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Michael Wayne
Michael Wayne has been trailblazing at the intersection of technology and entertainment for over 25 years.
Since 2025, Wayne has been the Global Head of Media & Entertainment for RWS, a global AI solutions company. In his role Wayne leads an international team helping media and entertainment companies transform their businesses by integrating AI solutions, primarily related to the media supply-chain. The team’s solutions include agentic workflows, custom agent development, AI dubbing, subtitling, captioning, and accessibility and media services with the purpose of “helping stories travel further”.
Prior to RWS, Wayne was the co-founder and CEO of Kin, a global digital-first lifestyle entertainment company. Kin creates, owns, and distributes award-winning lifestyle entertainment across all platforms. Kin has raised over $50M in venture capital funding from leading firms including Mayfield Fund, General Catalyst, and Atomico, among others.
Before founding Kin, Wayne served as Vice President, Strategic Alliances for Sony Pictures Entertainment. Prior to joining Sony, Wayne served as Vice President, Business Development for Launch Media where he was part of the core team that grew the online music media company from start-up through IPO and ultimately through its acquisition by Yahoo! Prior to Launch Media, Wayne was a Marketing Manager for The ABC Television Network. He began his career as an entrepreneur in Prague, Czech Republic, where he founded Velvet Magazine, the first English-language city magazine in Central & Eastern Europe.
Wayne is a strategic advisor to multiple venture-backed AI startups, including Voia (video production infrastructure), Portrait (creative services staffing), and Adapt (AI orchestration). He was a strategic advisor and acting chief commercial officer at Papercup Technologies, an AI dubbing startup whose technology was acquired by RWS in 2025.
Wayne has lectured at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University, USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. He has been featured in numerous publications, including Business Week, Variety, Ad Age, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Wayne earned his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from The University of the South, Sewanee, TN.
He is board chair of Artificial Intelligence Los Angeles (AI LA), a public benefit 501©(3) nonprofit organization, supporting the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) communities of the Greater Los Angeles. AI LA hosts over 75 networking and educational events in LA annually. He is a past board chair of Girls Inc. of Greater Los Angeles, a non-profit organization that provides more than 140,000 girls across the U.S. and Canada with life-changing experiences and solutions to the unique challenges that girls face.
Is studio-free dubbing really around the corner?
AI voices are improving fast. But can they truly replace actors – and should they? In our latest Globally Speaking Podcast episode, Michael Wayne (Head of Media & Entertainment at RWS) and Justin …
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