Florida-based Infinite Reality, the metaverse startup that acquired music service Napster in March for $207 million, has rebranded itself as Napster Corp. and launched a division called Napster AI that plans to foster fan interactivity and virtual experiences through its AI products and services, starting with the beta release of Napster Spaces. The new division leverages agentic AI tech of a company called Touchcast that Infinite Reality acquired last month for $500 million. Its flagship product, Mentor, “is a complete AI learning and development department at a click of a button.” Built using OpenAI models and delivered on enterprise-grade Azure, Mentor was introduced in November at Microsoft Ignite.

The Mentor app “generates an infinite number of AI mentors that engage in face-to-face video conversations,” writes MediaPost, noting that “unlike traditional chatbots or static web experiences,” Mentors have multimodal capability “and can have an expertise in whatever topic is needed.”

The integration of Touchcast tech with Infinite Reality’s products and services will offer users “AI agents for a number of tasks that drive user engagement, customer support, and sales,” reports VentureBeat. Specific to Napster, “Touchcast tech will enable subscribers to easily generate immersive social listening spaces and leverage knowledgeable AI agents for music playlisting, community management, and music trivia, among other engaging features.”

“The AI characters interact like humans — part of the 27 patents the company holds related to AI and interactive video technology, including systems for coordinated presentations, video conferencing enhancements, and intelligent virtual assistant systems,” explains MediaPost, further speculating ways this approach could be used to transform advertising.

The first release — Napster Spaces, currently available in beta — “is a real-time generative web and agentic AI video chat service that empowers users to easily create web pages powered by embodied AI agents,” according to the press release.

“Napster Spaces scans your pages, products, and FAQs, then converts them into an immersive destination that channels a brand’s spirit,” notes the release. “Once a space is published, website visitors are greeted by a custom branded, multimodal, and multilingual AI agent who serves as a digital concierge, salesperson, or support guide — ready to hold natural, live video-based conversations.”

Infinite Reality purchased social media company Tsu in 2019 and renamed it Display, writes Forbes. The 2022 purchases of Thunder Studios and Infinite Metaverse led to a “shopping spree” that reeled in “nine more companies, each one boosting the firm’s valuation.”

“The company rebrand and launch of the Napster AI division come at a time when the agentic AI market is projected to skyrocket from $5.2 billion in 2024 to $196.6 billion by 2034,” according to the release.