Photo credit: venturebeat.com
Genies, known for its focus on avatar technology, is unveiling its latest user-generated content tools, designed to empower users to create custom AI avatars. This move aligns with their long-term vision of democratizing digital expression.
In 2022, Genies secured $150 million in funding and has rapidly progressed in developing a technology stack they refer to as “Parties.” This venture integrates gaming platforms with AI avatars and user-generated content to create tailored gameplay experiences.
In a recent interview, Genies CEO Akash Nigam shared insights into the company’s technology, which has been under development for several years. This presentation marks the first time Nigam has publicly demonstrated the capabilities of their technology to a journalist.
Nigam highlighted the high-quality output of their platform, mentioning several potential business models, including commission fees for creators. Although specific partnerships remain undisclosed, he assures that they involve leading players in entertainment and gaming.
The philosophy driving the company is centered around the concept that anyone should have the ability to create any type of digital content. Genies offers a comprehensive suite of tools that facilitate the creation of all types of AI avatars, along with essential elements like fashion, props, behaviors, and personalities.
Nigam emphasized that everything created within their platform should be interoperable. The technology includes the Genies’ Avatar Framework, which utilizes machine learning and advanced graphics to ensure that all user-generated AI avatars and experiences can work together seamlessly, fostering limitless creativity.
Genies has already attracted a host of early adopters, including major celebrities like Justin Bieber and Rihanna. With offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the company has raised approximately $200 million from esteemed investors such as Silver Lake and NEA.
The mission and the vision
Genies aims to establish a digital identity layer for next-generation experiences. With the convergence of AI, gaming, and XR, Genies’ avatar technology stands as a vital link at this intersection, aspiring to create a landscape where personalized, adaptive, and intelligent social gaming experiences will thrive.
This ambitious goal marks the culmination of over five years of development, according to Nigam. He noted that Genies gained traction during the pandemic, when traditional fan interactions became restricted. Celebrities turned to 3D avatars to engage with their audiences at virtual events, paving the way for new revenue streams that have persisted beyond initial pandemic restrictions.
The trajectory of this innovation raises the question of its future implications. Nigam predicts a shift in how individuals represent themselves online. “By 2025, we expect the number of AI companions people have will surpass their real-life friends,” he said, suggesting a future where digital avatars enhance social connections.
Nigam envisions that AI companions will evolve from their current static forms into more dynamic entities, capable of engaging in conversation and serving as interactive tools. He highlighted the significance of platforms where younger generations, such as Gen Alpha, socialize—primarily in game environments like Roblox and Fortnite—proposing that engagement requires companies to adapt to these interactive spaces.
He compared Genies’ mission to that of Epic Games, recognizing their shared vision of a metaverse where AI, XR, and gaming coalesce. Nigam expressed confidence in Genies’ potential to collaborate with various partners in the evolving digital landscape.
Understanding the shift in digital interaction
In today’s social media ecosystem, users are often in passive consumption mode, creating a gap in meaningful socialization compared to more interactive platforms. Unlike traditional channels like Instagram, which often serve as one-way communication tools, platforms driven by user-generated content, such as Roblox and Fortnite, have emerged as vibrant social forums.
This generational shift highlights Genies’ response to the craving for more interactive digital interactions through their “Parties,” enabling co-creation and engagement in ways that have not been previously realized.
Efforts to build authentic relationships between intellectual property (IP) holders and younger generations echo collaborative initiatives seen in new projects that integrate iconic brands and characters within gaming platforms.
Understanding the behaviors and preferences of Gen Alpha is crucial for forging deeper connections. This generation is growing up amid a digital transformation where personalized content shapes their experiences, and effectively engaging them requires fluency in their cultural references and digital interactions.
What’s a Party?
A Party represents a cutting-edge user-generated content ecosystem, allowing IP holders to create customizable mobile platforms that integrate AI avatars and tailored gameplay. This concept aims to transform how users engage by enabling active participation in content creation rather than passive consumption.
Nigam indicated that Genies has established relationships with significant clients, though details regarding these partners remain confidential. To illustrate the functionality of their platform, a hypothetical example named “Candy Party” is provided to contextualize how similar real-world IPs could operate.
At its core, a Party hinges on three essential components: smart avatars, user-generated content, and interoperability. Smart avatars function as AI-enhanced characters with unique personalities, behaviors, and designs, fostering meaningful engagements through intelligent interactions. They surpass conventional chatbots, capable of real-time conversation, dynamic gameplay, and expressive movements.
Imagine a candy-themed interactive platform where users encounter a vibrant character like a Bubblegum Bunny mascot brought to life as a smart avatar, designed to engage with players through conversations and games, enhancing immersion in the Party experience.
Additionally, users can create unique smart avatars that serve as personal companions within these interactive environments, offering personalized advice, insights, and fun interactions.
Core tech that enables smart avatars
Genies is on the verge of launching its Parties, which feature an array of technologies to facilitate the creation of smart avatars.
Autogeneration and AIGC avatar creation: Through the Avatar Autogeneration tool, users can create stylized 3D avatars resembling their likenesses or even fantastical characters, simplifying the process of avatar creation without requiring technical expertise.
Avatar customization & compatibility: Genies provides users with a comprehensive system to fine-tune avatars to their preferences, ensuring uniqueness and compatibility with various visual styles. Users can modify numerous features, including facial structures, clothing, and accessories.
AI persona creation: Upon finalizing the visual aspects of a smart avatar, users can infuse their creations with distinct personalities, enabling richer interactions within the Party experiences.
Behavioral AI: Smart avatars utilizing sentiment analysis can animate based on real-time interactions, enhancing their human-like attributes and responsiveness.
UGC custom animation pipeline: Users can capture and upload movements to create personalized animations for avatars, allowing for expressive interactions within the Party setting.
AI smart avatar demo
User-generated content (UGC): Communities can shape their Party experiences through the creation of games, digital items, and custom avatar designs, enhancing user participation. The dynamic nature of Parties is driven by continuous input from users. While overseeing content management, IP owners can leverage community contributions to elevate engagement and loyalty.
Example use case for Parties: IP owners could provide tools through Genies that unlock an endless array of customized assets and interactive experiences. Visualize a creator designing a unique accessory for their smart avatar, such as a themed purse or distinctive clothing items, integrating seamlessly into the Party.
Nigam summarized that Parties consist of smart avatars, UGC games, and user-generated assets. “We aim to eliminate barriers to entry,” he stated, enabling aspiring developers and creators to build rich experiences, emphasizing that flexibility in design encourages creativity.
Core Tech That Enables UGC
UGC Assets
AIGC Asset Pipeline: Genies offers AI-generated tools that facilitate the creation of 3D assets with simple prompts, removing technical complexities for users. Additionally, tools for fashion customization enable intricate design possibilities for digital creations.
UGC Games
Experiences SDK + No Code Development Tools: These tools provide users with essential resources for launching interactive Smart Games that highlight UGC and interoperability while allowing real-time interactions within Party settings.
The Experiences SDK allows developers to publish games within the Party framework, creating a versatile app environment akin to Roblox. This no-code approach emphasizes broad participation, allowing even those with minimal expertise to contribute to gaming experiences.
XR compatibility: The technology expands creative avenues, supporting immersive experiences across various devices.
Interoperability: Unlocking the full potential of a sustainable UGC ecosystem, Genies’ frameworks are engineered for seamless compatibility across all user-generated experiences, ensuring everything works together effortlessly. Their Avatar Framework relies on advanced technologies to provide limitless customization options for avatars and experiences.
For instance, once a user designs a custom item, the system aligns it automatically for use across different avatars and environments, enhancing both practicality and value.
Core tech that enables interoperability
AutoRigging: Users can automatically turn any 3D creation into a game-ready asset, eliminating the need for additional rigging work. This ensures ease of integration within various Party environments.
Prop Retargeting: This technology allows assets to adapt dynamically to different avatars and experiences, ensuring versatility in interactions across the platform.
Wearable Refitting: User-generated assets can seamlessly fit any avatar, regardless of size or shape, fostering broader creative opportunities for customization.
Asset Stylizer: Custom shaders adapt all user-generated content to match a Party’s aesthetic, giving creators control over the visual presentation.
Animation Retargeting: Genies ensures that animations work fluidly across various avatars, allowing for a diverse range of interactions.
Native Avatar Framework: This proprietary framework guarantees performance and interoperability across all platforms, allowing for consistent quality in user-generated experiences.
Genies Login: This feature provides a unified entry point for users, enabling them to bring their avatars and digital inventory across different experiences.
With Parties, Genies facilitates a transformative way for users to engage with digital environments, allowing a blend of socialization, creativity, and play. This technology enables IP owners to empower their audiences as co-creators, shaping the interactive landscape together.
By leveraging these tools, IP holders and developers can construct rich social and interactive ecosystems grounded in AI avatars and user-generated content.
The role of fashion in shaping the UGC landscape is expected to grow, with companies like Roblox, Epic Games, and others exploring this space. Genies aims to quickly help these companies launch smart avatars and engaging Parties while allowing fans to thrive in a no-code environment.
Nigam envisions the creation of an advanced tool he refers to as the “Mega stylizer,” facilitating interoperability across diverse digital realms, integral to the ecosystem Genies is crafting.
“Parties represent the future of mobile apps, focusing on smart avatars that enhance gameplay and user engagement,” Nigam stated, highlighting the direction in which digital identities and interactive experiences are headed.
A new era of IP development
The conversation thus far has centered on existing intellectual property and how established brands can leverage Genies’ technology to enhance their digital presence.
Existing IP: Established brands can harness Genies’ technology to animate their IP with smart avatars and create compelling Parties.
Talent IP: Influencers and creatives can develop their digital personas into smart avatars for immersive Party experiences.
The future looks promising, as the accessibility of these tools will enable new creators to forge their original IP seamlessly from their homes.
New IP: Individuals will be able to craft unique content and characters using Genies’ technology to create innovative, original experiences as smart avatars within Party environments.
Key elements of IP development process
Generate smart avatar IP
Technology: Smart Avatar Autogeneration
Purpose: Facilitate the development of distinctive, customizable avatar-based intellectual property (IP). AI-driven tools streamline the creation process for users.
Develop IP
Technology: No Code Game Creation + Experiences SDK
Purpose: This phase involves refining and enriching the generated IP using AI tools and Genies’ Experiences SDK, allowing users to create immersive experiences.
Promote IP
Technology: XR Camera
Purpose: Users can showcase their IP through engaging avatar content captured by Genies’ Camera, facilitating marketing and distribution.
Monetize IP
Technology: AIGC Digital Goods Marketplace
Purpose: Users can commercialize their IP within Genies’ Asset Marketplace, selling or trading digital assets across various experiences.
This dynamic framework empowers individuals and organizations alike to create, promote, and profit from unique digital IP, enriching the landscape for user-generated gaming, digital avatars, and virtual economies.
New IP development example:
Step 1: Generate Smart Avatar IP: Alex, a college student, develops a persona named “Neon Nova.” Utilizing Genies’ Autogeneration and AIGC tools, Alex enters prompts to shape Neon Nova’s look and character, creating a vibrant identity embedded with a unique backstory.
Step 2: Develop IP: Equipped with their avatar, Alex uses Genies’ no-code tools to create a virtual event experience called the “CyberCity Music Festival,” allowing user interactions to shape the evolving narrative of Neon Nova.
Step 3: Promote IP: To boost visibility, Alex captures engaging content using Genies’ Camera, posting on social platforms to draw attention to the Party event and grow Neon Nova’s following.
Step 4: Monetize IP: Alex launches digital merchandise tied to Neon Nova, utilizing Genies’ marketplace for fans to purchase unique items that enrich their Party experiences, establishing a revenue channel.
A no-code world
Previously, creating a game-ready character could take weeks of labor, but Genies has streamlined this process significantly using their extensive proprietary data set. Nigam indicated that teams went from producing around 20 avatars per year to as many as 10,000 in just a week’s time.
Currently, the focus is on bipedal avatars, with plans to extend capabilities to quadrupeds in the near future. Users can easily create diverse characters, from whimsical creatures to sophisticated personas, all personalized to their preferences.
Genies manages the technical aspects of rigging and animation, allowing a broader demographic—particularly younger, non-technical users—to craft enjoyable and unique gaming experiences in a no-code environment.
Recap
The introduction of Genies’ AI avatars and user-generated content tools illustrates a significant step towards reshaping digital experiences. Their foundation is built on two guiding principles: “Anyone can create anything” and “Everything works with everything,” combining AI, gaming, and interoperability for extraordinary creativity and connection potential.
As interventions with massive partners increase, Genies is poised to transform the digital landscape, with strategic announcements on the horizon. The company aims to dispense sophisticated tools that will encourage participation and innovation, marking an exciting chapter for digital interactions.
Source
venturebeat.com