AfreecaTV and ObEN Sign MOU to Develop Broadcast Jockey Avatars for Content Streaming

ObEN, Inc., the artificial intelligence (AI) company creating Personal AI (PAI) technology to revolutionize digital interaction, and AfreecaTV, Korea’s top P2P video streaming platform, announced today that they will be partnering together to create the world’s first Personal AI (PAI) Broadcast Jockeys which will be used to deliver unique digital media content through AfreecaTV’s FreeCN app.

ObEN’s proprietary, full-stack AI technology combines state-of-the-art visual and auditory AI to create digital copies of anyone in the world. ObEN’s technology can create an avatar that looks, speaks, and interacts just like the people they are modeled upon with only small amounts of voice and visual data. The goal of this collaboration is to take popular human jockeys and enable them to perform, stream, and interact with fans 24/7 using their PAIs - creating a new breed of ultra-personalized virtual entertainers. The development of this project will allow AfreecaTV and ObEN to mimic not only the 3D form and voice of the jockeys, but also their personality, tone, and even actions through the use of ObEN’s proprietary artificial intelligence. To protect the personal data and IP of the human broadcast jockeys, ObEN and AfreecaTV will work to secure their data on the Project PAI blockchain.

“ObEN has extensive experience in the entertainment space, working with industry leaders throughout Asia to create celebrity avatars capable of reaching each and every fan on a personal level,” said ObEN CEO Nikhil Jain. “We are excited to work with AfreecaTV to bring our technology to new content and video platforms, enhancing the content creating abilities of AfreecaTV’s popular and talented Broadcast Jockeys.”

ObEN CEO Nikhil Jain with AfreecaTV CEO Kevin Seo sign deal to utilize ObEN Personal AI tech to build digital influencers for Korea's largest streaming platform. Source: oben.me

The PAIs would be an extension of the brand and experience developed by the original human broadcast jockey. Using deep learning and machine learning, coupled with the chatbot components of PAI, viewers can have conversations and ask questions of the virtual jockey just like they would the real human. 

“Through this partnership with ObEN, we hope to create digital jockeys that can serve as all-in-one, multi-talented media content producers capable of dancing, singing, and performing. In addition, viewers will be able to watch their favorite streamers produce content in an endless array of categories including travel, sports, gaming, education, style and fashion, and current affairs,” said Kevin Seo, CEO of AfreecaTV.

The AI broadcast jockey avatar will be applied first to the Video-on-Demand app 'FreecN', which will be launched by AfreecaTV’s subsidiary FreecN. The two companies plan to gradually expand the AI broadcast jockey avatars to other AfreecaTV platforms and properties through continued collaboration. 

About ObEN
ObEN is an artificial intelligence (AI) company developing Personal AI technology that revolutionizes how we interact in the virtual and digital space.The company’s technology allows users to create intelligent 3D avatars, known as PAIs, that look, sound, and behave like them. Deployed on the Project PAI blockchain, ObEN’s Personal AI (PAI) technology enables users to create, use, and manage their own PAI on a secure, decentralized platform. PAIs can be deployed in mobile apps, AR, VR, and a variety of other digital mediums to provide an ultra-personalized experience in gaming, social media, entertainment, and more. PAIs have been used in projects and collaborations that have reached hundreds of millions of people worldwide, including ObEN’s own PAIYO social app on the PAI Blockchain. Founded in 2014, ObEN is a K11, Tencent, and Softbank Ventures portfolio company and is located in Pasadena, California. To learn more about ObEN, please visit oben.com.

About AfreecaTV 
AfreecaTV is Korea's No.1 one-media platform. According to its service mission to "connect 5 billion people worldwide", anyone can easily broadcast live broadcasts anywhere on AfreecaTV without any special skills, equipment or costs. AfreecaTV created 'Gift Economy' based on 'Empathetic Sharing', and it is creating a new one-person media content culture and an ecosystem that has never existed before. AfreecaTV is affecting many areas by expanding throughout different areas such as its online platform 'AfreecaTV', TV channel 'SBS-AfreecaTV' and podcast app 'Podfreeca’. For more information about AfreecaTV, please visit AfreecaTV’s website (http://corp.afreecatv.com, http://www.afreecatv.com)

About FreecN
AfreecaTV’s subsidiary 'FreecN' is a content creating group that develops contents, and develops on-line and off-line new projects. It also picks out Broad Jockey’s in various fields such as education, current affairs, beauty, fashion, health, and kids and runs an education platform 'AfreeCollege' and the podcast app 'Podfreeca'. For more information on FreecN, please visit FreecN’s website (http://freecn.tv/).

CONTACT INFORMATION:

ObEN
Lisa Wang
[email protected]

AfreecaTV
Hojoon Lee
[email protected]