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 personalised gameplay.
In an unique interview, Genies CEO Akash Nigam gave GamesBeat a glance beneath the hood at Genies’ expertise 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 possibly can see, the standard of it is vitally excessive. So far as identical to the completely different sorts of enterprise mannequin that you might entertain right here, you possibly can foresee one thing like a fee price or one thing like that for people who find themselves creating these items,” Nigam stated. “I can’t reveal the companions that now we have onboarded, however they’re tier one. They’re like the most important ones in leisure and gaming.”
Nigam stated the corporate was pushed by the mantra the place anybody ought to be capable of create something. Genies’ tech has a collection of UGC instruments that permit anybody to create any sort of AI avatar (together with style, props, behaviors, and personalities) and AI avatar experiences.
All the things created must also work with all the things else, Nigam stated. 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.
“Now we have guess the enterprise on these mantras,” Nigam stated. “The explanation why now we have finished it is because we imagine we all know the place the way forward for the Web goes. We imagine the way forward for the Web goes to be an intersection of three most important traits: AI, XR and gaming.”
The mix of those mantras not solely allows 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 stated he thought again to a query that I requested him 2019. He recalled, “You requested, ‘Why do you need to make a guess on avatars?’ And the most important purpose why we made a guess on avatars is as a result of we imagine 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 without end. We knew that this was going to develop and ultimately turn out to be your personal experiences.”
Early adopters of Genies’ first gen avatars embrace 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 thus far 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 signify the web’s future, Genies avatar expertise 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 cell apps: personalised, adaptive, good, 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 particular person. However these celebrities may 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, 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 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?
“More and more, you’re not going to indicate up as Dean Takahashi. You’re going to indicate up as a avatar of your self that represents your character as nicely,” he stated. “In 2025, we’ve seen personalised LLMs and the necessity for these ‘AI companions’ dramatically improve. And so persons are beginning to transfer into the functions of AI and persons are beginning to even say statements like, you already know the common variety of AI pals that you’ll have within the subsequent 5 years goes to be higher than the variety of actual pals, proper?”
Whereas AI companions are fairly static now, Nigam believes that can turn out to be far more vigorous. It is possible for you to to talk with them, however they may even turn out to be “recreation prepared,” he stated.
“They are going to be an asset you possibly can play with,” he stated. “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 communicate 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 imagine that everyone’s going to make use of UEFN to create these Fortnite worlds the place folks hang around,” Nigam stated.
Nigam stated Genies is targeted on open supply, pushed by AI avatars, UGC instruments and interoperable frameworks.
“While you break down what precisely we’ve created, it was actually beneath this premonition the place we really feel like all people goes to be shifting 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 potential companions.
Understanding the shift in digital interplay
Right now’s social media panorama is an area the place folks primarily devour media somewhat than actively partaking in social interactions. Conventional platforms like Instagram have turn out to be 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 specific themselves, hang around, and join in real-time. These “two manner dialogue” and UGC areas have turn out to be 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 interact in methods by no means seen earlier than.
Constructing a relationship between IP and the following era seems to be 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 interact is simply as vital—this implies immersing of their digital environments, reminiscent of gaming platforms, social networks, and digital worlds.
What’s a Social gathering?
A Social gathering is a next-generation UGC gaming ecosystem that allows IP house owners to create totally customizable cell platforms powered by AI avatars, personalised gameplay, and user-generated content material. With a Social gathering, IP house owners and creators can rework person engagement from passive consumption into lively co-creation—enabling IP house owners to construct distinctive and personalised relationships with their customers via AI, whereas empowering customers to play a job in creating the way forward for the model.
Nigam stated the corporate has quite a lot of huge shoppers, however it might probably’t disclose any of its present IP companions but. So the Social gathering visuals on this story the written examples listed beneath spotlight a make-believe IP referred to as “Sweet Social gathering” with a view to assist contextualize how this might work for any actual IP.
At its core, a Social gathering is constructed on three key pillars: good 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 via clever interactions – serving as the center of any Social gathering. Constructed on giant language fashions (LLMs) and behavioral AI, they’re way over chatbots—they’re clever, expressive, and adaptive recreation prepared belongings that may interact in real-time conversations and take part in dynamic game-play with customers.
Good avatars aren’t simply visually customizable—they assume, 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 current IP, expertise IP, and even new IP, good avatars carry characters or personas to life, permitting them to work together, construct relationships, and dynamically play with customers all through Social gathering experiences. Think about a sweet retailer IP launches their very own Sweet Social gathering, they may rework their Bubblegum Bunny mascot into personified AI good avatars that embodies its cute character, foolish expressions, and refined gestures to dynamically chat and play video games with customers.
Builders can then leverage these IP-based good avatars to create and launch UGC video games with them in Sweet Social gathering. Along with IP-driven good avatars, each person additionally generates their very own distinctive good avatar, which turns into a hyper-customized AI companion that can be utilized as a game-ready asset for dynamic play inside Social gathering experiences, together with personalised conversations for recommendation, pleasant banter, insights, and extra.
Core tech that allows good avatars
Autogeneration and AIGC avatar creation: With Genies’ Avatar Autogeneration device, any person can robotically generate a stylized 3D avatar that resembles their likeness via uploaded photographs. This permits 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 device, customers may generate any bipedal avatar via textual content prompts, enabling them to create much more fantastical avatars that they will use in Events, reminiscent of animals, creatures, or characters.
Avatar customization & compatibility: A sturdy 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 completely 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 shade, 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 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 Social gathering 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 personalised, life-like conduct, 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 via face and physique monitoring to generate personalised animations for any avatar. Utilizing built-in smartphone sensors or importing movies from their digicam roll, anybody can use Genies Digicam to carry avatars to life with expressive animations, emotes, and gestures to actually customise their behaviors in Events.
AI good avatar demo
Person-generated content material (UGC): Communities can actively form their Social gathering 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 Social gathering, 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 recreation that includes Bubblegum Bunny’s Good Avatar, permitting followers to play collectively in Sweet Social gathering.
He stated that Events include good avatars, UGC video games, and UGC belongings.
“We need to lower the barrier to entry. Now we have a developer package. Now we 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 stated. “If somebody desires to create one thing in an anime model, they will. If any person else desires to create one thing in a Pixar model, in a very completely different form and dimension, they will. These two want to have the ability to intersect with one another. And that’s all about UGC, all about interoperability. On the middle of all of it are good avatars.”
Core Tech That Allows UGC
UGC Belongings
AIGC Asset Pipeline: AI-generated content material (AIGC) instruments permit customers to create 3D belongings utilizing easy textual content or picture prompts. This minimizes technical limitations, permitting customers to supply high-quality digital style, props, equipment, and even avatars that they will use all through Social gathering experiences.
DIY Vogue Instruments: A classy set of style enhancing instruments allow customers to switch and customise style objects, altering textures, including gildings, and even layering a number of items for really distinctive digital style creations.
UGC Video games
Experiences SDK + No Code Improvement 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 protracted id throughout Social gathering experiences.
Genies Experiences SDK permits builders to publish video games straight into any Social gathering 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, personalised mini video games via a chat first expertise, leveraging Genies’ AIGC and Good Avatar applied sciences.
XR compatibility: Expands artistic potentialities by supporting immersive XR experiences on cell 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 Social gathering, driving their mission of all the things works with all the things.
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 recreation or a creator designing digital style 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 costume, these belongings are robotically ready by our system for use throughout completely different avatars, environments, and experiences. The Cupcake costume might initially be created for a human-like avatar, however then can robotically 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 take that outfit or prop designed for his or her Sweet-style wanting recreation and convey it into an anime-style wanting expertise the place every merchandise will robotically alter its look to match the brand new aesthetic. This offers your creations extra utility and worth since you should 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 robotically 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 Social gathering environments with out requiring guide rigging or changes.
Prop Retargeting: Genies prop retargeting expertise robotically adjusts all belongings, enabling them to be geared up by or interacted with all avatars and seamlessly carried throughout Social gathering experiences. A single merchandise, reminiscent of a jetpack or a hat, might 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 robotically 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 need to be as miniature as an elf, they will add a shirt that can configure seamlessly to both avatar throughout any Social gathering, 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 Social gathering’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 appear and feel of UGC of their experiences.
Animation Retargeting: Genies animation retargeting and remapping expertise robotically makes all animations and emotes work seamlessly with all avatars, irrespective 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 recreation, platform, system, and engine – guaranteeing creations keep high quality whereas enabling common compatibility.
Genies Login: A common entry level and id system permitting customers to effortlessly carry their avatar and stock of digital items throughout any Social gathering expertise.
Events redefine how customers interact 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 permit IP house owners to empower their audiences to turn out to be co-creators, shaping the evolution of the platform collectively.
By leveraging Genies’ expertise stack, IP house owners and creators can construct social, interactive, and interoperable ecosystems powered by AI avatars and UGC.
Expertise community: Genies allows 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 carry each IP collectively for Social gathering experiences – whereas creators and builders can leverage each units of IP to create video games and belongings.
Vogue will play an enormous function within the UGC types and characters. Corporations reminiscent of 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 rapidly with good avatars and Events. These sorts of corporations will be capable of 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 completely different worlds that can be accessible. This sort of device is a part of all the ecosystem that Genies is creating with Events.
“We imagine that these Events are literally going to signify a few of the future cell apps on this ecosystem — the long run cell apps on this ecosystem will deal with the good avatars. So the good avatars are those which might be capable of act autonomously, but in addition affect gameplay as nicely.”
A brand new period of IP improvement
Up till now we’ve talked about current IP and current TALENT that may carry their IP to life in new methods.
Present IP – Established IP house owners and types leveraging Genies’ tech stack to carry their IP to life via their very own Good Avatars and Social gathering.
Expertise IP – Influencers, creators, or celebrities growing their very own digital id via their very own Good Avatars for Social gathering experiences.
Nevertheless, as soon as all of those instruments are totally 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 unique content material and characters leveraging Genies’ UGC tech to generate new, re-imagined, or fictional IP as Good Avatars for Social gathering experiences.
Key components of IP improvement course of
Generate good avatar IP
Expertise: 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
Expertise: No Code Sport Creation + Experiences SDK
Objective: This part entails refining and increasing the generated IP utilizing AI instruments and Genies’ Experiences SDK (Software program Improvement Equipment) that permits customers to develop interactive and immersive experiences with good avatar IP.
Promote IP
Expertise: XR Digicam
Objective: Customers can showcase and market their IP utilizing Genies Digicam, a device designed to generate partaking and customizable avatar content material with a view to drive distribution.
Monetize IP
Expertise: AIGC Digital Items Market
Objective: The ultimate step permits customers to commercialize their IP inside Genies’ Asset Market, the place digital belongings might be bought, traded, or utilized in varied experiences.
This technique 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 school scholar and aspiring digital artist develops their very own Good 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 Sport Creation instruments and Experiences SDK to construct an immersive “CyberCity Music Pageant” Social gathering 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 via 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 via its on-line character and driving person adoption for the Social gathering 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 Social gathering Apps or commerce amongst pals, 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. “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 will now auto generate them.”
Nigam confirmed me how he may create a fantastical character based mostly on a star.
“We used to make 20 avatars a 12 months,” he stated. “Now we will make 10,000 by Friday.”
In the meanwhile, 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 stated. “And this may be one other character {that a} person or anybody may use. The secret’s 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 facet of this class has been empowering builders to create compelling experiences that may be revealed inside this Tremendous App, and likewise enabling non-technical youngsters to have the ability to create actually enjoyable, personalised, lovely mini video games as nicely,” Nigam stated. “It may be finished in a no-code manner, and the one purpose that is potential 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 muse for the following period of digital experiences.
Rooted in Genies two core mantras—“Anybody can create something” and “All the things works with all the things”—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 might be dropped at 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 stated. “There’s a entire technique that’s going to be put into place, relying on the accomplice. They’ll roll it out at completely different instances. We gained’t reveal that but, however it’s not far off.”
