Soul Machines raises $105m as market for 'digital humans' grows

Tuesday, 15 February 2022

Auckland-based AI developer Soul Machines addresses ethical issues in digital twin technology (video first published in June 2021).

Auckland technology company Soul Machines has raised US$70 million (NZ$105m) as demand for digital humans, from “celebrity twins” to artificial customer service reps, continues to grow.

The company will use the new funding to expand its research into mimicking human intelligence, and its sales teams.

Soul Machines currently employs more than 200 staff and co-founder Greg Cross said that was set to grow by about 50 per cent as it looked to recruit about another 100 to 150 workers.

Most of the new hiring would be in Phoenix, Arizona, where Soul Machines has built a second research centre and employs 120 staff.

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Helping computers act more like people has turned out to be an intricate technology challenge.

“The US is our biggest market. Increasingly more of our growth will be overseas because that is where the market is,” Cross said.

But he said it would also be taking on more staff in Auckland.

“Our core research team, which is doing some of the top research in cognitive modelling in the world, is based here and always will be based here,” he said.

Soul Machines was founded in 2016 and creates ‘virtual humans’ that are used by major consumer brands such as Proctor and Gamble and Nestle to interact with customers on screens in stores and online.

“We're seeing growth across a wide range of industries; banking, retail, e-commerce, consumer brands and health education,” Cross said.

A newer market has been developing “hyper-realistic” digital twins of real-life celebrities for the entertainment industry.

Trials have been undertaken with rapper Will.I.Am and NBA basket-baller Carmelo Anthony.

Soul Machines had “a lot of announcements coming up” in the latter area, Cross said.

Helping customers move from the “2D internet to the 3D metaverse” would be a big focus, he said.

“These digital-world experiences are going to require autonomously-animated digital people to serve us and interact with us when we are enjoying ‘metaverse’ experiences.”

The latest round of funding brings total investment in the company to US$135m.

The new investors include Japanese venture capital firm SoftBank, Cleveland Avenue, Liberty City Ventures and Solasta Ventures.