As AI technology evolves rapidly, the cultural and creative industries have experienced remarkable advancements by integrating AI. What new form will the AI-driven cultural and creative sector take? How can we identify future trend opportunities? Angie Lin, Co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Assured Asset Management, and Joe Chen, CEO of Light Matrix Technology, shared their latest insights in exclusive interviews with The News Lens.
AI is advancing at such a fast and unimaginable pace. Nowadays, everyone can utilize AI services in their daily lives. At the same time, the integration of culture and technology is taking place, giving rise to the cultural creativity unique to this era.In this episode, we invite Angie Lin, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Assured Asset Management, and Joe Chen, CEO of LightMatrix Inc., to have a chat: What are those incoming opportunities for Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries to integrate with AI? What are the strengths and challenges?
2024 AI Trends: Do you know how venture capitals evaluate the strengths of AI development?
AI impacts our life in an enormous way, and the impact spreads at an unimaginable rate. Angie Lin, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Assured Asset Management, said that venture capitals are willing to invest in AI because the success of these industries comes from the accumulation of time and “training”. In the AI industry, where all kinds of information comes from social media, if we can devise business models of time-saving in the industry, or if we can establish upward or downward computation in AI, we can create a common good for the industry.
For example, demand from new chip companies is on the rise and the market can accommodate a wide range of chip competitors. As the AI market becomes more and more booming, if it is able to be the infrastructure for others, you can see different business models and ways of success, such as different scenarios for robotics, and the dream of an unmanned company is not unattainable.
Angie said that the application of AI is like standing on the shoulders of giants. As long as you specialize in your own field and find out the data suitable for use and special language needs, common people can also become professionals. In this episode, it was also mentioned how Corehere, Nvidia, and Tesla are making practical use of AI, and how each tech company has made different developments according to their own strengths, not only in technology, but also in culture (e.g., automatic lyric writing and composing).
How does international venture capitalists look at Taiwan’s Cultural Creativity: The development of AI requires the integration of various industries.
Assured Asset Management looks at AI and culture from an investor’s perspective, with “rendering power” as the primary index. In the past, cultural creativity was mainly “large-scale”: large-scale productions, large-scale composers and songwriters, etc. However, through the use of technology, the ways of cultural expression and dissemination have become original and amazing, constantly breaking through the previous scope of knowledge. Angie took an example of application in baseball. Although a baseball player only swings once in reality, when technology can analyze the details of his swing, and constantly replay and calculate, this becomes the cultural creativity and business model developed by technology in culture.
From “Worker Intelligence” to “Artificial Intelligence”, Joe cited the development of LightMatrix Inc. as an example: A visual imaging technology company that didn’t know how to use AI ten years ago, but has always been very clear about what it wants to do, i.e. recording images in 3D. Joe said with a smile that because of this experience, he is probably one of the few parents who have modeled all the stages of their children’s growth. He believes that AI as a tool will become very popular in the future and grow beyond expectations. In the case of the collaboration with the National Palace Museum, LightMatrix Inc. has simulated the classic paintings of the National Palace Museum with excellent results and speed, which means that “using tools well” and “providing tools that work well” will be the center of the development and attention in the AI industry.
However, what are the advantages, disadvantages, and barriers of having a technology that previously took time and expertise, but that can suddenly be applied by almost any user overnight? Joe responded that training on many good tools takes so much time that technology accumulation is highly valuable. More and more companies will invest in it in the future. On the other hand, from the user’s point of view, if there are already too many tools available, how can a company stand out? Joe believes that IP is king, and this is the strategy for business consideration.
It’s just that all industries are interconnected, and even the progress of AI can’t stand alone. Took the 3D application of LightMatrix Inc. as an example. Through the advanced technology of global photomodeling, they developed the 3D replay on the stadium, 3D mobile live broadcasting and other application modules, but also found that it is not enough just to have the technology, but also need to be promoted and adopted by all walks of life, such as portrait rights, usage rights, etc. It’s not just a matter of having good technology.
It’s quite impressive to see the achievements that can be reached when industries are interconnected. The special exhibition of “She and Hers” by Lanyang Museum x National Palace Museum, which is currently on display at the Lanyang Museum, is a practical example of integrating 5G application technology. It broke through the limitations of static display space, and allowing AI technology to integrate with culture, making culture more interesting if technology is applied. Joe shared that while the National Palace Museum provides many cultural artifacts related to women as a theme, LightMatrix Inc. applies AI technology to make the experience natural and direct, including holographic projection to interact with visitors, and looks forward to the opportunity to exhibit abroad in the future to promote culture in a different way.
From this perspective, in the area of culture and technology, Joe believes that good IPs should be promoted and applied flexibly for market acceptance: Creating business value is the key to long-term success. While technology is advancing at a rapid pace, culture and the arts need time for feelings to develop, and therefore there is a lot of room for communication between the two.
For venture capitals, Angie explains that investing requires imagination, and the business model needs to convince investors of its vision, envisaging the possibilities for growth. What can technology do to help “culture” by current IPs? How can traditional cultures be experienced? Can the scenarios help and last for a long time? That’s where the true value lies.
To stand on the shoulders of giants in the future, AI technology and implementation need to advance hand in hand
AI has changed the world’s previous “pre-recorded model” and replaced it with the instant effect of ‘real-time generation’. What is the future of AI and cultural creativity? Angie thinks that today’s AI makes trial and error extremely low-cost. Practical applications, such as Hollywood’s video production, no longer need to spend a lot of time in modification, which is definitely a plus for the whole industry. What technology companies are moving in this direction? Good tools are in constant demand, and as long as the demand of the early stage exists, the use of unique features and databases can be advantages.
Joe concluded by adding the point that the support of good business models is the core of the industry’s long-term development whether the support comes from angel investors or large investors. It may be human nature to “pursue the better”, but when it comes down to it, what are the needs of the average user? Is this what they want? AI is a great technology. While we keep pursuing the technology, is there a demand for commercial use? As one of the leaders in the industry, this is something Joe has been learning and asking himself. As AI creates a new era, technical talents need to see their blind spots: how to strike a balance between technology development and commercial value?
In this trend, Angie also mentioned that what Assured Asset Management can do is to look at what has already been proved wrong and see different opportunities. She also mentioned that in the area of culture and technology in Taiwan, the implementation of a project is popular, such as the collaboration between LightMatrix Inc. and National Palace Museum. However, from the perspective of Assured Asset Management, this is something that needs to be considered independently: Whether a project is profitable or not is not the same thing as whether a company can create a long-term business value model within it.
The incoming opportunities of Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries will create more possibilities as AI continues to develop at a rapid pace. Finding the hardcore needs, understanding our unique features, developing technology without forgetting to evaluate the commercial value of the long-term, and replicating the models may be the real way to stand firmly on the shoulders of giants in the AI trend.
