Building an AI-Centric Business

In this episode, host Mark talks with James Thornton, CEO of Daz 3D / Tafi, about what it really means to build an AI-centric business. James shares how his company evolved from a 3D content and avatar business into a key AI data provider for some of the world’s largest tech and gaming brands.

They discuss:

• The shift from scraping web data to bespoke, rights-clean AI training data
• Using AI across product, marketing, and customer service workflows
• Real-world applications in VR, robotics, gaming, and product visualization
• How AI is transforming email marketing and localization
• What the next 3 years of AI adoption will look like inside typical organizations

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Key Topics & Timestamps

[0:00:00] – Introduction & Guest Background

• Mark opens the show and frames the topic: AI-centric businesses with a marketing slant.
• James introduces himself and his company Daz 3D / Tafi.
• His background:
  • CEO at Daz for over a decade
  • Previous role growing a creative product brand from near zero to a $1B retail brand in 3.5–4 years
  • How Daz has continually pivoted into AI trends

[0:01:18] – What It Means to Be an AI-Centric Business

• James defines AI-centric as “AI-first” thinking across the business, especially in marketing.
• Emphasis on balancing AI with people, expertise, and intuition, rather than AI replacing human judgment.

[0:01:37] – Daz / Tafi’s Evolution into AI

• Company roots:
  • 25-year-old business with a strong direct-to-consumer freemium model
  • Deep community of 3D digital content creators (avatars, products for gaming, etc.)
• Past pivots: work in Web3 and NFTs, then parlaying that into today’s AI data and services.
• They now both:
  • Support other companies’ AI initiatives
  • Use AI internally to streamline content creation and business workflows

[0:03:37] – How They Help Other Companies with AI

• Core specialty: 3D digital content, avatar systems, and digital assets.
• Use AI and procedural tools to:
  • Scale their content library
  • Produce rights-clean, structured, annotated AI training data
• Customers include top tech, gaming, and enterprise brands training foundation models for:
  • Text-to-character
  • Product creation & visualization (including physical product development)
  • Robotics and other AI applications

[0:04:51] – Concrete Benefits of AI for Clients and Daz

• Central thesis: Good AI requires high-quality training data.
• For clients:
  • Bespoke, properly licensed data for training a wide range of models
• For Daz’s own business:
  • AI embedded in product workflows and content production
  • AI in product search, customer service, QA, and other functions to drive efficiency and effectiveness

[0:06:07] – AI Agents and Localization

• Use of AI agents in customer service to handle technical tickets and customer questions.
• Heavy focus on localization:
  • AI to adapt website and e-commerce for global markets
  • Integrating translation tools directly into their software so customers can use products in their native language
  • James calls this a “huge lift” for the business.

[0:07:45] – Tools: Open “Claw” and Enterprise AI Options

• They use Open “Claw” (contextually, likely a reference to a general-purpose LLM) through virtual machines across business units, including marketing.
• Acknowledge recent changes in that ecosystem and the need to adapt.
• Considering more enterprise-focused alternatives, such as the “Nemo Claw” and other corporate-friendly solutions, with an eye on governance and parameters.

[0:08:54] – Their Process for Helping Enterprise Clients

• First step: deeply understand voice of the customer and specific AI data needs.
• Industry shift:
  • Moving away from scraping the internet or generic licensing for training data
  • Toward custom, bespoke training sets
• Unique position of Daz / Tafi:
  • Own the full rights to their 3D content library (avatars, scenes, props)
  • Avoid ethical and legal issues around unauthorized training data
• Process:
  1. Scope the client’s needs.
  2. Use AI and internal workflows to generate customized datasets.
• Example:
  • For a major tech company building VR headset experiences, they created tens of thousands of unique characters, avatars, clothing, and assets to train their models.
  • James notes they might be the only company able to deliver this level of tailored solution at that scale.

[0:11:34] – The Next 3 Years: How AI Changes Organizations

• Based on discussions with CEOs and senior leaders:
  • Debate continues on whether AI creates or eliminates jobs; James personally believes it will create jobs.
  • Near-unanimous view: every company must integrate AI into workflows.
  • Employees and companies with a clear AI strategy will win versus those without one.
• Expectation:
  • Continued job creation plus a strong push for AI-centric efforts in every part of the business
  • Focus on efficiency, output, and more bespoke customer solutions

[0:13:25] – Advice to Marketers & Final Takeaways

• James emphasizes “just get started” and experiment with AI.
• For marketers:
  • AI enables hyper-specific adaptation to customer needs.
  • Allows new ways of marketing that aren’t feasible manually today.
• Example from their own marketing stack:
  • Their largest marketing channel is email
  • They manage a seven-figure, vetted email list mailed daily
  • AI is used to:
    • Optimize send times
    • Customize products and offers by demographic and other signals
• Overall message:
  • Embrace AI to become more effective and deliver better, more tailored customer experiences.

[0:14:58] – How to Contact James

• Website: Daz3D – daz3d.com
• Direct email: [e-mail]
• James invites listeners to contact him directly with questions.