Genies has been investing closely for this second. The culture-focused avatar expertise firm is revealing its user-generated content material instruments that allow anybody create customized AI avatars.
Genies raised $150 million in 2022, and it has been busy ever since constructing out the tech stack for what it calls Events, or gaming platforms pushed by AI avatars, user-generated content material, and customized gameplay.
In an unique interview, Genies CEO Akash Nigam gave GamesBeat a glance below the hood at Genies’ expertise that has been within the works for years with the hope of powering the subsequent era of digital experiences. Whereas the tech is established, Nigam has by no means proven it off to a journalist earlier than.
“As you can see, the quality of it is very high. As far as just like the different kinds of business model that you could entertain here, you can foresee something like a commission fee or something like that for people who are creating these things,” Nigam stated. “I can’t reveal the partners that we have onboarded, but they are tier one. They’re like the biggest ones in entertainment and gaming.”
Akash Nigam is CEO of Genies, the maker of Events.
Nigam stated the corporate was pushed by the mantra the place anybody ought to have the ability to create something. Genies’ tech has a set of UGC instruments that enable anybody to create any kind of AI avatar (together with style, props, behaviors, and personalities) and AI avatar experiences.
All the pieces created also needs to work with the whole lot else, Nigam stated. The stack consists of the Genies’ Avatar Framework which makes use of machine studying and laptop graphics to make sure interoperability and compatibility throughout all person generated AI Avatars and AI Avatar experiences with limitless creativity.
“We have bet the business on these mantras,” Nigam stated. “The reason why we have done this is because we believe we know where the future of the Internet is going. We believe the future of the Internet is going to be an intersection of three main trends: AI, XR and gaming.”
The mixture of those mantras not solely allows people to create limitless experiences, but additionally permits mental property homeowners to foster social gaming ecosystems pushed by UGC and AI Avatars – these interoperable ecosystems are what Genies calls Events.
Nigam stated he thought again to a query that I requested him 2019. He recalled, “You asked, ‘Why do you want to make a bet on avatars?’ And the biggest reason why we made a bet on avatars is because we believe that it’s a prerequisite for the future of the Internet. If you imagine AI XR and gaming all forming this new medium, an avatar is a prerequisite. You’re not going to talk to just a chat bot or chat 24/7 with an AI persona. You need some 3D asset of gaming, and avatars have been core to gaming forever. We knew that this was going to grow and eventually become your own experiences.”
Early adopters of Genies’ first gen avatars embrace icons like Justin Bieber, Rihanna, J Balvin, Migos, and 1000’s extra. With places of work in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Genies has raised $200 million thus far from notable buyers together with Silver Lake, BOND, NEA, and Bob Iger.
The mission and the imaginative and prescient
UGC creation with Genies.
Genies is devoted to powering the digital identification layer for subsequent era experiences. As AI, gaming, and XR converge to characterize the web’s future, Genies avatar expertise acts because the connective tissue at this intersection. Genies seeks to create a world the place digital identification, UGC, and AI-driven avatars outline the subsequent era of cellular apps: customized, adaptive, sensible, social gaming experiences.
This marks the fruits of over 5 years of technological developments, Nigam stated.
Genies first took off throughout the pandemic, when celebrities couldn’t meet their followers in individual. However these celebrities might create 3D avatars that they may use to make voice-based appearances at digital occasions the place they may entertain followers or in any other case meet with them in on-line settings.
Quickly, 1000’s of celebrities caught on and created a brand new income stream that has endured even after the pandemic. It’s like how musicians discovered they may make some huge cash with music live shows within the wake of Spotify and Napster drying up file gross sales.
How far is that this going to go?
“Increasingly, you’re not going to show up as Dean Takahashi. You’re going to show up as a avatar of yourself that represents your personality as well,” he stated. “In 2025, we’ve seen personalized LLMs and the need for these ‘AI companions’ dramatically increase. And so people are starting to move into the applications of AI and people are starting to even say statements like, you know the average number of AI friends that you will have in the next five years is going to be greater than the number of real friends, right?”
Whereas AI companions are fairly static now, Nigam believes that can develop into way more energetic. It is possible for you to to speak with them, however they will even develop into “game ready,” he stated.
“They will be an asset you can play with,” he stated. “Think of Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha doesn’t synchronously hang out together on Instagram. They hang out together in places like Roblox, like Fortnite, like these open world platforms. This is how you speak their language, right? You don’t build a relationship with Gen Alpha unless you let them interact with you and your UGC.”
If there’s an organization on the market that’s comparable, Nigam believes it’s Epic Video games, as Tim Sweeney has painted an image of the metaverse many occasions and he too foresees the intersection of AI, XR and gaming.
“They also believe that everybody’s going to use UEFN to create these Fortnite worlds where people hang out,” Nigam stated.
Nigam stated Genies is concentrated on open supply, pushed by AI avatars, UGC instruments and interoperable frameworks.
“When you break down what exactly we’ve created, it was really under this premonition where we feel like everybody is going to be moving into this new medium,” he stated.
And never each firm will get $1.5 billion handed to them, as Disney gave to Epic. However Genies is positioning itself to work with many attainable companions.
Understanding the shift in digital interplay
Genies is touting sensible avatars.
Right now’s social media panorama is an area the place folks primarily eat media fairly than actively partaking in social interactions. Conventional platforms like Instagram have develop into one-sided, with manufacturers and customers broadcasting content material right into a passive abyss.
Nevertheless, UGC-driven gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite have emerged as dynamic social areas the place customers can authentically categorical themselves, hang around, and join in real-time. These “two way dialogue” and UGC areas have develop into extraordinarily common with Gen Alpha and Gen Z, Nigam stated.
This generational shift underscores the rise of Events, Genies’ response to the demand for deeper, two-sided digital interactions. With UGC and interoperability on the core, Events allow manufacturers and audiences to co-create, work together, and have interaction in methods by no means seen earlier than.
Constructing a relationship between IP and the subsequent era appears just like what Disney and Epic introduced in 2024, the place Disney will create social areas inside Fortnite worlds the place its characters can work together with followers in a gaming surroundings.
Constructing a significant relationship with Gen Alpha requires a deep understanding of their digital habits, preferences, and social behaviors. Not like earlier generations, Gen Alpha is rising up in an period the place digital interactions and personalization form their experiences.
To attach with them successfully, it’s important to talk their language, utilizing the cultural references, traits, and digital dialects that resonate with them. Assembly them the place they naturally have interaction is simply as essential—this implies immersing of their digital environments, similar to gaming platforms, social networks, and digital worlds.
What’s a Get together?
Genies has constructed a tech stack to help sensible avatars and Events.
A Get together is a next-generation UGC gaming ecosystem that allows IP homeowners to create totally customizable cellular platforms powered by AI avatars, customized gameplay, and user-generated content material. With a Get together, IP homeowners and creators can rework person engagement from passive consumption into energetic co-creation—enabling IP homeowners to construct distinctive and customized relationships with their customers by means of AI, whereas empowering customers to play a job in creating the way forward for the model.
Nigam stated the corporate has quite a few massive shoppers, however it might probably’t disclose any of its present IP companions but. So the Get together visuals on this story the written examples listed beneath spotlight a make-believe IP known as “Candy Party” with the intention to assist contextualize how this might work for any actual IP.
At its core, a Get together is constructed on three key pillars: sensible avatars, user-generated content material (UGC), and interoperability.
Sensible avatars: Sensible avatars are AI-powered digital characters with distinct personalities, behaviors, and aesthetics designed to drive significant engagement by means of clever interactions – serving as the guts of any Get together. Constructed on giant language fashions (LLMs) and behavioral AI, they’re excess of chatbots—they’re clever, expressive, and adaptive sport prepared belongings that may have interaction in real-time conversations and take part in dynamic game-play with customers.
Sensible avatars aren’t simply visually customizable—they suppose, be taught, categorical, and work together in a method that makes them really alive in digital areas. The mind of every avatar permits for AI-driven gestures, real-time reactions, and voice using AI synthesis. Whereas in play, AI-driven physics allow seamless motion and interplay.
Instance use case for Events: For present IP, expertise IP, and even new IP, sensible avatars carry characters or personas to life, permitting them to work together, construct relationships, and dynamically play with customers all through Get together experiences. Think about a sweet retailer IP launches their very own Sweet Get together, they may rework their Bubblegum Bunny mascot into personified AI sensible avatars that embodies its cute character, foolish expressions, and delicate gestures to dynamically chat and play video games with customers.
Builders can then leverage these IP-based sensible avatars to create and launch UGC video games with them in Sweet Get together. Along with IP-driven sensible avatars, each person additionally generates their very own distinctive sensible avatar, which turns into a hyper-customized AI companion that can be utilized as a game-ready asset for dynamic play inside Get together experiences, together with customized conversations for recommendation, pleasant banter, insights, and extra.
Core tech that allows sensible avatars
Genies is launching Events.
Autogeneration and AIGC avatar creation: With Genies’ Avatar Autogeneration instrument, any person can routinely generate a stylized 3D avatar that resembles their likeness by means of uploaded photos. This allows seamless avatar creation so customers can generate a extremely interesting, stylized avatar that appears identical to them that they will carry with them into Events, while not having any form of technical experience.
Via Genies’ AIGC creation instrument, customers also can generate any bipedal avatar by means of textual content prompts, enabling them to create much more fantastical avatars that they will use in Events, similar to animals, creatures, or characters.
Avatar customization & compatibility: A strong customization system permits customers to switch each facet of their avatar, from facial construction to clothes layers, guaranteeing each avatar is exclusive and totally appropriate with totally different visible types. As soon as an avatar has been generated, customers can proceed to customise particular particulars—together with the face, pores and skin coloration, physique form, coiffure, make-up, tattoos, garments, and equipment—to provide them extra management over the appear and feel of their avatar.
AI persona creation: As soon as the look of a Sensible Avatar has been created, they are often educated with AI to develop their very own distinctive personalities, which unlocks dynamic conversations and gameplay for customers all through Get together experiences.
Behavioral AI: Utilizing sentiment evaluation, Sensible Avatars can animate in actual time, reacting with synchronized gestures, expressions, and actions based mostly on gameplay or dialog. This provides them a extra customized, life-like habits, enabling them to smile, giggle, frown, wave, and even facepalm in actual time based mostly on the context of their conversations and interactions.
UGC customized animation pipeline: Customers can seize real-world actions by means of face and physique monitoring to generate customized animations for any avatar. Utilizing built-in smartphone sensors or importing movies from their digital camera roll, anybody can use Genies Digicam to carry avatars to life with expressive animations, emotes, and gestures to really customise their behaviors in Events.
AI sensible avatar demo
Person-generated content material (UGC): Communities can actively form their Get together expertise by creating video games, digital items, and avatar customizations, fostering deeper person participation. Events thrive on a steady inflow of user-generated video games, avatars, and digital items. Whereas IP homeowners retain management over content material moderation, communities actively form the expertise, enhancing each engagement and loyalty. Genies’ UGC tech is pushed by their mission of enabling anybody to create something, empowering creators of any talent stage to create.
Instance use case for Events: IP Homeowners can present their customers with Genies’ UGC instruments to unlock an infinite provide of customized belongings and video games for his or her Get together, empowering followers and creators to make the most of their IP in distinctive methods and co-create with the model. Think about a creator producing their very own customized stylized Bubblegum Bunny purse and Cupcake costume that their avatar can put on or CandyRush wand their avatar can maintain. Think about a developer can create a Sugar Rush racing sport that comes with Bubblegum Bunny’s Sensible Avatar, permitting followers to play collectively in Sweet Get together.
He stated that Events encompass sensible avatars, UGC video games, and UGC belongings.
“We want to decrease the barrier to entry. We have a developer kit. We have our dev platform tools for people to use to create heightened experiences. We want there to be a no code way, so that a 16 year old fan of an IP can take our building blocks generate a really meaningful game,” he stated. “If someone wants to create something in an anime style, they can. If somebody else wants to create something in a Pixar style, in a completely different shape and size, they can. Those two need to be able to intersect with each other. And that’s all about UGC, all about interoperability. At the center of it all are smart avatars.”
Core Tech That Permits UGC
Genies has raised $250 million.
UGC Belongings
AIGC Asset Pipeline: AI-generated content material (AIGC) instruments enable customers to create 3D belongings utilizing easy textual content or picture prompts. This minimizes technical boundaries, permitting customers to supply high-quality digital style, props, equipment, and even avatars that they will use all through Get together experiences.DIY Trend Instruments: A classy set of style enhancing instruments allow customers to switch and customise style objects, altering textures, including elaborations, and even layering a number of items for really distinctive digital style creations.
UGC Video games
Experiences SDK + No Code Growth Instruments: Equips builders and creators with the important instruments to create and launch Sensible Video games that help UGC and interoperability. This allows real-time avatar interactions, seamless multiplayer gameplay, and chronic identification throughout Get together experiences.
Genies Experiences SDK permits builders to publish video games immediately into any Get together app, making it a “super app” (everybody’s personal Roblox). Genies no code improvement instruments will allow customers of all talent ranges to create and launch customized, customized mini video games by means of a chat first expertise, leveraging Genies’ AIGC and Sensible Avatar applied sciences.
XR compatibility: Expands inventive potentialities by supporting immersive XR experiences on cellular and wearable units.
Interoperability: To unlock the total potential of a scalable, thriving UGC ecosystem, Genies’ frameworks are constructed for seamless compatibility and interoperability throughout all belongings and experiences. Interoperability ensures that any user-generated creation can work effortlessly with any avatar, expertise, or Get together, driving their mission of the whole lot works with the whole lot.
Genies’ Avatar Framework leverages machine studying and laptop graphics to supply limitless customization and compatibility of AI avatars, experiences, style, props, and extra. Whether or not you’re a developer integrating avatars into your sport or a creator designing digital style and props, Genies’ framework ensures that your creations seamlessly adapt and performance throughout totally different experiences, environments, aesthetics, and platforms.
Instance use case for Events: As soon as a person designs their customized Bubblegum Bunny purse, CandyRush wand, or Cupcake costume, these belongings are routinely ready by our system for use throughout totally different avatars, environments, and experiences. The Cupcake costume could initially be created for a human-like avatar, however then can routinely alter to suit a troll-shaped avatar, reshaping itself seamlessly.
A pair of cybernetic wings constructed for a robotic determine effortlessly adapts to work on a polar bear avatar. That’s interoperability in motion. A person also can take that outfit or prop designed for his or her Sweet-style wanting sport and produce it into an anime-style wanting expertise the place every merchandise will routinely alter its look to match the brand new aesthetic. This provides your creations extra utility and worth since you need to use them all through a wider vary of experiences and Events.
Core tech that allows interoperability
AutoRigging: After producing any 3D asset with Genies AIGC instruments or creating from scratch, customers can routinely convert their asset right into a fully-rigged, game-ready asset. Whether or not it’s a wearable, an avatar, or an interactive prop, the system adapts belongings to seamlessly combine throughout totally different Get together environments with out requiring guide rigging or changes.
Prop Retargeting: Genies prop retargeting expertise routinely adjusts all belongings, enabling them to be geared up by or interacted with all avatars and seamlessly carried throughout Get together experiences. A single merchandise, similar to a jetpack or a hat, may be dynamically resized, geared up, and performance in another way relying on the context of the expertise.
Wearable Refitting: Any UGC asset uploaded into the system, whether or not style, coiffure, or accent, can routinely refit to be universally appropriate throughout avatars of any dimension, form, or model. Whether or not a person desires their avatar to have a hulk-like determine or they wish to be as miniature as an elf, they will add a shirt that can configure seamlessly to both avatar throughout any Get together, giving them a full vary of potentialities when creating and styling their avatar.
Asset Stylizer: Customized shader instruments make sure that all UGC seamlessly blends right into a Get together’s aesthetic, whether or not it’s hyper-realistic, cartoon-like, or anime impressed. This allows IP companions and builders to have management over the appear and feel of UGC of their experiences.
Animation Retargeting: Genies animation retargeting and remapping expertise routinely makes all animations and emotes work seamlessly with all avatars, regardless of their dimension, form, or model.
Native Avatar Framework: Solves for true interoperability and efficiency throughout all gaming and rendering engines. Genies proprietary framework allows all avatar creations and experiences to work seamlessly throughout any sport, platform, system, and engine – guaranteeing creations keep high quality whereas enabling common compatibility.
Genies Login: A common entry level and identification system permitting customers to effortlessly carry their avatar and stock of digital items throughout any Get together expertise.
Events redefine how customers have interaction with digital areas, providing a mix of social connection, creativity, and play that goes past conventional gaming or social media platforms. Via Genies’ expertise stack, Events enable IP homeowners to empower their audiences to develop into co-creators, shaping the evolution of the platform collectively.
By leveraging Genies’ expertise stack, IP homeowners and creators can construct social, interactive, and interoperable ecosystems powered by AI avatars and UGC.
Expertise community: Genies allows IP homeowners to collaborate with high expertise throughout music, sports activities, and leisure to drive distribution and unite fan bases in revolutionary methods. IP homeowners can pair up with expertise to carry each IP collectively for Get together experiences – whereas creators and builders can leverage each units of IP to create video games and belongings.
Trend will play a giant function within the UGC types and characters. Corporations similar to Roblox, Epic Video games, Lego, Disney and extra are anticipated to dive into this area. And Genies desires to have the ability to get them off the bottom shortly with sensible avatars and Events. These sorts of firms will have the ability to launch instruments that their followers can use to create high quality avatars in a no-code surroundings, he stated.
Nigam envisions one thing he calls the Mega stylizer that he believes will carry interoperability to the totally different worlds that can be obtainable. This sort of instrument is a part of the whole ecosystem that Genies is creating with Events.
“We believe that these Parties are actually going to represent some of the future mobile apps in this ecosystem — the future mobile apps in this ecosystem will focus on the smart avatars. So the smart avatars are the ones that are able to act autonomously, but also influence gameplay as well.”
A brand new period of IP improvement
People can drive IP improvement.
Up till now we’ve talked about present IP and present TALENT that may carry their IP to life in new methods.Present IP – Established IP homeowners and types leveraging Genies’ tech stack to carry their IP to life by means of their very own Sensible Avatars and Get together.
Expertise IP – Influencers, creators, or celebrities growing their very own digital identification by means of their very own Sensible Avatars for Get together experiences.
Nevertheless, as soon as all of those instruments are totally self-serve, this can usher in an period of making model new IP, enabling anybody to seamlessly create, deploy, and monetize IP all from their sofa.
New IP – Anybody can develop unique content material and characters leveraging Genies’ UGC tech to generate new, re-imagined, or fictional IP as Sensible Avatars for Get together experiences.
Key components of IP improvement course of
Genies has raised $250 million.
Generate sensible avatar IP
Expertise: Sensible Avatar Autogeneration
Function: Anybody can create clever, customizable avatar-based mental property (IP). AI-powered instruments help within the creation course of, making it simpler for anybody to develop distinctive AI Sensible Avatars.
Develop IP
Expertise: No Code Recreation Creation + Experiences SDKPurpose: This section includes refining and increasing the generated IP utilizing AI instruments and Genies’ Experiences SDK (Software program Growth Package) that permits customers to develop interactive and immersive experiences with sensible avatar IP.
Promote IP
Expertise: XR Digicam
Function: Customers can showcase and market their IP utilizing Genies Digicam, a instrument designed to generate partaking and customizable avatar content material with the intention to drive distribution.
Monetize IP
Expertise: AIGC Digital Items Market
Function: The ultimate step permits customers to commercialize their IP inside Genies’ Asset Market, the place digital belongings may be offered, traded, or utilized in varied experiences.
This method empowers people and companies to construct, promote, and revenue from their distinctive digital IP, increasing the chances for UGC-driven gaming, digital avatars, and digital economies.
New IP improvement instance:
Step 1: Generate Sensible Avatar IP: Alex, a university pupil and aspiring digital artist develops their very own Sensible Avatar persona round a personality they name “Neon Nova”. Utilizing Genies’ Autogeneration and AIGC instruments, getting into prompts like “Cyberpunk rockstar with neon tattoos and futuristic streetwear” they can develop the appear and feel of Neon Nova, and leveraging Genies’ character and behavioral AI instruments, they rework Neon Nova right into a charismatic however mysterious character, geared up with its personal distinct look, voice, backstory, and persona.
Step 2: Develop IP: With Neon Nova prepared, Alex makes use of Genies’ No-Code Recreation Creation instruments and Experiences SDK to construct an immersive “CyberCity Music Festival” Get together App expertise. On this digital occasion, Neon Nova performs interactive live shows and engages in quests with customers. Customers assist form Neon Nova’s evolving story by means of their interactions.
Step 3: Promote IP: Alex leverages Genies’ Digicam to seize dynamic content material that includes Neon Nova performing songs and interacting with followers. Alex posts these shareable moments throughout social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X (Twitter), successfully rising Neon Nova’s fanbase by means of its on-line character and driving person adoption for the Get together app expertise.
Step 4: Monetize IP: To monetize, Alex designs and sells unique digital merchandise and collectible equipment for Neon Nova utilizing Genies’ AIGC Digital Items Market. Followers buy Neon Nova-inspired digital style, music packs, and distinctive collectibles to make use of inside Get together Apps or commerce amongst associates, producing a income stream for Alex and increasing Neon Nova’s IP.
A no-code world
In previous years, round 2021, it used to take about eight weeks to generate a game-ready 3D character, Nigam stated. “Because we’ve created our own proprietary data set over the past five years, generating all of these Genies in this stylized motions, we can now auto generate them.”
Nigam confirmed me how he might create a fantastical character based mostly on a star.
“We used to make 20 avatars a year,” he stated. “Now we can make 10,000 by Friday.”
In the intervening time, Genies helps bipedal avatars.
“Our vision is that this year we’re going to be able to accept quadrupeds, so dogs and cats and so forth. But for right now, a user can go ahead and generate a model as a game ready asset of a bipedal turtle, Samurai, whatever you just want to do,” he stated. “And this can be another character that a user or anyone could use. The key is that the fashion that is also created in this ecosystem.”
Genies does all of the work on auto-rigging and animating the characters.
“A huge aspect of this category has been empowering developers to create compelling experiences that can be published within this Super App, and also enabling non-technical kids to be able to create really fun, personalized, beautiful mini games as well,” Nigam stated. “It can be done in a no-code way, and the only reason this is possible because we took so long to do all of this work.”
Recap
This primary have a look at Genies’ AI avatars, sport instruments, and UGC platform they’ve spent years constructing makes one factor clear: they’re not simply constructing avatars—they’re constructing the inspiration for the subsequent period of digital experiences.
Rooted in Genies two core mantras—“Anyone can create anything” and “Everything works with everything”—the Genies tech stack fuses AI, gaming, and interoperability to unlock limitless creativity and connection. By combining AI-powered creation instruments, interoperability frameworks, and totally interactive, interoperable AI avatars, Genies is redefining how on-line identities, social video games, and digital creation may be dropped at life.
“We’ve already started to sign massive partners, which is super rewarding. Obviously, it’s been a long time, but we’ve already started to sign them on. We’re going to be making some announcements about them over the next few months,” Nigam stated. “There is a whole strategy that’s going to be put into place, depending on the partner. They’ll roll it out at different times. We won’t reveal that yet, but it’s not far off.”
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