MeetKai, an “immersive AI company” that has created numerous metaverse experiences, has enlisted popular creator Charlamagne Tha God as an investor and strategic adviser.
The Radio Hall of Fame inductee, best-selling author, TV personality and renowned media-mogul will work with MeetKai to support its platform expansion and collaborate on product innovation, partnership development and entertainment, gaming and e-commerce integrations across virtual worlds built on the MeetKai metaverse.
“MeetKai is redefining the future of entertainment. I see it as the future of social, shopping, gaming and content creation, all while being excitingly immersive,” said Charlamagne Tha God, in a statement. “It’s where the boundaries of reality and digital innovation blur, creating endless possibilities for connection and creativity.”
Charlamagne will provide strategic advice on how to most effectively deliver value and drive revenue for content creators, influencers and brands on MeetKai’s platform and bring this technology to mainstream consumer audiences through unique experiences and premium content.
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To kick off these efforts, Charlamagne’s own original programming will take on new virtual formats with the help of MeetKai’s AI-enabled, metaverse solutions and roll out on the platform later this year, immersing fans in Charlamagne’s content.
James Kaplan, CEO of Meetkai, said in an interview with GamesBeat that Charlamagne can reach people that the company might not otherwise reach.
Kaplan said, “Charlamagne is one of the most recognizable voices in the entertainment industry today. He understands the new types of experiences consumers are interested in and how virtual formats, such as the metaverse, will transform the future of content creation and brand experiences for all. We are delighted to welcome him as a strategic advisor as we continue to evolve and grow.”
Although this is Charlamagne’s first foray into AI and emerging technology, he has successfully navigated the evolving digital landscape and continues to curate premier engaging experiences and content for fans nationwide.
“The entire time we’ve been funded, we’ve really only taken in strategic investments,” said Kaplan. “Charlemagne is coming on as a strategic advisor and investor. Since it’s extremely strategic to us, we see it as a way to move much faster in terms of content. We’ve been talking to him for just over a year now, as we’re building out new tech and doing a lot of different pilots, and we’re trying a lot of different things.”
Weili Dai, the cofounder of Marvell and many new chip companies, has backed Meetkai since its early days.
He added, “Having him on board, I think, is going to really help us bring a lot of this content mainstream and also figure out new ways to bring new types of creators onto these platforms.”
Kaplan said the company has built a lot of tech over the past few years to be able to create metaverse-like experiences, or virtual spaces, that are accessible via the web — and don’t require long downloads that make users impatient. Meetkai has worked with a lot of customers and partners during that time.
“We’re starting to see what everyone has known the entire time. If you talk about interactive content, whether you want to call it the metaverse or whatever, having content people care about it is not just a function of the content, but who’s behind the content, right? Creators have a pretty big appeal to younger audiences these days. And I think that’s something that Charlemagne understood very well.”
He added, “Building fresh intellectual property is and experiences is daunting, but working with creators who have their existing fan bases and finding new ways for them to create content and engage with those fan bases is something where we see this as really opening up the market.”
As the creator of the Black Effect Podcast Network, co-host of the nationally syndicated iHeartRadio program The Breakfast Club and founder and investor of various business ventures across publishing, food and beverage, wellness and beyond, he will bring his expertise as an entrepreneur and celebrity multi-hyphenate to aid in MeetKai’s rapid commercialization and enable all creators monetize their content on the metaverse.
“We’re ecstatic to partner with Charlamagne and expand our platform capabilities,” said Peter John Alexander, chief business officer of MeetKai, in a statement. “Charlamagne has always been on the forefront of creativity and innovation, so he’s a valuable addition to the company as we move into our next growth phase – better serving and creating opportunities for the creator economy through technological innovation and development.”
Based in Los Angeles, MeetKai wants to be the AI company that builds the future of the web. It started during the “metaverse” hype cycle but doesn’t use the word to describe its efforts. In any event, the company has created 3D animation tools that enable it to build web-based virtual spaces. Through a combination of AI and metaverse apps, Meetkai has reached 75 million users.
On the one hand, Charlemagne can help Meetkai leverage AI in experiences, such as radio shows and podcasts and evolve it rapidly on a weekly basis.
“He is really at the forefront, and arguably the leader in terms of a lot of that space. We’re really looking at how can we take a lot of the tech that we’ve built across different domains and really make it work for that industry in a scalable way, as opposed to, a one off way.”
When it comes to virtual spaces and social elements, the industry hasn’t really cracked the younger demographic in terms of engagement, he said.
“TikTok has shown you push it out to the world and the algorithm helps people consume it,” he said.
Kaplan is excited about expanding into music and audio content, as well as other avenues the company hasn’t fully explored yet. Kaplan said Meetkai connected with Charlemagne last summer at a conference. They have been talking every since.
“He’s one of the first people we met that understood where this direction is going over the next five or 10 years,” he said, “As opposed to a lot of people who I think have been riding hype cycles. Our objective has always been not to ride a hype cycle, but rather just keep doing what we’re doing and keep going along with what we believe is the right way to move.”
Meetkai has done work for the Wall Street Journal, the National Basketball Players Association, the Charlotte Hornets, BYD and Sony Pictures. Kaplan said he’ll talk about more interesting projects later this year.
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