Gen AI is real and ‘its magical’: SoundHound CEO

SoundHound AI (SOUN) recently purchased another AI-based company called Amelia which will allow it to enter new verticals. Questions around the AI trade have arisen as some investors grow skeptical as to if AI will truly have utility or if it’s just another buzzword.

SoundHound AI Co-Founder & CEO Keyvan Mohajer joins Asking For A Trend to break down why he feels AI is truly more than just hype.

Mohajer begins with his excitement for the space: “As someone who’s been in this field for over 20 years, I can tell you that, the technology of generative AI is real. It’s magical. And it’s going to change a lot of things.”

“The analogy is we had iOS and Android in the mobile era, and that you know, that was the hype for 1 or 2 years. And then for more than a decade, it was apps and apps and apps and companies building these amazing apps. Great businesses’ value creation on top of that infrastructure. And we predict the same is going to happen with AI. So there was infrastructure of AI, now it is going to be companies that are building experiences on top of it,” says Mohajer.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Asking for a Trend.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

As we move through this earnings season, you think about A I, I mean, certainly if you were to talk about one of the prime drivers of the, the broader market rally we saw in the first half this year.

KVO.

I mean, yes, it was the bet on the soft landing.

It was also just the A I craze this earnings season.

It feels like something did shift and investors suddenly just had more questions for more companies where if you were spending a lot on A I, that was OK, you know, suddenly investors want to know, ok, you’re spending and there’s testing and there’s experimenting but, you know, show me the usage, show me the monetization, show me the return.

Um I’m just curious about how you’ve been in this business for a long time.

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How do you sort of think about that dynamic?

We were you surprised by it.

Uh So first, as someone who’s been in this field for over 20 years, I can tell you that um uh the technology of JA I is real is magical and it’s gonna change a lot of things.

Um uh Now there was a lot of focus on investment in the infrastructure of the A I and foundation companies building foundation models.

Um And some people, there’s some chatter that maybe there’s some over investments in those, um uh which I don’t necessarily agree to disagree with it.

Uh But uh what we think is going to happen next is uh companies building businesses and user experiences on top of this technology.

Uh So the analogy is we had IOS and Android in the mobile era and that, you know, that was the high for one or two years.

And then for more than a decade, it was apps and apps and apps and companies building these amazing apps, great businesses value creation.

Um on top of that infrastructure and we predict that same is going to happen with A I.

So there was infrastructure of A I.

Now it’s going to be companies that are building experiences on top of it.

And Soundhound is a company that is building business at scale on top of these models and this amazing technology.

So we are in cars, we’ve improved, we have reinvented existing experiences in cars and in customer service and we’re building new ones.

I’m about, you know, people think they do think, you know, obviously voice assistant for cars, drive through and that drive through a quick service restaurants.

I’ve spoken to analysts before KVO.

They, they cover the company.

Um Some of them that that’s where they see a lot of runway for you all I’m curious about the trends themes you’re seeing there.

Yeah.

So there, there are things that we know will happen for sure.

So in, in, in the near future, not far future, uh when you go to a driver of a service restaurant, uh you will be dealing with an A I uh not, not the employee of the restaurant.

The employees right now are doing multitasking, they’re building, they’re creative food and they packaging it and they’re also taking the order and it’s not good for them.

It’s not good for the user experience.

And if you can automate that and we can do that really well with A I and we are in multiple brands and the feedback is amazingly positive.

Uh that’s going to happen.

And uh that’s a huge time.

Um And what’s even more special about sound hand is that once we power the drivers with our A I because we also power cars, we can actually take your order before you get to the driver because you can talk to when you talk to your car, you’re talking to our A I.

And if you discover those brands that the power, you can just talk to your car and order your food before you even get to the driver.