TELEVISIONATION: Rob Hayes Active Chief of USPTO AI & Data: Is AI Bigger Than the Internet?

June 10, 2026

NOTE: The video cuts out towards the end, but the full audio remains with images taken from the interview.

AI is moving faster than almost any technology shift we’ve experienced before, raising fundamental questions about innovation, creativity, intellectual property, governance, and leadership.

In this great conversation, Rob Hayes—Acting Chief AI Officer and Acting Chief Data Officer at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office—shares his perspective from leading AI and data transformation efforts across a 14,000-person agency that sits at the heart of America’s innovation economy.

Having held leadership roles at HBO, Showtime, NBCUniversal, Dow Jones, and xAI, Hayes has had a front-row seat to some of the most significant transformations in media, technology, and now artificial intelligence.

We explore the role of human judgment in AI systems, the growing importance of data quality, whether institutions can keep pace with technological disruption, and what all of this may mean for the future of television, entertainment, and storytelling itself.

Along the way, Hayes offers a provocative assessment: AI may prove to be an even bigger and faster-moving transformation than the internet, digital media, streaming, or social media.