Crowd Media signs PangeaMed as first telehealth client to conversational AI platform

Africans located in remote villages could soon have access to medical advice like never before with artificial intelligence company Crowd Media (ASX: CM8) confirming PangeaMed as the first customer of its proprietary Talking Head platform for use in healthcare. 

Based in South Africa, PangeaMed specialises in enhanced recovery, health advocacy, patient awareness, data, innovation and training. At present, PangeaMed delivers their programs to more than 50 African countries where they offer virtual consultation services and are developing a Critical Care Framework to assist overburdened healthcare facilities dealing with the onslaught of COVID-19. 

Partnering with Crowd Media, PangeaMed has ordered a Proof of Concept (POC) which will be capable of interacting with healthcare patients. Making the POC most unique is the Talking Head which will draw upon Crowd Media’s conversational AI capabilities which will utilise machine learning to answer medical questions, alleviating pressure from the healthcare industry. 

Unlike other forms of robo-advice, the POC will include functionality for the Talking Head to be overseen by a trained medical professional who can answer questions live if the AI does not have a response. Through the platform, it will essentially enable one medical professional to utilise AI to answer hundreds of patients. This scalability of advice services is vital in the African market where it is difficult to get access to medical advice in regional villages.

“Crowd starts 2022 with the tone set on development and growth and ongoing improvement in cash flow. With major technical achievements under our belt, we now pave the way with a team comprised of some of the greatest minds in our chosen space. Unusually for scientists, they have set themselves clear commercial objectives and are delivering great results,”  said Crowd Media CEO, Idan Schmorak. 

“Our profitable subscription division continues to build on growth shown last quarter; this will be strengthened with new verticals that include the commercialization of our Talking Head technology in the gaming/entertainment space.”

Having signed the first customer of their Talking Head platform, Crowd is set to increase its commercial and development teams. This will include showcasing other examples of how they can combine 3D imaging, voice cloning and conversational AI for other industries. While healthcare has been discussed as an industry ripe for their conversational AI, Crowd has released interactive demos for application in healthcare and education which investors can communicate with. 

While the healthcare demo draws on tech being developed for PangeaMed where patients can interact with a digital doctor, the education demo includes a digital avatar of Gustave Eiffel who can guide tourists and students through the history of the Eiffel Tower. Given the rise of learning from home during the pandemic, this is just another example of how Crowd can use its conversational AI to take pressure off teachers by having an AI solution within the classroom to answer student questions. 

Development of the Talking Head platform which was first conceptualised in 2019 has been largely supplemented by Crowd’s mobile subscription division, which until today was largely classified by the company as a legacy business which in FY21 generated $11 million in revenue. This was despite the fact Crowd had not been actively marketing it. But with the commercialisation of the Talking Head platform’s AI, Schmorak sees an opportunity to introduce new verticals to the mobile business which picked up 205,000 new customers during the December quarter who will play an active part in monetising the Talking Head platform further. 

Subscription revenues from these paying subscribers resulted in Crowd achieving $0.14 million in positive cash flow for the December quarter, covering the bulk of costs associated with the Talking Head platform’s development while the Company boasts zero debt and $1.7 million in the bank.

Commercial terms around the PangeaMed contract were not disclosed for confidentiality purposes while Crowd Media prepares to expand their commercial team that will be actively showcasing the interactive demos to prospective customers in the coming months.