Eric Burgess has spent 25 years at the intersection of product, storytelling, and technology. Now he's the person asking the hardest question in the room, and bringing the answer.
Book Eric to Speak
A3E / NAMM 2026: Artificial Creativity
Eric "E.R." Burgess is a recognized leader in creativity, technology, and content authenticity, with a career spanning journalism, video game design, SaaS innovation, and marketing technology. At Disney, he spearheaded the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire video games, selling over 4 million copies and introducing downloadable content to the division for the first time. He later led SaaS innovation, drove content marketing breakthroughs at PublishThis, and built industry-first tools including the Earned Media Value Index.
In 2023, he co-founded Credtent, a Public Benefit Corporation empowering creators to reclaim control of their content in the age of AI. Credtent's content valuation methodology, which produced the first-ever independent IP valuation for AI training purposes applied to Studio Ghibli at the height of the viral style-cloning controversy, draws directly on Eric's 15 years in content intelligence and media valuation alongside co-founder Dr. Galen Buckwalter's scientific rigor.
Eric speaks from practice, not theory, and from a genuine conviction that the decisions being made right now about AI and creativity will define the next generation of human expression.
LARC AI Innovation Summit (Los Angeles) · A3E/NAMM (Anaheim)
On stage at A3E / NAMM 2026, Anaheim, CA
AI, Mass Persuasion, and the Entertainment Industry. Beall Applied Innovation, UC-Irvine. Coalition partners: Center for Humane Technology, Stony Brook, Arizona State, University of Tübingen.
rhetai.com →Credtent presented as a case study in ethical AI implementation before an audience of university researchers, AI/ML industry leaders, and nonprofit partners. A coalition member joined Credtent as a direct result.
rhetai.com →Workforce & Industry Experts: Bridging Education and Industry with A.I. Panel of six industry leaders for 365 educators and workforce professionals from the Los Angeles Regional Consortium.
Event resource hub →Deepfakes and AI: Emerging Solutions for Artists, Musicians, and the Entertainment Industry. Panelists: Virginie Berger (MatchTune), Roman Molino Dunn (AudioIntell.ai). Moderated by Tony Cariddi, PreSonus.
Event page →Ethical AI in Art. Community forum on the responsible and ethical use of AI in artistic practice, hosted by Pomona's leading nonprofit arts center.
dacenter.org →Bringing Creativity and AI Together Ethically. Headline speaker at a 6,800-member series co-hosted by CALE at Caltech and Echo-Factory. Livestreamed on LinkedIn. Moderated by Marsha Swallow.
Event page →Conference theme: Artificial Creativity. Eric appeared on the Cognitive Decline panel exploring how neurodata and human creativity intersect with AI. Co-panelists: Jessica Mendoza (SWARM Community), Anne Cantera (SWARM Community), Seamus Yu Harte (Stanford d.school). Moderated by Dan Furman, PhD (Arctop).
Eric is available for conferences, corporate events, workshops, and panels in 2026 and beyond. Inquire about availability →
"Eric is at his core a polymath. His business and product savvy is second to none, and his product management skills are unsurpassed both on a technical and a personal level. Eric does life well." — Dr. Galen Buckwalter, Founding Chief Scientist, eHarmony · Co-founder, Credtent
Each talk is built for a specific audience and context, but all of them start from the same place: 25 years of earned perspective on creativity, technology, and what it actually means to build things that matter.
AI systems are trained on the work of human creators, often without consent, compensation, or credit. This talk examines what's at stake, who's fighting back, and what a fair future for AI and creativity could actually look like.
From Disney to early-stage SaaS to founding a Public Benefit Corporation, Eric has led product in environments that demanded creativity under constraint. This talk is about the discipline behind innovation: the habits, decisions, and instincts that separate builders from talkers.
Originally developed for the RhetAI Coalition, a consortium of universities, nonprofits, and AI researchers focused on AI and rhetoric, this talk examines how AI is transforming the mechanics of persuasion and what entertainment industry leaders need to understand about the weaponization of synthetic media.
AI is not the enemy of creativity, but it's not automatically its friend either. This talk maps the real tensions and genuine opportunities, and gives audiences a concrete way to think about integrating AI tools without surrendering the things that make creative work worth doing.
Studios, networks, music companies, and platforms navigating AI's disruption of creative industries.
IP attorneys, policymakers, and advocacy organizations working on AI governance and creator rights.
Game studios, designers, and publishers reckoning with AI-generated content and player expectations.
Product leaders, CMOs, and innovation teams building responsible AI strategies at scale.
Universities, research centers, and academic conferences exploring AI ethics and its societal implications.
Writers, musicians, visual artists, and independent creators building a practice in the age of generative AI.
At the height of the viral Studio Ghibli style-cloning controversy, Credtent published the first independent, methodology-driven valuation of a major studio's IP for AI training purposes. The report drew national and international coverage and established Eric and Galen Buckwalter as leading voices on AI content valuation.
Read the release →
Quoted on the Grammy nomination of the Beatles' AI-assisted "Now and Then" and what it signals for the industry's relationship with AI-generated content.
Read the article →In-depth interview on Credtent's mission, the mechanics of AI content licensing, and what a fair ecosystem for creators actually looks like.
Watch on YouTube →Conversation on the intersection of creative industries and artificial intelligence, and what Credtent's approach to content valuation means for the broader ecosystem.
Watch on YouTube →Session recording from the A3E Advanced Audio Applications Exchange. Eric joined Jessica Mendoza, Anne Cantera, Seamus Yu Harte, and moderator Dan Furman on the Cognitive Decline panel.
Watch the session →Coalition member since the inaugural 2024 summit. Partners include the Center for Humane Technology, Stony Brook University, Arizona State University, and University of Tübingen.
rhetai.com →Curated resource hub from Eric's appearance at the LARC AI Innovation Summit, November 2024, featuring session materials and follow-up resources for the 365 educators and workforce professionals in attendance.
View resource hub →Eric publishes regularly on Burgessing, his Substack on creativity, technology, content rights, and the human side of the AI economy — from the operator's seat, not the press-release desk.
Regular writing on AI, creativity, content rights, and the intersection of product and storytelling. New essays weekly.
Read on Substack →Eric's Substack essays make excellent primer material for attendees before a keynote. Request a curated reading list tailored to your event's theme when you book.
Three bio lengths, high-resolution headshots, and a printable one-sheet — cleared for marketing and press use.
Eric "E.R." Burgess is the Founder & CEO of Credtent, the neutral licensing infrastructure for the AI economy. A product operator, author, and board game designer, he speaks on AI, creativity, content rights, and the human judgment that still separates great work from merely fast work.
Eric "E.R." Burgess is the Founder & CEO of Credtent, a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation and B Corp building the neutral licensing infrastructure for the AI economy. With 25 years of product leadership across entertainment, technology, and creative industries, Eric writes, speaks, and advises on the intersection of artificial intelligence and human creativity.
His keynotes have been featured at A3E/NAMM, the RhetAI Coalition's AlphaPersuade Summit, LARC's A.I. in L.A. Innovation Summit, and the dA Center for the Arts. He is an author of fiction and non-fiction, an original board game designer, and publishes regularly at Burgessing on Substack.
Eric is an MBA, an advisor to creator-rights initiatives, and holds the "AI Realist" position in a market often polarized between utopians and doomers.
Eric "E.R." Burgess has spent 25 years at the intersection of product, storytelling, and technology — culminating in Credtent, the neutral licensing infrastructure for the AI economy.
Credtent is a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation and B Corp, structurally designed to remain independent and neutral in the AI value chain. It operates as a two-sided marketplace connecting rights holders — publishers, studios, labels, archives, and independent creators — with AI companies seeking pre-cleared, provenance-verified training data, compliance documentation, and indemnification. Eric is positioning Credtent as the trusted intermediary of the new content economy: where disclosure meets discretion and creative value is measurable, licensable, and defensible.
An MBA and long-time product operator, Eric brings uncommon depth to the AI conversation: the technical fluency of a builder, the market intuition of a founder, the structural thinking of an operator, and the creative sensibility of a lifelong storyteller. He is a published author across fiction and non-fiction, an original board game designer, and a recurring keynote speaker at events including A3E/NAMM, the RhetAI Coalition's AlphaPersuade Summit, LARC's A.I. in L.A. Innovation Summit, the Advanced Audio Applications Exchange, and the dA Center for the Arts.
Eric's signature talks — "Who Owns the Machine's Imagination?", "The Operator's Edge", "Mass Persuasion and the Entertainment Machine", and "Bringing Creativity and AI Together Ethically" — share a single through-line: the human side of the AI conversation. In a market polarized between utopians and doomers, Eric occupies the "AI Realist" position: pragmatic, experienced, and building in public.
He publishes regularly at Burgessing on Substack and is based in the Los Angeles area. Available for keynotes, panels, workshops, and advisory engagements in 2026 and beyond.
Printable one-page summary with bio, signature talks, fees, and contact. Open in a browser and print to PDF.
View One-Sheet →Eric is based in the Los Angeles area. Travel and accommodation for out-of-area engagements are additional. A media kit and speaker rider are available upon request.
For booking inquiries, availability, and custom engagements, reach out directly.