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- Marketing company Crowd Media (CM8) has launched a beta version of its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot 12 months ahead of schedule
- The “talking head” tech will help customers choose products from skincare company MD Complete as part of a September distribution deal between the companies
- On top of the beta launch, Crowd has struck partnerships will two companies for the AI chatbot technology
- Crowd will team up with UneeQ and VFR assets to combine the chatbot tech with lifelike virtual avatars
- This is all part of the shift to “conversational commerce” with Crowd CEO Domenic Carosa says is the future of eCommerce
- Shares in Crowd closed almost 18 per cent up today, worth just under 8 cents each
Crowd Media (CM8) has launched a beta version of its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot 12 months ahead of schedule.
The “talking head” tech will be used to help customers choose appropriate products from U.S.-based skincare specialist MD Complete, as part of an exclusive distribution deal signed in September.
Effectively, the AI-driven chatbot tech combines answers from both artificial intelligence and real humans answering questions. Crowd said in the last 12 months, over 65 per cent of all questions have been answered by AI, and the platform has been responsible for processing around 180 million questions over its lifetime.
The company said once fully launched, this type of tech has applications across influencer marketing, eCommerce, education, and many other sectors.
On top of the early beta launch, Crowd announced two new key partnerships related to this AI tech today.
UneeQ Digital Humans
Crowd has struck a three-year heads of agreement with UneeQ, which specialises in AI-powered people.
The UneeQ platform is made to revolutionise customer experience through these “digital ambassadors” — making it highly complementary to the Crowd talking head tech.
Through the deal, Crowd and UneeQ can share and develop strategies, find mutual use of the chatbot and digital ambassador tech, and review potential collaborative activities.
Together, the tech can be used across customer support and sales in a range of industries.
VFR Assets joint venture
Crowd will also be forming a joint venture (JV) with Israel-based VFR Assets, which specialises in creating lifelike digital avatars.
Together, the companies will create a platform for the scalable creation of talking head visuals to power what Crowd calls the next wave of “conversational commerce” and digital influencer on-to-one interactions.
Under the deal, Crowd and CFR will own half of the Talking-Head JV each to develop a proof-of-concept in 180 days. VFR will work on the technical and design aspects of the project, while Crowd will work on its AI chatbot tech.
Crowd will invest US$250,000 (roughly A$342,000) into the JV.
Crowd said its new talking head partnerships will help significantly accelerate the development of its tech across various markets.
Crowd Chairman Steven Schapera said the nature of influencer market is changing, and the talking head tech gives the company a seat at the table.
“By linking Crowd’s existing Q&A Chatbot technology with the voice and visual technology of our respective partners, we will create an entertaining ‘conversational commerce’ experience between consumer and influencer,” Steven said.
Crowd CEO Domenic Carosa went as far as to say they company believes conversational commerce is the future of eCommerce.
“We … are excited to have executed these various initiatives that bring forward the reality of one to one conversation’s between influencers and their respective followers,” Domenic said.
“By launching this beta version, we can undergo the next level of testing, build on our artificial intelligence and data pools, and advance the technology to extend its commercial capabilities across different products, services and interactions,” he said.
Investors liked the news, with Crowd shares surging 17.91 per cent today to close worth 7.9 cents each.
