his tenure, Planet 9 specialized in constructing 3D models of buildings, streets, and various structures, using textures from digitized photographs. [3] The company modeled over 15 cities, including Austin, San Francisco, Tokyo, New York (city), and San Diego. [1] [3] The process involved capturing up to 2,000 photographs of a city, creating foundational models, and then integrating the images. [3] The models used the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) for online navigation, requiring a VRML plug-in. [3] [10] In 1996, Planet 9 built a baseball park simulation based on the San Francisco Giants' plans. [11] [12] The company later created a prototype 3D conference room for SPS Payment and a VRML environment for Schlumberger. [13] [14] In the 1990s, Planet 9 was recognized as a leading company in the virtual reality sector. [15]
In 1995, Colleen built VRML-based Virtual SOMA, a 3-D model of the SOuth of MArket Street in San Francisco, and showcased it at the Microsoft booth at the SigGraph conference. [16] [17] In 1997, he and his team developed Virtual Tokyo, a 3D representation of the Shinjuku district in Tokyo. [2] [18]
In 1999, Colleen gave a lecture at the Oklahoma City University, titled "Technology Builds Community". [19]
In 2016, Colleen co-founded SapientX with Bruce Wilcox and Maclen Marvit. [20] Prior to this, the founders had developed AI-driven, 3D, conversational characters in 2003, which were later incorporated into a Multiverse platform, RayGun, in 2008. [20] [4] In the same year, SapientX released public AI chatbots that mimicked the voices of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. [4] [21] [22]