Meet Kaian “immersive AI company” that has created countless metaverse experiences, has tapped popular creator Charlamagne Tha God as an investor and strategic advisor.
The Radio Hall of Fame inductee, best-selling author, TV personality and acclaimed media mogul will partner with MeetKai to support the platform’s expansion and collaborate on product innovation, partnerships and integrations across entertainment, gaming and e-commerce in 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 thrillingly immersive,” Charlamagne Tha God said in a statement. “It’s where the lines 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 monetize for content creators, influencers and brands on the MeetKai platform, and bring this technology to the masses 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 using MeetKai’s AI-powered metaverse solutions. These will roll out to the platform later this year, allowing fans to be immersed in Charlamagne’s content.
Meetkai CEO James Kaplan said in an interview with GamesBeat that Charlamagne can reach people the company might not otherwise reach.
Kaplan said: “Charlamagne is one of the most recognizable voices in entertainment today. He understands the new types of experiences consumers are interested in and how virtual formats, like the metaverse, will transform the future of content creation and brand experiences for everyone. We are thrilled to have him as a strategic advisor as we continue to evolve and grow.”
While this is Charlamagne’s first foray into AI and emerging technology, he has successfully navigated the changing digital landscape and continues to curate first-class, engaging experiences and content for fans across the country.
“The whole time we've been funded, we've really only made strategic investments,” Kaplan said. “Charlemagne comes in as a strategic advisor and investor. Because it's extremely strategic for us, we see it as a way to move much faster in terms of content. We've been talking to him for a little over a year now, as we're developing new technology and doing a lot of different pilots, and we're trying a lot of different things.”
Weili Dai, co-founder of Marvell and many new chip companies, has been supporting Meetkai since its early days.
He added: “By having him on board, I think we can bring a lot of this content into the mainstream and find new ways to bring new types of creators onto these platforms.”
Kaplan said the company has spent the last few years developing technology to create metaverse-like experiences, or virtual spaces, that are accessible over the web — and don’t require long downloads that make users impatient. Meetkai has worked with many customers and partners in that time.
“We’re starting to see what everyone has known all along. When you’re talking about interactive content, whether you want to call it the metaverse or whatever, having content that people care about is not just a function of the content, but who’s behind the content, right? Creators have a pretty strong appeal to younger audiences these days. And I think that’s something that Charlemagne understood really well.”
He added: “Building new intellectual property and experiences is daunting, but working with creators who have their existing fan bases and finding new ways to create content and engage with those fan bases is something we see as really opening up the market.”
As the founder of the Black Effect Podcast Network, co-host of the nationally syndicated iHeartRadio show The Breakfast Club, and founder and investor of several business ventures across publishing, food and beverage, wellness and more, he will leverage his expertise as an entrepreneur and multi-celebrity celebrity to quickly commercialize MeetKai and enable all creators to monetize their content in the metaverse.
“We are thrilled to partner with Charlamagne and expand our platform capabilities,” said Peter John Alexander, MeetKai’s chief business officer, in a statement. “Charlamagne has always been at the forefront of creativity and innovation, so he will be a valuable addition to the company as we enter our next phase of growth: better serving and creating opportunities for the creator economy through technological innovation and development.”
MeetKai, based in Los Angeles, wants to be the AI company building the future of the web. It started during the “metaverse” hype cycle, but doesn’t use the word to describe its efforts. Regardless, the company has created 3D animation tools that allow 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 Meetkai can help leverage AI in experiences, such as radio shows and podcasts, and evolve them rapidly on a weekly basis.
“He's really at the forefront and maybe the leader in a lot of that space. We're really looking at how we can take a lot of the technology that we've built across different domains and really make it work for that industry in a scalable way, rather than a one-off way.”
When it comes to virtual spaces and social elements, the sector hasn't really reached the younger demographic in terms of engagement, he said.
“TikTok has shown that you can put it out into the world and the algorithm helps people consume it,” he said.
Kaplan is excited about expanding into music and audio content, and other avenues the company hasn’t fully explored yet. Kaplan said Meetkai connected with Charlemagne at a conference last summer. They’ve been talking ever since.
“He’s one of the first people we met who understood where this direction is going to go in the next five or 10 years,” he said, “unlike a lot of people who I think have been riding hype cycles. Our goal has always been not to ride hype cycles, but just keep doing what we’re doing and keep moving in what we think 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 will talk about more interesting projects later this year.