Interview with CEO Jang Se-young in Maeil Business Newspaper
▶ Endless Applications of AI Human in Education, Finance, Commerce, and More
▶ New Business Venture in Deepfake Detection: Pioneering Advanced Technologies
"The ability of AI Human to provide personalized information to users, coupled with its real-time responsiveness, allows it to be applied in various fields in a more familiar form."
DeepBrain AI, a leading domestic AI company specializing in generative AI, has positioned itself with the motto of "AI for Humans" and "Using AI for the Betterment of the World," focusing on human-interacting conversational AI as its core service. DeepBrain AI, the company behind creating AI anchors that mimic the appearance and voice of personalities like Kim Ju-ha, a news anchor at MBN, and producing AI avatars of political figures like Yoon Seok-yeol during the 2022 presidential election, has collaborated with various celebrities such as Choi Kyung-ju, a professional golfer, and Na Moon-hee, an actress.
In a recent interview at their Seoul headquarters, CEO Jang Se-young stated, "As a frontier in the global AI Human market, our goal is to become the industry leader," adding, "We are focusing on attracting overseas investment and diversifying our customer base, with subsidiaries in Korea, the US, and China." He further stated, "We anticipate that our overseas revenue will grow from the current 15-20% to the 30% range this year."
The phrase "AI Human = DeepBrain AI" has become firmly established in the domestic market.
The demand for AI Human is particularly high in the education and finance sectors, as evidenced by collaborations such as the 'AI Tutor' from the Kyowon Group and the 'AI Banker' from KB Kookmin Bank. CEO Jang commented, "For insurance planners, bankers, and securities sales representatives who need to send personalized marketing messages, using an AI avatar that resembles themselves makes customer management easier, leading to rapid growth not only domestically but also internationally." He emphasized the advancement in technology, stating, "With just a single photo and 10 seconds of voice recording, AI avatars can now be created, indicating significant technological advancements."
AI Studios, a service-oriented software as a service (SaaS) platform for video synthesis, is DeepBrain AI's ambitious project aimed at popularizing AI Human.
Jang explained, "With AI Studios, any form of content, whether it's text, documents, or links, can be quickly transformed into videos by simply uploading them." He added, "Customized videos are created automatically with appropriate virtual characters, backgrounds, music, and other video elements, making it easily accessible to the general public, not just experts." He further stated, "This solution, based on text-to-video technology, is being utilized in various ways, such as creating short-form content on desired topics and transforming internal educational videos or securities reports into videos."
Ultimately, DeepBrain AI aims to create a 'Kind AI Human.'
In a series of interactions where emotions are exchanged and conversations flow as if engaging with a person on the screen, the goal is to create a sense of similarity with humans and sometimes even provide kindness surpassing that of humans, making it easily accessible to people of all ages in daily life. The AI Commemoration Service (Re;Memory), which implements the images of loved ones or respected individuals as AI Humans for emotional interaction even after their passing, exemplifies DeepBrain AI's aspirations.
The cost barrier in the AI Human market has significantly lowered.
CEO Jang stated, "The pricing for AI Studios starts from $24 per month for individuals, with spectra of team plans and enterprise plans offering more features." He added, "(Looking at the actual customer base), various customers from individual users to team units of companies are accessing it across multiple countries." He explained that while the corporate sector primarily utilizes it in North America and Europe, there is also a growing customer base in countries like India, Brazil, the Middle East, and Africa.
Recently, to expand its reach to the masses, AI Studios has been made available on the GPT Store, accessible to users with OpenAI paid memberships GPT Plus and above.
"India has tremendous traffic, although the payment rate is low," Jang said. "There is a strong curiosity about AI Human in general, and we are closely examining how the global customer base is forming through AI Studios," he added.
'Deepfake Detection' is a recent venture DeepBrain AI is heavily investing in.
Combining deep learning and fake, deepfake is an AI-driven technique that manipulates the appearance, voice, or specific situations and locations of existing individuals to create scenarios that did not actually occur.
CEO Jang stated, "As the market for deepfake content is vast, the market for detecting and filtering harmful deepfakes is inevitably growing." He added, "Based on this judgment, while DeepBrain AI creates various applications for deepfakes, we are also focusing on developing and commercializing solutions to filter them as part of the regulation and security industry."
A notable example is the collaboration with the Korean National Police Agency in March to introduce a deepfake detection solution. Capable of detecting images, videos, and voices, the system can determine the authenticity of suspected deepfake videos within approximately 5-10 minutes after uploading, by setting detection models, detection intervals, and detection subjects.
Furthermore, DeepBrain AI has filed a patent for 'deepfake detection technology based on behavioral pattern analysis,' which learns even minor habits to discern authenticity. The key lies in detecting more sophisticated deepfake crimes, from angles to lip movements and changes in facial muscle expressions.
CEO Jang mentioned, "As the market is flooded with not only simple 'face swaps' but also deepfakes created through generative AI, the importance of defense in this field is growing rapidly." He explained, "Not only in the public sector but also in key industries where customer trust is essential, such as the financial and media sectors, we anticipate that deepfake detection solutions will be adopted as essential."
DeepBrain AI is also planning for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in 2025, along with attracting large-scale overseas investments. CEO Jang's decision to personally establish a base in the United States is part of this strategy.
He said, "It's been just under two years since I went to the United States, and during that time, meeting various customer groups and prospective investors has provided valuable insights into factors that can drive our company's growth." He added, "While we have laid the foundation for global expansion so far, moving forward, DeepBrain AI will step by step become an 'AI Unicorn.'"
CEO Jang Se-young founded DeepBrain AI (formerly MoneyBrain) in 2016, marking his fourth startup venture. Graduating from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seoul National University, he has been involved in venture clubs since his undergraduate days, diving into the entrepreneurship forefront early on.
As a comparable overseas company in the same industry, there is Synthesia, a UK-based AI video generation company, with a company valuation exceeding 1 trillion won. DeepBrain AI's broad technological capabilities, ranging from video synthesis to speech synthesis, have attracted attention, positioning it prominently in the industry.
