Upscale
Conf
Malaga, Spain, Nov 4-5
AI & CREATIVITY
Art, design and technology
Upscale Conf is a global conference series that brings together top creatives, technologists, and innovators to explore how AI is reshaping the creative industries—from digital art and design to storytelling and music innovation.
Join the third edition in Malaga, Spain.
Organized by Freepik.
4-5 Nov 2025
MALAGA, SPAIN
SAN FRANCISCO RECAP
Thank you for joining us in San Francisco! Relive the moments from inspiring talks, networking sessions, and unforgettable experiences with our community.










COME ON STAGE
BECOME A SPEAKER
Share your expertise and insights with our community of innovators. Join industry leaders and visionaries in shaping the conversation around AI, creativity, and the future of design.

BE A PART OF IT
BECOME A SPONSOR
Join us in shaping the future of AI and creativity. Connect with industry leaders, showcase your brand, and be part of the conversation that's defining the next era of design and technology.
Reach out to info@upscaleconf.com

JAMES GERDE
AI ANIMATOR AT GERDE GOT IT
James Gerde is a pioneering AI artist and the co-founder of Gerde Got IT AI LLC. Known for blending cutting-edge technology with cinematic storytelling, James has helped shape a new era of generative video and digital expression. His work pushes the boundaries of what's possible with AI, merging aesthetic mastery with algorithmic precision. With over 2 million followers across platforms, James's creations have captivated a global audience and earned recognition from major brands and creative communities alike. You can follow his work on Instagram @gerdegotit.

JUSTIN MAIER
CEO OF CIVITAI
Justin Maier is the founder and CEO of Civitai, the world's leading open-source platform for generative AI creators. A veteran software architect and hands-on builder, he's scaling Civitai from the ground up to redefine how creators and communities collaborate in the AI era. His work sits at the intersection of technology, storytelling, and culture — empowering anyone to build worlds, shape narratives, and turn imagination into lasting impact.

MINH DO
COFOUNDER OF MACHINE CINEMA, FANTASTIC DAY, FAIRGROUND.TV
Minh Do is an entrepreneur, filmmaker, and speaker. He is the co-founder of Machine Cinema, a collective focused on AI and emerging tech in film and art, and Fantastic Day, where he is cofounder and head of AI, working with musicians, brands, and filmmakers to produce AI content. Minh is also a producer at Fairground.tv, an AI FAST channel with the goal of producing a 24/7 slate of AI content to distribute globally.

KATHRYN HAN
PRODUCT DESIGN LEADERSHIP, GENAI AT META
Han is an award-winning design leader with experience in both startup and Fortune 100 companies, including Meta, Pinterest, and WalmartLabs. At Meta, she's optimized and simplified content creation for Facebook Shops, Monetization, and Creation. Most recently, she leads AI Creative Experiences in GenAI at Meta. She excels at forging robust cross-functional collaborations to develop strategic experiences that align customer needs with business objectives. Her work has garnered recognition from esteemed organizations such as the Clio Awards, Adobe Design Awards, Art Director's Club, and DigiDay. Her work has also been featured in prominent international publications and exhibitions and is included in the permanent collections of the Basel School of Design and Auckland University of Technology. She is a judge for the Webby Awards and a speaker at notable events, including TypoBerlin, California College of the Arts, UC Santa Cruz, AUT, and Chapman University.

GORKEM YURTSEVEN
CTO AND CO-FOUNDER OF FAL.AI
Gorkem Yurtseven is the CTO and Co-founder of fal, a generative media platform for developers. Prior to co-founding fal, Gorkem was a senior software engineer at AWS, where he worked on the SageMaker product, gaining significant experience with large-scale infrastructure and machine learning workloads. At fal, he applies this expertise to build and lead the development of a high-performance inference engine that powers fast and efficient creation of AI-generated content.

JOHN GAETA
FOUNDER AND CEO OF ESCAPE MEDIA
John Gaeta is a legendary Creator / Designer / Inventor who is best known for his AcademyAward winning work on original The Matrix Trilogy and for Star Wars Immersive Entertainment. He has a history of conceiving and developing emergent forms of story and experience. He is known for pioneering methods and technologies such as Bullet Time, Volumetric Capture, NUI, HoloCinema, Mixed Reality, AI NPCs, and GENai for Intelligent Entertainment. Evolving from a foundational career in filmmaking toward new milestones in Interactive, Immersive and Intelligent Entertainment, John has led creative innovation for companies such as Lucasfilm/Disney as Co Founder / Executive Creative Director of ILMxLAB (Star Wars focused), SVP of Creative Strategy at Magic Leap, Executive Creative Producer for Epic Games, Chief Creative Officer at Inworld.ai and most recently co Founder and co CEO of Escape.ai. He has also consulted and advised founders, ceos/executives and teams at world class companies such as Microsoft, Meta and Niantic. Some recent years highlights include: in 2021, John Gaeta worked with Epic Games' on "The Matrix Awakens", a state of the art Cinematic-Interactive Demonstration that showcased the launch and power of Unreal 5, he had a cameo appearance in The Matrix Resurrections and he developed and co wrote "The Animatrix_2.0". In 2022, as co-Executive Producer in partnership with Kiri Hart (EP Star Wars 7,8,9), Gaeta commenced development of Metropolis (based on the landmark manga by Osamu Tezuka). In 2023, he collaborated with author Neal Stephenson and SVP of Imagineering Jon Snoddy on real-time interactive AI Character experiences focused on the IP Snow Crash amongst others. In 2024, John Gaeta co-founded www.escape.ai, a multimedia, multi-platform distribution service focused on the next paradigm of cinema and experience (Gen AI & Game Engine) which he terms: "Neo Cinema".

ALE PALMA
CLOUD ARCHITECT AT FREEPIK
Ale Palma is an AI Platform Engineer at Freepik with nine years of experience spanning full-stack development, SRE, and cloud architecture. He started by building high-performance web applications, then transitioned to Site Reliability Engineering, where he automated incident response and helped set up CI/CD platforms and methodologies supporting 100+ developers across dozens of microservices. As a Solutions Architect, he led the design of Freepik's cloud infrastructure, introducing infrastructure-as-code, zero-downtime rollouts, and cost-optimized scaling. Today, he engineers the company's AI platform—managing GPU clusters, optimizing real-time inference pipelines, and taming the complexity behind over 2 million daily inferences that power creative tools used by millions at Freepik and beyond.

NIKITA NAMJOSHI
DEVELOPER RELATIONS ENGINEER AT GOOGLE
Nikita is a developer relations engineer at Google DeepMind, helping devs bring their creations to life with latest research, products, and frontier models. She writes and teaches about AI on Coursera, YouTube, and Substack, and previously worked on the TensorFlow and Google Cloud AI teams.

AALIYAH TAYLOR
COMMUNITY BUILDER AND EXPERIENTIAL MARKETER
Aaliyah Taylor is a culture architect and experiential marketer helping brands build culture, community, and clout. Bred in the soul of Baltimore and now igniting Atlanta, she crafts community-first experiences that hit different—think viral moments, unforgettable activations, and IRL events that live rent-free in your mind. With a sharp instinct for what's next and a fearless creative pulse, Aaliyah doesn't just follow trends—she shapes them.

VERENA PUHM
GEN AI DIRECTOR, TV PRODUCER & WRITER
Verena is a Sundance-featured, award-winning AI filmmaker and creative technologist, blending emotional storytelling with cutting-edge tools. With a background in producing series for CNN and BBC and writing for Leonine Studio and Red Bull Media, she bridges traditional and AI-driven cinema. Her work has been recognized by Forbes, The Hollywood Reporter, and leading AI festivals. A frequent speaker and juror, she collaborates with global studios to push the future of storytelling forward.

TOMAS MORENO
OUTBOUND PRODUCT MANAGEMENT LEAD AT GOOGLE
Tomas Moreno is Outbound Product Management Lead for generative media models at Google Cloud AI. His responsibilities include product development, go to market, and business management. He is currently responsible for Veo, Imagen, and computer vision products.
GET YOUR TICKET
Join us for third Upscale Conf edition in Málaga, Spain. Two days of talks, workshops and creative networking. Limited-time Early Egg ticket offer is now live.
Grab yours before it hatches.
NOV 4-5, 2025
MALAGA, SPAIN
get answers to your questions
FAQ
+ What can I expect at Upscale Conf?
Your ticket grants you access to both conference days, including talks and workshops. Lunch, coffee, and snacks will be provided during the conference.
+ Will there be workshops or hands-on sessions?
Yes, in addition to talks, we are offering interactive workshops where you can get hands-on experience with the latest AI tools and creative technologies. You will be notified via email with info about how to register for the workshops. Space in workshops is limited.
+ Can I apply to speak at Upscale Conf?
Yes! Please reach out to info@upscaleconf.com to apply.
+ Is there a refund policy for tickets?
Yes, refunds are available up to 30 days before the event. For full terms, please check our ticketing policy.
+ How can I get an invoice for my ticket?
You can get receipts with tax information directly from our ticketing platform.
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