Enters Silicon Valley Partnership for Interactive NFT Collection
Sydney, May 17, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Flagged to be so much more than pictures of apes, artificial intelligence company Crowd Media Holdings Limited (
ASX:CM8) (CM3:FRA) is set to launch a world first collection of interactive NFTs that will integrate their conversational AI technology.
Confirmation of the NFT collections comes as Crowd Media entered into a Binding Heads of Agreement with Califorinia-based Web3 company Impssbl, which specialises in the application of digital assets in storytelling. The team of developers at Impssbl have a proven track record of building NFT collections from scratch, and in this partnership will commence working to build a bridge that can turn a unique digital avatar generated by Crowd's Talking Head, into an NFT.
The project will be rolled out in three phases with the bridge being Phase 1, the marketing and launch for the first collection Phase 2, and then the expansion of the technology into additional collections as Phase 3.
"Digital avatars generated by Crowd's Talking Head platform have all been unique in nature between their visual and audio elements which is why the NFT landscape was identified as an opportunity to monetise our technology," said Crowd Media CEO, Idan Schmorak.
"Through Impssbl, we have found a partner in the space that not only specialises in the creation of NFTs but is also able to create utility for them in the form of interactive communication and storytelling."
Digital avatars generated by Crowd's Talking Head platform are already unique in a sense with each avatar being constructed through deepfake technology that replicates an existing person. The bridge being built by Impssbl will take that uniqueness, and apply it to NFT art which will be backed up by the digital ownership of unique NFT to authenticate ownership of the interactive avatar.
"With these NFTs, collectors are not getting a picture, they will be getting an interaction. And in the future as we scale the project up utilising Crowd's Talking Head platform, collectors will be able to acquire an interaction with a celebrity avatar that is personally made for them," added Schmorak.
The exact utility of how the NFTs will function is yet to be disclosed but Impssbl has flagged a Proof of Concept to be delivered before the end of September 2022. Assuming all functionality is as briefed, they will then commence marketing initiatives for the first collections 'mint' in the December quarter where marketing would then disclose the cost for collectors to acquire one of the first interactive NFTs.
Exactly who the first and future collections are based on will be of great interest to internet users with Crowd's legacy being a network of more than 10,000 social influencers and celebrities.
To own a digital interaction, or future digital interaction with these people would be a world-first within the NFT space which has seen artists, developers and collectors cash in big on the NFT craze which is underpinned by the unique elements of non-fungible token ownership.
As of January 2022, Animoca Brands - one of the world's largest NFT companies - was valued at USD $5 billion, having grown to that valuation in just three years since they were kicked off the ASX by Australia's market operator when they had a market cap of just $120 million.
Since the ASX relaxed its stand on digital assets for revenue of ASX-listed companies, Playside Studios (ASX:PLY) generated $8.4 million from the minting of their Beans collection - 10,000 unique bean characters from the Dumb Ways to Die franchise. On top of that, the Company has continued to generate marketplace fees as each NFT is traded with OpenSea reporting more than 3,470 ETH (AUD $10.1 million) has been traded with Playside taking a 6.9% clip of that as their 'Creator Fee'.
Crowd's expansion into NFTs has been flagged by Schmorak previously, and is another example of how he has sought to monetise the Company's conversational AI. Earlier in the year, Crowd signed their first client to the platform when PangeaMed signed a 2-year deal for Crowd to deliver a Talking Head that could converse with healthcare patients which would significantly free up the workload of nurses in Africa.
Under the terms of this latest agreement, Impssbl will handle the monetisation of the interactive NFTs which will include minting as well as post-market sales. As is common amongst all major NFT collections, creator fees are applied to transactions when NFTs are traded between owners on popular marketplaces like OpenSea.
Profits generated from the first and future NFT series will be shared with Impssbl to be allocated 70% and Crowd Media to be allocated 30%, after expenses for technology development and marketing spend are recouped. Crowd's share of profits will then be paid quarterly in Ethereum (ETH) which gives the Crowd exposure to cryptocurrency.
"We are excited to be working with Crowd Media on this project having seen the deep tech capabilities of their Talking Head platform and capability to rapidly roll out highly life-like avatars," said Impssbl Founder and CEO, Alessandro Botteon.
"By building them into the NFT landscape, this is an opportunity to offer a collection of NFTs that will interact with their users, giving owners a unique experience with their NFTs that can mirror real people."
For the quarter ended 31 March 2022, Crowd Media reported $1.7m in customer receipts to be cash flow positive for the second consecutive quarter after incurring costs over the past two years developing the Talking Head platform which is now being commercialised across various industries.
About Unith Ltd
Unith Ltd (ASX:UNT) is a leading digital human brand. It unifies the research and development of facial movement deep learning, audio machine learning, and conversational design (NLP) to generate the first customizable, interactive avatar of its kind.
Businesses can create their own digital humans to immerse, assist, and educate customers in real time and in multiple languages, all through one full stack platform. For further information, please visit: unith.ai
| ||
|
