Deep in development of their Talking Heads platform that will revolutionise the way consumers interact with brands, artificial intelligence company Crowd Media (ASX: CM8) has secured a new revenue stream with licencing of their proprietary Conversational AI technology. 

The non-exclusive licence has been granted to digital media company Forever Holdings under SaaS terms valued at approximately $305,000 over for a 17-month subscription. This Conversational commerce AI technology has already answered more than 180 million user-submitted questions which have enabled Crowd to build an enormous database that enables their AI to converse with individuals by drawing upon historic questions and answers.

The AI-driven tech is the engine behind Crowd’s Talking Heads project which they are developing in collaboration with other leaders in the digital media sector to advance the current standard of text-only chatbots to fully immersive experiences covering vision, sound and responsiveness. The platform, which Crowd intends to launch in 2022, will roll out Talking Heads that replicate celebrities and social influencers that can represent brands and enable customers to have 1-on-1 conversations with AI-powered avatars. 

“This is the first license we have granted, and takes us past another significant milestone as we progress with the development and commercialisation of our Talking Head technology,” said Crowd Media Chairman, Steven Schapera. 

“Through software licencing of Crowd’s technology, we are able to accelerate development of the AI-driven platform where more conversations will continue enhancing its automation capabilities for deeper conversations which we look forward to sharing with Forever Holdings,” 

Forever Holdings is an interactive digital media company whose existing technology can be seen in use at a Holocaust Museum in Germany. Projecting visual representations of Holocaust survivors, students are able to ask a range of questions that can then be answered in multiple languages. 

Integrating Crowd’s AI technology which has generated Crowd more than $50 million in revenue over the past decade, Forever Holdings will be able to advance conversations deeper and widen the range of questions to be interpreted. 

While there will be other opportunities for Crowd to license its chatbot tech in the near future given their main competitor LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN) trades in the United States with a USD$5 billion market cap, Crowd’s greater vision remains fixed on their Talking Heads platform. 

In a recent investor briefing, Schapera assimilated text-only chatbots to conversing via facsimile. Disrupting the global landscape, Crowd’s Talking Head platform will enable users to purchase goods, obtain customer service or receive education from digital humans that can be made to look and sound like celebrities or historical figures. 

Once ready for launch, Crowd will seek to commercialise the platform under similar licensing deals as their deal with Forever Holdings. Prospective clients would then be able to use the platform to rapidly create their own talking heads with content powered by Crowd’s AI technology which converts text to cloned audio that sounds like a celebrity or influencer and is synced with a talking head. 

Although Schapera’s intent to take on a $5 billion market leader appears ambitious, he achieved similar success before having co-founded BECCA Cosmetics which he exited via a $300 million sale to L’Oreal in 2016 before identifying the potential of Crowd’s AI technology.

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*Owners of this website are CM8 shareholders