[Project Q/A]
(1) What inspired the creation of the project's AI multi-voice technology? Was there a particular moment or challenge that led to the development of this idea?
The world we live in is currently flooded with countless digital contents being released in real time, and we live within that flood of digital content. From small, everyday content related to each individual's daily life, to news and social media posts, and even massive amounts of content released by companies promoting their products and services. However, even if such a vast amount of digital content is provided to the public through the internet, via mobile phones, PCs, or radios, it would all be in vain if it fails to capture the public's attention.
We started from this point, asking ourselves, "How can we make people focus on content? How can my content be effectively delivered to the public? How can people enjoy, rather than find rigid and boring, the content they consume?" From these various questions and concerns, the entire project was born.
These concerns sparked the beginning of our research and development into AI multi-voice systems starting in 2019, along with the filing of related patents. At that time, the term "AI" was very unfamiliar to the general public. In fact, I remember it was a period when the popularization of smart homes was beginning to emerge due to the development of IoT (Internet of Things) rather than AI. As we reflected on this era and the cycle of technological advancements, we came to believe that the development of all forms of devices would ultimately lead to changes in daily life, and at the heart of it, the world would focus on voice services, the most intuitive of all biometric information.
(2) The project's multi-voice technology is unique in that it allows users to listen to content in their own or others' voices. How did you overcome technical challenges in developing this feature?
The core of the project's multi-voice technology is hyper-personalization. The development of multimedia devices will inevitably lean towards personalization, and we determined that personalization in content consumption would be a necessity rather than an option.
The most important aspect of developing this technology was addressing security and privacy issues.
Security technology is an essential element for personalization, and we were able to overcome this challenge through various solutions based on securing research and development funding through government support. Regarding the issue of voice, which is personal information, we believed it could be easily resolved through the reward system that is central to blockchain, ensuring mutual compensation.
There were no significant technical difficulties in implementing the multi-voice service using AI voice technology. Even now, many AI big-tech companies are capable of implementing such technology.
The most crucial point will be whether or not companies hold the right to conduct business with the technology. This will become a major issue in the future. The company that holds this right will be able to grow into a global leader in the AI voice service field.
(3) The digital content market is vast and highly competitive. How does the project plan to carve out a niche and make its technology and token popular?
I would say that our technology is not a "niche technology" meant to create a "niche market" in the digital content space. On the contrary, our technology is a core technology that integrates the digital content market, and we have secured exclusive business rights based on our patents.
All digital content can be delivered as text, images, or voice, but the important question remains: "Will the audience choose the content? Will they consume the chosen content? Will they continue consuming the chosen content? Will they keep using a specific platform?"
Our technology helps users listen to all digital content in the voice of someone they want, providing enjoyment and continuity in content consumption by offering choices in how they experience content.
Thus, we believe that our technology, through the commercialization of hyper-personalization, will become a fundamental part of daily life. Our goal is to create an environment where users can listen to essays, fairy tales, novels, webtoons, and news in the voices of their favorite singers, movie stars, politicians, and even loved ones like their spouses, children, and parents.
When given the choice between consuming content through rigid text on a smartphone or PC screen versus consuming it in the voice of a beloved person, it becomes easy to see which option would be more enjoyable, engaging, and sustainable.
Regarding how we plan to make our token popular in the market, our answer is: "It's just a matter of time. Does it even require a special plan?"
(4) How does the team's AI voice technology differ from similar services in the market? Could you elaborate on the unique patents the team holds and how they protect innovation?
According to our patent on multi-voice services, if a user is able to select a specific voice (whether it be an AI voice, a celebrity’s voice, or the user’s own voice) from a digital content platform that provides more than one voice and listens to content using that selected voice, the platform providing that service would be infringing on the scope of rights covered by our patents.
In other words, regardless of whether the specific platform is an AI voice platform like OpenAI's ChatGPT or an online news platform, if a platform offers more than one voice as an option for the user, and the user selects one of the provided voices to listen to content, the platform would need to pay us patent royalties. This is where the differentiation lies.
Moreover, our multi-voice system-related patent utilizing AI voice technology has already been secured in the United States, South Korea, and Japan. Our patent is a BM patent. In April 2023, at the 48th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva, one of the world's top three invention exhibitions, we won the Gold Medal in the IT/SW category, as well as Thailand's Best International Invention & Innovation Award from the National Research Council of Thailand.
The core of our patent is the "device-based voice content distribution system utilizing a multi-voice system". At the Geneva exhibition last year, TAJI David, Chairman of Deban Trading SA, along with a jury of 85 experts, reviewed documents and conducted onsite presentations before declaring our technology as "the most innovative media technology and the leading technology for the future content market". Additionally, Wiparat De-ong, Director of the National Research Council of Thailand, praised the technology by saying, "With rising interest in the AI industry, voice-based technology has an advantage in usability and commercial potential, and this patent is a case that demonstrates the meaning of invention and innovation." This is our innovation.
(5) What are the next steps for the team in terms of technology development and market expansion? How do you plan to scale the project?
Our next steps lie in commercializing the patents we hold by collaborating with global AI voice platforms or digital content platforms and entering the market with our project's token.
The project aims to have the token used for payments or rewards when users purchase specific content or specific voices across various platforms.
Another goal we are currently working on is the development of a "Human Library" service. We envision a future where, by utilizing various multimedia devices, individuals can preserve and retrieve the voices they want to pass on to future generations or keep as cherished memories.
In this process, we hope that the project's token will be used as an essential means of payment or reward.
(6) Understanding the shift in content consumption methods is essential.
Most content has been delivered to the public in the form of text and images. Internet news is a common example of this.
As a result, the way people consume content has been primarily "reading-based". However, with the evolution of content delivery methods that incorporate images, people have also adopted "viewing-based" consumption. But now, we are entering an era of "listening-based" content consumption, and the shift toward listening is accelerating faster than the era of reading or viewing.
At this point, we have unveiled to the world a way for users to listen to content in a manner that they want, in a way that is enjoyable and satisfying, and one that makes people want to continue listening to content. This is the reason we foresee our growth into a global company. |
