Why the airport of the future
will include a chat with acelebrity hologram
Noah Eckstein

If you happened to be waiting for a flight at JFK Terminal 4
on May 23, chances are you bumped into the comedian
Howie Mandel. Not in-person, of course. Mandel is averse togerms and doesn’t like to fly. But rather in-Proto, a life-sized
hologram machine with the ability to “beam” anyone oranything inside of it.
At noon, Mandel appeared. He was beaming in live from Van
Nuys, California, from a showroom of the holographic

communication company Proto. “This is how a germaphobecomes to New York,” he told me through The Proto Epic—atowering white box that costs $65,000. “This is how I’d liketo live the rest of my life.”
People started to gather. Mandel worked the crowd, poking
fun at passersby while also promoting Proto. Mandel
reached out to Proto in 2022, and has since become aninvestor, though he wouldn’t share how much he’s spent.
A few travelers looked over, confused at what they assumed
was a pre-recorded message. “Hey lady, come here,” Mandelsaid. Jennifer Hale, a seamstress from Savannah, Georgia,
traveling to her son’s wedding, looked at the screen. “Is thisreal?” she asked herself before inching forward. Sandy
Velasquez, a safety manager at JFK, paused and muttered,“could it be possible?” She shook her head. “But, look at his
feet, it looks real, like he’s right there.”
Nick Lilley, a student studying Economics and Russian atWilliams College hesitantly approached. “It’s got to be AI,” hesaid to Mandel, who was able to see and hear throughcameras embedded at the top of the Proto Epic. It wasn’t
until Mandel started dancing in-step with a traveler andmember of the Irish dance troupe Riverdance that Lilley’s
doubts were quelled. “It’s got to be real,” he said.

[Photo: courtesy Proto]

What holograms can do
Before founding Proto in 2018, David Nussbuam helped runMusion, a holographic entertainment company known for
helping resurrect legends like Tupac posthumously toperform as a hologram. As a child, he dreamed of being anannouncer or owning a radio station. He views Proto as “theevolution of broadcasting”—a way to connect people thatfeels more personal, complete, and authentic than videoconferencing apps like Zoom.
“Grandma and granddaughter can beam into each other’s
homes, or therapists can beam into a senior living facility, ora teacher can beam into a super remote school,” he said. “I
think it’s a way for people to be better, to do better business,to have deeper relationships, and to be more creative withhow they communicate with others. It makes the world asmaller place.”

Proto inventor and CEO David Nussbaum beams simultaneously into a dozen Protos at thefactory in Michigan. [Photo: courtesy Proto]

Proto’s life sized and table-top “box-type” displays use high-quality transparent LCD panels and various lighting effects
to give a realistic impression of a 3D person or object. “It’s a4-K volumetric digital representation, not a hologram,” said
Nussbaum. He describes Proto as more of “a window than ascreen,” though technically speaking, Proto uses screen
technology to produce its “perspective projection”
technique.
He explained that the current models use an open cell,
customized LCD with all the guts ripped out. “There is about
two feet of depth between the front of the screen and therear wall, creating actual depth in the display,” Nussbaum
said. “The content is projected within the screen itself, withshadows, reflections, and additional studio effects creating avery realistic projection.” Nussbaum says Proto’s technology
is not an illusion like Pepper’s Ghost, which uses projectors
and mirrors to create an effect. “This is a true projection
within the device itself,” he said.

The University of Loughborough. [Photo: courtesy of Loughborough University]

Proto is a contiguous evolution of the technology firstpioneered by physicist Dennis Gabor, who won the 1971
Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing holography. Gabor’stechnique allows for the reconstruction of a full 3D image
from any angle, as it recreates all the light reflected off anobject.
“It’s a bit like looking at the waves of the ocean,” explained
Mary Lou Jepsen, former executive director of engineering
at Facebook and Google, who founded the company
Openwater in 2016 to use holography, AI, andsemiconductor device physics to treat, monitor, and detect
diseases. In 1989 as a grad student at MIT, she co-createdthe first fully computer generated holographic video system.
“The result was a bit like R2D2 projecting out Princess Leia
in the first Star Wars movie,” she said.

William Shatner live from Los Angeles to give a key note at Advertising Week APAC inSydney, Australia with Google’s Cat Bowe (now at SalesForce) [Photo: Advertising Week
APAC/courtesy Proto]

Proto leverages this principle with its 3D display booth,projecting a 2D image of a person to create a realistic
holographic representation. Its device is part of a bigger
movement to bring lifelike displays into the real world. While
companies like Magic Leap and Microsoft’s HoloLens havebrought holographic AR displays to wearable headsets,
Proto’s more direct competition comes from something like
The Looking Glass by Looking Glass Factory, a desktop

holographic display, popular for 3D modeling, medical
imaging, and interactive art.

MetroBoomin live at a Spotify event, simultaneously cast from Atlanta to Miami and Los
Angeles to demonstrate how he makes beats. [Photo: Steven Hong/courtesy Proto]

The future of holograms
So far, Proto has gotten a lot of attention. The Kardashians
used it during an episode of Keeping Up With The
Kardashians. The Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons hotel, isintegrating the Proto M (the smaller table-top holoportation
device that costs just under $7,000) into its presidential
suites where people can use it for concierge services.
Christie’s auction house has partnered with Proto to
showcase art and sculpture, like Edgar Degas’s $20 million

“Petite danseuse de quatorze ans,” without the need forcostly and often logistically challenging shipping.
Additionally, Loughborough University in England is testing
how Proto will impact student-facing teaching.
“I see a future where holotech opens up new, exploratory‘ways of seeing’ and opportunities to interact with ideas,
items and people that we would not have previously beenable to experience,” said Vikki Locke, a professor of teachingpractice at Loughborough University’s business school. Overthe next year, the university will conduct research tounderstand the technology and its impact on student
learning, while also developing training materials foracademics. One clear benefit to universities is the ability to
cut costs associated with travel expenses for visiting
lecturers.
“For me, the more interesting benefits come from the‘control of the pixels’ which facilitates many new innovative
ways in which we might engage with our students, forexample with situated AI avatars, mixed-reality seminars,‘show and tell’ content, etc.,” said Gary Burnett, a professorof digital creativity at Loughborough University.

A new kind of screen in your life
JFK installed Proto’s tech as part of its arts and culture
program, a series of installations and exhibits that are meant

to represent the full NYC experience. “While holograms holdpromise for the future of public design, it’s likely that they
will complement rather than replace traditional forms ofdisplay and communication,” said Roel Huinink, Chief
Executive Officer of JFK International Air Terminal.
I asked Huinink if JFK has future plans to incorporate thistech with security, TSA, or anything else unrelated to artsand culture. “The sky’s the limit,” he said. “There are endlesspossibilities for innovation and improvement in enhancing
the customer experience and delivering incredible journeys.”At the end of our interview, Nussbaum wanted to show me
how integrating AI into the Proto machine worked. “Howiesay hello to Fast Company, and tell them about your favorite
moment from AGT [America’s Got Talent]…in Spanish,”Nussbaum instructed the machine. Howie took a few
seconds to process the question, and then proceeded toanswer in Spanish.
The whole scene conjured memories of The Jetsons, acartoon about a family in a futuristic Space Age. On one
hand, these advancements are exciting, thrusting society
into a new era where holography creates innovative solutionsto old problems. On the other hand, concerns exist about thegeneral deterioration of in-person connection. ForNussbaum, holographic communication isn’t a deteriorationof human contact—it’s a way to improve it.

“You shouldn’t have to be Howie Mandel to be a hologram.
You shouldn’t have to be a millionaire or a celebrity to besomewhere,” Nussbaum says. “I think this is going toenhance all forms of interaction.”
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