Last year, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, raised an alarm about the nationwide crisis of loneliness and isolation, and in particular an epidemic of social anxiety and depression among youth. On the latest episode of The Market Makers, hosts Troy Duffie and Lenore Champagne Bierne speak with James Veraldi of Scenario.ai, an app that uses generative AI and immersive visualization to help users combat social anxiety and isolation by practicing challenging social interactions.
Veraldi struggled with loneliness and social disconnection in his own life and he hatched the idea for Scenario while leading product strategy at TikTok. Social anxiety and isolation, he says, is “a big problem that I felt I’ve played a hand, albeit a small one, in contributing to. And that was motivation.”