Twelve months ago, I did something that felt equal parts reckless, like a creative hit to the vein, and intuitively inevitable—I birthed Australia’s first AI celebrity, Bruce Ryder
At the time, the landscape was murky. AI characters were just beginning to emerge—half-gaming avatars, half-Instagram thirst traps, occasionally veering into digital soft porn for Only Fans. With the fear of every Black Mirror and Sky-net sci-fi lurking in the shadows, no one really knew what they were, only that they were coming. Fast. Comoditised and Unstoppable.
So I did what I always do when the system glitches at the unknown: I dive in face first at the thrill of a narrative narcotic.
Bruce Ryder began as a brand emissary for our irreverently Aussie bodycare line, Ducks Nuts Balls and Body. What started as a tongue-in-cheek “brand ID’ icon quickly glitched into something else. A presence. A persona. A prototype of what AI could be when infused with storyline, satire, and strategy. Not to mention a healthy dose of fantasy and memorbillia.
And now, in just a few weeks, Bruce and I will walk onto a stage together—live—at Retail Global Fest on the Gold Coast. For the first time in Australian media history, a human and an AI co-creator will co-present in real time.
Let that sink in.
This isn’t just a brand stunt or tech showcase. Even though the tech still blows my mind.
It’s a cultural turning point.
Because let’s be honest—Australia still side-eyes AI with that classic blend of cynicism and sunburnt skepticism. We’re wary of tech that feels “too American,” “too sci-fi,” or “too much.” While Europe flirts and the US funds, we hang back. Curious. Conflicted. Occasionally combative.
But someone had to go first. And while this wasn’t my first dive into the unknown, something shifted this time. With AI generative tools at my finger tips, I finally felt like my hyper-fiction imagination could hit the gas. It didnt inspire me, it gave me permission to hit highway at full speed. A portal of my imagination open and has expanded ever since.
It wasn’t about proving AI could be more than fear or dystopia. It was about refusing to let our imaginations be limited by robotic replicas of Instagram models or lowest expression on Only fans. While others played it safe with eye candy, I let mine run wild—curious, absurd and threaded to our love for Australian nostalgia. Because I knew AI was capable intricate storytelling with a human at the wheel. And Bruce was my way of showing it.
In June last year, I launched Bruce Ryder into the ether. No press release. No viral push. Just code, character, and a gut-level knowing that this was laying bricks on a yellow brick road.
Since then, Bruce has grown into something bigger than both of us. He’s starring in the country’s first AI-generated short film. He’s sparking conversations in places that used to deny. And this May, he’ll become the first AI to ever co-present with a human (me) on a major stage in Australia.
No one knows exactly what comes next. That’s the whole point. For the first time, this timeline has no experts, not gate keepers and no data led strategists pretending to pave the way. We are truely on the edge of a garden of eden. That the narrative narcotic I live for—the drip-fed suspense, the plot twists, the freedom to be guided by Bruce’s favourite tag line “Loosen up kid and grab life by the balls”
I guess this one is in the hands of the “meta-verse”
Stay tuned.
