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- ASX-listed Crowd Media (CM8) is no stranger to AI-based technology, and the company is now driving fresh growth in the sector through its unique Talking Head platform
- Crowd’s Talking Head technology blends AI-based conversation tech with computer-generated digital avatars to bring a new kind of business-customer interaction to the table
- The tech has applications in every business sector, and market researcher Grand View pegged the global conversational AI market value at US$6.18 billion (A$9.08 billion) in 2021
- With an expected compound annual growth rate of 23.6 per cent through to 2030, tech giants like Google, Meta and Microsoft have noticed the potential of conversational AI
- Crowd Media has the tech platform and the experience to capitalise on this emerging market, and the company can draw on its media origins and leverage its previous success to build the ideal tech for this industry and market it to the right people
ASX-listed Crowd Media (CM8) is no stranger to artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology, and the company is now driving fresh growth in the sector through its unique Talking Head platform.
Crowd has spent years solidifying its place in both the media communications and the technology markets and now sits in a prime spot to commercialise its new tech platform to a range of sectors.
The Talking Head platform is helping to usher in the new age of human-computer engagement, and the possibilities are far and wide.
Talking Head: The AI tech reshaping the face of consumer interactions
The commercial AI industry was once limited to simple chatbot services targeted at bored teenagers.
Even Crowd Media tapped into this market, with its Ask Bongo texting service becoming something of a craze among Australian teenagers in the early 2010s and remaining a key revenue driver for the business a decade later.
However, as AI tech evolved, so too did Crowd: the business has upgraded its tech capabilities to revolutionise business communication and customer satisfaction.
Crowd’s Talking Head technology blends AI-based conversation tech with computer-generated digital avatars to bring a new kind of business-customer interaction to the table.
Customers and platform users can ask questions and bring concerns to an AI-based professional and receive in-depth answers in real-time.
With a digitally-created avatar delivering the responses, customers, doctors’ patients, business clients and more can have access to personalised support 24 hours a day — even if there are no humans available to assist them with their needs.
This tech is reminiscent of the old chatbot model, but it has far more important implications.
What sectors will benefit from such technology?
Crowd has teamed up with business intelligence and customer acquisition specialist SourceFlare to integrate its Talking Head tech into SourceFlare’s platform to optimise lead generation for SourceFlare clients.
This deal came not long after Crowd signed an agreement with South African healthcare company PangaMed to use the Talking Head tech as a way for patients to have access to immediate and reliable medical information before and after treatment.
Meanwhile, Crowd is also operating in the non-fungible token (NFT) space by working with Impssbl to integrate AI-generate Talking Head avatars into NFT artwork.
It’s clear this type of technology has wide applications across every sector. What’s more, there is rising demand for AI-powered omnichannel support, meaning Crowd is operating in a high-growth sector.
Market researcher Grand View, for example, pegged the global conversational AI market value at US$6.18 billion (A$9.08 billion) in 2021, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of a whopping 23.6 per cent through to 2030.
Grand View claimed rising demand for AI-based customer support alongside reduced chatbot development costs would drive this growth.
Big tech seeing the potential
Further to the wide range of market research available for this type of technology, global tech giants have noticed the potential in conversational AI and the value instant customer engagement can bring to a business.
Microsoft, for example, has created its Azure Bot service to help businesses deploy intelligent conversational bots to rapidly respond to customer and employee needs.
Facebook owner Meta has released several publications about how important it will be to inject personality into AI in the metaverse and the specifics behind artificially creating realistic conversations.
Meanwhile, Google in late 2021 launched its ‘Bot-in-a-Box’ service to make it easier for businesses to build chatbots based on existing correspondence with customers.
All this shows that the value of the sector is clear to the world’s tech giants.
It means the company that can develop the best and most accessible version of this tech is primed to reap the first fruits of the conversational AI industry.
Crowd Media positioned for success
The fundamentals of the AI market are sturdy. The demand for conversational AI is strong. And Crowd Media has both the tech platform and the experience to capitalise on this emerging market.
The company can draw on its media origins and leverage its previous successes to not only build the ideal tech for this industry but to market it to the right people.
As a pioneer of this new age of technology, Crowd represents a unique opportunity for ASX investors.
Shares in Crowd Media last traded at 1.9 cents in a $13.7 million market cap.
