Genies has been investing closely for this second. The culture-focused avatar know-how firm is revealing its user-generated content material instruments that permit 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 beneath the hood at Genies’ know-how that has been within the works for years with the hope of powering the following era of digital experiences. Whereas the tech is established, Nigam has by no means proven it off to a journalist earlier than.
“As you may see, the standard of it is rather excessive. So far as identical to the completely different sorts of enterprise mannequin that you may entertain right here, you may foresee one thing like a fee payment or one thing like that for people who find themselves creating these items,” Nigam mentioned. “I can’t reveal the companions that we’ve onboarded, however they’re tier one. They’re like the largest ones in leisure and gaming.”
Nigam mentioned the corporate was pushed by the mantra the place anybody ought to be capable to create something. Genies’ tech has a collection of UGC instruments that enable anybody to create any kind of AI avatar (together with vogue, props, behaviors, and personalities) and AI avatar experiences.
The whole lot created must also work with the whole lot else, Nigam mentioned. The stack contains 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 now have wager the enterprise on these mantras,” Nigam mentioned. “The explanation why we’ve finished it’s because we consider we all know the place the way forward for the Web goes. We consider the way forward for the Web goes to be an intersection of three major developments: AI, XR and gaming.”
The mixture of those mantras not solely permits people to create limitless experiences, but in addition permits mental property house owners to foster social gaming ecosystems pushed by UGC and AI Avatars – these interoperable ecosystems are what Genies calls Events.
Nigam mentioned he thought again to a query that I requested him 2019. He recalled, “You requested, ‘Why do you need to make a wager on avatars?’ And the largest motive why we made a wager on avatars is as a result of we consider that it’s a prerequisite for the way forward for the Web. In case you think about AI XR and gaming all forming this new medium, an avatar is a prerequisite. You’re not going to speak to only a chat bot or chat 24/7 with an AI persona. You want some 3D asset of gaming, and avatars have been core to gaming endlessly. We knew that this was going to develop and ultimately change into your personal experiences.”
Early adopters of Genies’ first gen avatars embody icons like Justin Bieber, Rihanna, J Balvin, Migos, and hundreds extra. With places of work in Los Angeles and San Francisco, Genies has raised $200 million up to now from notable buyers together with Silver Lake, BOND, NEA, and Bob Iger.
The mission and the imaginative and prescient
Genies is devoted to powering the digital id layer for subsequent era experiences. As AI, gaming, and XR converge to characterize the web’s future, Genies avatar know-how acts because the connective tissue at this intersection. Genies seeks to create a world the place digital id, UGC, and AI-driven avatars outline the following era of cellular apps: customized, adaptive, sensible, social gaming experiences.
This marks the fruits of over 5 years of technological developments, Nigam mentioned.
Genies first took off through the pandemic, when celebrities couldn’t meet their followers in particular person. However these celebrities might create 3D avatars that they might use to make voice-based appearances at digital occasions the place they might entertain followers or in any other case meet with them in on-line settings.
Quickly, hundreds of celebrities caught on and created a brand new income stream that has persevered even after the pandemic. It’s like how musicians discovered they might make some huge cash with music live shows within the wake of Spotify and Napster drying up report gross sales.
How far is that this going to go?
“More and more, you’re not going to point out up as Dean Takahashi. You’re going to point out up as a avatar of your self that represents your persona as effectively,” he mentioned. “In 2025, we’ve seen customized LLMs and the necessity for these ‘AI companions’ dramatically enhance. And so persons are beginning to transfer into the purposes of AI and persons are beginning to even say statements like, you recognize the common variety of AI associates that you should have within the subsequent 5 years goes to be larger than the variety of actual associates, proper?”
Whereas AI companions are fairly static now, Nigam believes that can change into far more vigorous. It is possible for you to to talk with them, however they may even change into “recreation prepared,” he mentioned.
“They are going to be an asset you may play with,” he mentioned. “Consider Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha doesn’t synchronously hang around collectively on Instagram. They hang around collectively in locations like Roblox, like Fortnite, like these open world platforms. That is the way you converse their language, proper? You don’t construct a relationship with Gen Alpha except you allow them to work together with you and your UGC.”
If there’s an organization on the market that’s related, Nigam believes it’s Epic Video games, as Tim Sweeney has painted an image of the metaverse many instances and he too foresees the intersection of AI, XR and gaming.
“Additionally they consider that everyone’s going to make use of UEFN to create these Fortnite worlds the place folks hang around,” Nigam mentioned.
Nigam mentioned Genies is targeted on open supply, pushed by AI avatars, UGC instruments and interoperable frameworks.
“Once you break down what precisely we’ve created, it was actually beneath this premonition the place we really feel like everyone goes to be transferring into this new medium,” he mentioned.
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
At the moment’s social media panorama is an area the place folks primarily devour media slightly than actively participating in social interactions. Conventional platforms like Instagram have change into one-sided, with manufacturers and customers broadcasting content material right into a passive abyss.
Nonetheless, UGC-driven gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite have emerged as dynamic social areas the place customers can authentically specific themselves, hang around, and join in real-time. These “two manner dialogue” and UGC areas have change into extraordinarily common with Gen Alpha and Gen Z, Nigam mentioned.
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 interact in methods by no means seen earlier than.
Constructing a relationship between IP and the following era seems to be much 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 atmosphere.
Constructing a significant relationship with Gen Alpha requires a deep understanding of their digital habits, preferences, and social behaviors. In contrast to 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, developments, and digital dialects that resonate with them. Assembly them the place they naturally have interaction is simply as crucial—this implies immersing of their digital environments, akin to gaming platforms, social networks, and digital worlds.
What’s a Get together?
A Get together is a next-generation UGC gaming ecosystem that allows IP house owners to create absolutely customizable cellular platforms powered by AI avatars, customized gameplay, and user-generated content material. With a Get together, IP house owners and creators can rework person engagement from passive consumption into lively co-creation—enabling IP house owners to construct distinctive and customized relationships with their customers by means of AI, whereas empowering customers to play a task in creating the way forward for the model.
Nigam mentioned the corporate has a variety of huge shoppers, however it might’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 “Sweet Get together” with a view 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.
Good avatars: Good 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 recreation prepared belongings that may have interaction in real-time conversations and take part in dynamic game-play with customers.
Good avatars aren’t simply visually customizable—they suppose, be taught, specific, and work together in a manner 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 convey 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 might rework their Bubblegum Bunny mascot into personified AI sensible avatars that embodies its cute persona, 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
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 photographs. This permits seamless avatar creation so customers can generate a extremely interesting, stylized avatar that appears identical to them that they’ll convey with them into Events, with no need any form of technical experience.
By Genies’ AIGC creation instrument, customers may also generate any bipedal avatar by means of textual content prompts, enabling them to create much more fantastical avatars that they’ll use in Events, akin to animals, creatures, or characters.
Avatar customization & compatibility: A sturdy customization system permits customers to change each side of their avatar, from facial construction to clothes layers, making certain each avatar is exclusive and absolutely appropriate with completely different visible kinds. As soon as an avatar has been generated, customers can proceed to customise particular particulars—together with the face, pores and skin colour, physique form, coiffure, make-up, tattoos, garments, and equipment—to offer them extra management over the feel and appear of their avatar.
AI persona creation: As soon as the look of a Good Avatar has been created, they are often skilled 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, Good Avatars can animate in actual time, reacting with synchronized gestures, expressions, and actions based mostly on gameplay or dialog. This offers them a extra customized, life-like conduct, enabling them to smile, snicker, 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 digicam roll, anybody can use Genies Digicam to convey avatars to life with expressive animations, emotes, and gestures to really customise their behaviors in Events.
AI sensible avatar demo
Consumer-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 house owners 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 gown that their avatar can put on or CandyRush wand their avatar can maintain. Think about a developer can create a Sugar Rush racing recreation that comes with Bubblegum Bunny’s Good Avatar, permitting followers to play collectively in Sweet Get together.
He mentioned that Events encompass sensible avatars, UGC video games, and UGC belongings.
“We need to lower the barrier to entry. We now have a developer package. We now have our dev platform instruments for folks to make use of to create heightened experiences. We would like there to be a no code manner, so {that a} 16 12 months outdated fan of an IP can take our constructing blocks generate a extremely significant recreation,” he mentioned. “If somebody needs to create one thing in an anime fashion, they’ll. If any person else needs to create one thing in a Pixar fashion, in a very completely different form and dimension, they’ll. These two want to have the ability to intersect with one another. And that’s all about UGC, all about interoperability. On the heart of all of it are sensible avatars.”
Core Tech That Permits UGC
UGC Property
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 vogue, props, equipment, and even avatars that they’ll use all through Get together experiences.
DIY Vogue Instruments: A complicated set of vogue enhancing instruments allow customers to change and customise vogue objects, altering textures, including gildings, and even layering a number of items for really distinctive digital vogue creations.
UGC Video games
Experiences SDK + No Code Growth Instruments: Equips builders and creators with the important instruments to create and launch Good Video games that help UGC and interoperability. This permits real-time avatar interactions, seamless multiplayer gameplay, and chronic id throughout Get together experiences.
Genies Experiences SDK permits builders to publish video games straight into any Get together app, making it a “tremendous 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 Good Avatar applied sciences.
XR compatibility: Expands artistic potentialities by supporting immersive XR experiences on cellular and wearable gadgets.
Interoperability: To unlock the complete 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 offer limitless customization and compatibility of AI avatars, experiences, vogue, props, and extra. Whether or not you’re a developer integrating avatars into your recreation or a creator designing digital vogue and props, Genies’ framework ensures that your creations seamlessly adapt and performance throughout completely 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 gown, these belongings are routinely ready by our system for use throughout completely different avatars, environments, and experiences. The Cupcake gown could initially be created for a human-like avatar, however then can routinely modify 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 may also take that outfit or prop designed for his or her Sweet-style trying recreation and convey it into an anime-style trying expertise the place every merchandise will routinely alter its look to match the brand new aesthetic. This offers your creations extra utility and worth since you should utilize 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 completely different Get together environments with out requiring handbook rigging or changes.
Prop Retargeting: Genies prop retargeting know-how routinely adjusts all belongings, enabling them to be outfitted by or interacted with all avatars and seamlessly carried throughout Get together experiences. A single merchandise, akin to a jetpack or a hat, will be dynamically resized, outfitted, and performance otherwise relying on the context of the expertise.
Wearable Refitting: Any UGC asset uploaded into the system, whether or not vogue, coiffure, or accent, can routinely refit to be universally appropriate throughout avatars of any dimension, form, or fashion. Whether or not a person needs their avatar to have a hulk-like determine or they need to be as miniature as an elf, they’ll 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 be certain 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 permits IP companions and builders to have management over the feel and appear of UGC of their experiences.
Animation Retargeting: Genies animation retargeting and remapping know-how routinely makes all animations and emotes work seamlessly with all avatars, regardless of their dimension, form, or fashion.
Native Avatar Framework: Solves for true interoperability and efficiency throughout all gaming and rendering engines. Genies proprietary framework permits all avatar creations and experiences to work seamlessly throughout any recreation, platform, gadget, and engine – making certain creations keep high quality whereas enabling common compatibility.
Genies Login: A common entry level and id system permitting customers to effortlessly convey 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. By Genies’ know-how stack, Events enable IP house owners to empower their audiences to change into co-creators, shaping the evolution of the platform collectively.
By leveraging Genies’ know-how stack, IP house owners and creators can construct social, interactive, and interoperable ecosystems powered by AI avatars and UGC.
Expertise community: Genies permits IP house owners to collaborate with prime expertise throughout music, sports activities, and leisure to drive distribution and unite fan bases in progressive methods. IP house owners can pair up with expertise to convey each IP collectively for Get together experiences – whereas creators and builders can leverage each units of IP to create video games and belongings.
Vogue will play an enormous position within the UGC kinds and characters. Firms akin to Roblox, Epic Video games, Lego, Disney and extra are anticipated to dive into this house. And Genies needs to have the ability to get them off the bottom rapidly with sensible avatars and Events. These sorts of firms will be capable to launch instruments that their followers can use to create high quality avatars in a no-code atmosphere, he mentioned.
Nigam envisions one thing he calls the Mega stylizer that he believes will convey interoperability to the completely different worlds that will likely be obtainable. This type of instrument is a part of all the ecosystem that Genies is creating with Events.
“We consider that these Events are literally going to characterize a few of the future cellular apps on this ecosystem — the longer term cellular apps on this ecosystem will concentrate on the sensible avatars. So the sensible avatars are those which might be capable of act autonomously, but in addition affect gameplay as effectively.”
A brand new period of IP improvement
Up till now we’ve talked about present IP and present TALENT that may convey their IP to life in new methods.
Current IP – Established IP house owners and types leveraging Genies’ tech stack to convey their IP to life by means of their very own Good Avatars and Get together.
Expertise IP – Influencers, creators, or celebrities creating their very own digital id by means of their very own Good Avatars for Get together experiences.
Nonetheless, as soon as all of those instruments are absolutely self-serve, this may 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 authentic content material and characters leveraging Genies’ UGC tech to generate new, re-imagined, or fictional IP as Good Avatars for Get together experiences.
Key components of IP improvement course of
Generate sensible avatar IP
Know-how: Good Avatar Autogeneration
Objective: 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 Good Avatars.
Develop IP
Know-how: No Code Recreation Creation + Experiences SDK
Objective: This section entails refining and increasing the generated IP utilizing AI instruments and Genies’ Experiences SDK (Software program Growth Equipment) that enables customers to develop interactive and immersive experiences with sensible avatar IP.
Promote IP
Know-how: XR Digicam
Objective: Customers can showcase and market their IP utilizing Genies Digicam, a instrument designed to generate participating and customizable avatar content material with a view to drive distribution.
Monetize IP
Know-how: AIGC Digital Items Market
Objective: The ultimate step permits customers to commercialize their IP inside Genies’ Asset Market, the place digital belongings will 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 Good Avatar IP: Alex, a university pupil and aspiring digital artist develops their very own Good Avatar persona round a personality they name “Neon Nova”. Utilizing Genies’ Autogeneration and AIGC instruments, coming into prompts like “Cyberpunk rockstar with neon tattoos and futuristic streetwear” they’re able to develop the feel and appear of Neon Nova, and leveraging Genies’ persona and behavioral AI instruments, they rework Neon Nova right into a charismatic however mysterious persona, outfitted 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 Competition” 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 persona 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 vogue, 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 mentioned. “As a result of we’ve created our personal proprietary knowledge set over the previous 5 years, producing all of those Genies on this stylized motions, we are able to now auto generate them.”
Nigam confirmed me how he might create a fantastical character based mostly on a celeb.
“We used to make 20 avatars a 12 months,” he mentioned. “Now we are able to make 10,000 by Friday.”
For the time being, Genies helps bipedal avatars.
“Our imaginative and prescient is that this 12 months we’re going to have the ability to settle for quadrupeds, so canines and cats and so forth. However for proper now, a person can go forward and generate a mannequin as a recreation prepared asset of a bipedal turtle, Samurai, no matter you simply need to do,” he mentioned. “And this may be one other character {that a} person or anybody might use. The bottom line is that the style that can also be created on this ecosystem.”
Genies does all of the work on auto-rigging and animating the characters.
“An enormous side of this class has been empowering builders to create compelling experiences that may be printed inside this Tremendous App, and in addition enabling non-technical youngsters to have the ability to create actually enjoyable, customized, stunning mini video games as effectively,” Nigam mentioned. “It may be finished in a no-code manner, and the one motive that is attainable as a result of we took so lengthy to do all of this work.”
Recap
This primary take a look at Genies’ AI avatars, recreation 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 following period of digital experiences.
Rooted in Genies two core mantras—“Anybody can create something” and “The whole lot works with the whole lot”—the Genies tech stack fuses AI, gaming, and interoperability to unlock limitless creativity and connection. By combining AI-powered creation instruments, interoperability frameworks, and absolutely interactive, interoperable AI avatars, Genies is redefining how on-line identities, social video games, and digital creation will be delivered to life.
“We’ve already began to signal large companions, which is tremendous rewarding. Clearly, it’s been a very long time, however we’ve already began to signal them on. We’re going to be making some bulletins about them over the following few months,” Nigam mentioned. “There’s a complete technique that’s going to be put into place, relying on the accomplice. They’ll roll it out at completely different instances. We received’t reveal that but, however it’s not far off.”
