Cofounded by 30 Under 30 2019 list members Akash Nigam and Evan Rosenbaum, creative startup Genies has just launched the first mobile app designed to support avatar-to-avatar communication using advanced artificial intelligence.
The new offering—an enhanced version of the Genies beta app released earlier this year (which collected feedback from a million users over a three-month period)—invites users to create 3D-motion-picture-quality digital “clones” of themselves. Presented on patent-pending “Wheels,” the app’s more than one million customization options encompass everything from personality types and likes and dislikes to eye and hair color, skin tone, and clothing.
Genies, which can be integrated into dozens of messaging apps including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and iMessage, lets users communicate in groups of up to six. The company’s scientists and engineers pored over hundreds of millions of chats to formulate an algorithm that can detect more than 180 dimensions of mood changes and express human emotion through digital simulacrums.
Avatars can react to texts in real time, and users can make their animated personas mimic their movements and facial expressions by tapping any of the millions of “actions” offered—whether it be a thought, feeling, or emotion. “We truly believe avatar-to-avatar communication is going to permanently reshape human interaction,” Nigam says.
Genies has reportedly generated several millions of dollars in revenue from the sales of its software development kit, charging licensing fees for the rights to incorporate its technology into third-party digital programs. The startup—which drew $10 million in its second round of funding, bringing the total capital raised to $25 million—touts a diverse pool of investors ranging from top venture capital firms and business executives to prominent musicians and athletes. (Celebrity backers include Joe Montana, ASAP Rocky, Kyrie Irving, Carmelo and Lala Anthony, Shawn Mendes, and The Chainsmokers.)
The company’s first global advertiser, Gucci, is the app’s exclusive provider of luxury avatar apparel. During their ongoing partnership, users can outfit their Genies with 200 pieces from the high-fashion label’s real-life collection and choose from a number of Gucci-themed actions.
In the future, users will be able to purchase items they see on their friends’ avatars through the mobile app with one click.
“If you think back 10 years, the way that luxury brands were advertising was essentially print campaigns that were created on a seasonal basis,” says Robert Triefus, Gucci’s EVP and chief marketing officer. “Today, the narrative that we’re telling at Gucci and the communities that we’re engaging with is essentially powered by digital. In recent years, the company has been placing a heavy emphasis on video and moving image. “The liquid content that we’re creating has a different purpose,” he notes, “allowing us to have an always-on approach.”
The Genies collaboration is only one of several digital initiatives the 97-year-old Italian fashion house has launched in an effort to attract more Millennials. Other ventures include linkups with digital artists like Ignasi Monreal and strategic alliances with social platforms such as Instagram, WeChat, and YouTube. “That sense of self-expression powered by digital is something that’s very unique to today, and I only see that growing,” Triefus says.
More important than keeping up with the times, however, is for the brand to stay authentic. “Gucci stands very much for this idea of self-expression, empowering people to be who they want to be,” he asserts. ”By being able to tell that story in an authentic way and allowing people to [express themselves] through what we do—that’s how we’re staying true to our brand mantra.”
