In addition to conducting research on basic technologies, Tencent has stated that it will promote artificial intelligence in various application scenarios through business drivers.

Combined with Tencent's main business, it is not difficult to guess that the company will develop its efforts in the four major application directions of games, social networking, content and platform tools in the future.

Especially in the social field, Zuckerberg said last year that he would launch a VR version of Facebook and demonstrated the virtual character tool Oculus Avatars; in July this year, Facebook said that Facebook AR Studio would cooperate with Meitu to provide it with three AR camera special effects. Now, Tencent has to take action.

On the evening of July 18, artificial intelligence startup ObEN announced that it had received a strategic investment of US$5 million. This round of financing was led by Tencent, with participation from CMC Chairman Li Ruigang and Feng Shang Capital. According to data from the investment and financing information platform crunchbase, ObEN has completed four rounds of financing, with a total amount of US$13.7 million. Previous investors also include S Rushan Capital, SoftBank Korea Venture Capital, and HTC VIVE X.

According to public information, ObEN was founded in 2014. It can create users' artificial intelligence virtual images by building personalized virtual voices, images and personalities, and help users store, manage and operate their virtual images in the emerging digital world. In other words, ObEN can use artificial intelligence tools to create virtual images based on users' photos and voices, allowing users to have different AR and VR social experiences.

In the past, ObEN mainly helped gamers create avatars, but now the company has shifted its focus to helping celebrities create avatars. Through this virtual image, celebrities can interact with fans in real time. One day in the future, perhaps fans will be able to seek advice from celebrities and receive corresponding feedback. In addition, this avatar not only looks very similar to the celebrity, but also talks in the same way. Overall, such an avatar is better than a chatbot.

According to reports, ObEN has also integrated voice, computational vision and natural language processing technologies for the first time, and developed the virtual voice, three-dimensional image and personalized technology required for full-stack virtual stars. Now ObEN is building a new business platform. Here, celebrities and fans can interact directly through personalized artificial intelligence on mobile terminals, augmented reality, virtual reality, smart devices, the Internet of Things and other platforms. ObEN's personalized AI products are expected to be released later this year.

The latest round of financing will be used to accelerate ObEN’s product development and help promote the widespread application of its celebrity artificial intelligence copyright platform to various digital platforms. Regarding this cooperation, Yao Leiwen, executive director of Tencent Investment, said that ObEN will bring new entertainment methods and content driven by celebrity artificial intelligence.

Earlier, ObEN had stated that it would be an “artificial intelligence social platform for everyone.” In this regard, the company has made many layouts.

At the HTC Vive Ecosystem Conference in March this year, ObEN announced that it would cooperate with HTC Vive to develop a WeChat applet that allows users to play VR games and sing VR songs together. In this program, VR users can send invitations to friends; the friends who receive the invitation can upload selfies and audios, and finally use the built image to walk on the beach or visit attractions with the inviter.

At the end of April, ObEN launched a WeChat chat service short film integrated with VR social experience. Of course, users need to wear an HTC Vive headset. In the short video, users need to take a selfie first, upload it to WeChat to create a virtual image, and then bring HTC Vive to receive messages from WeChat friends and reply directly with voice. In the future, WeChat with VR and AR functions may be able to harvest a large number of Asian users.

At the end of June, ObEN announced the establishment of a joint venture company, AI Stars, with South Korea's SM Entertainment. It is reported that ObEN will use artificial intelligence technology to create AI avatars for well-known artists under SM Entertainment, and Magic Star Co., Ltd. is the agency that manages these "AI stars".

This time Tencent leads the investment in ObEN to further promote the artificial intelligence of the company's social business. Nowadays, major companies are not only busy setting up artificial intelligence laboratories, but also companies like Facebook have established a more specific Facebook AR laboratory. In addition, it is said that Apple will launch the ARKit platform soon. In the future, will Tencent set up a separate AR laboratory to further develop its social AI business?