George Wong, country manager of Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia at The Sandbox, recently started a lively conversation on Linkedin after criticising the overall content at recent blockchain conferences in the region. Not pointing to any particular event, he said, “Blockchain conferences used to be about innovation or best practices, which excited attendees and enabled them and/or their organisations or projects to grow in the industry. Organisers need to curate better and be more involved in the topics presented and not just do panels or topics just for the sake of it.”

I agree with him. As both an event organiser and a reporter of web3 events, the proliferation of blockchain conferences has left the ecosystem spoilt for choice, yet also seeking out high quality content that is intellectually and strategically challenging, as well as actionable. With the rapid adoption of generative AI, those in the web3 community are particularly keen to glean the latest ways that generative AI is converging with blockchain technology. 

With this week’s release of GPT4o (omni), the latest upgrade from OpenAI, it is clear that we are reaching an inflection point. AI, once considered a future technology, is now a now technology. AI is programmed for efficiency where blockchain is programmed to secure data, ensure privacy and safety. The convergence of these technologies is inevitable. 

Going forward, conference organisers will find it very challenging to present content in silos. A case in point is Singapore Fintech Festival, which over the past few years has morphed into a blockchain for finance festival. I imagine the 2024 edition will include several robust discussions around best practices in integrating AI technologies into governmental and institutional workflows, managing ethical concerns and forming regulation around misuse. 

One conference organiser that has always viewed these intersections with great clarity is Jasper Donat, co-founder and CEO of Branded.

Over the past 23 years, Donat, based in Singapore, has built a highly successful digital media company that curates events in media and entertainment. Branded’s All That Matters conference covers music, digital, sports, gaming and marketing matters. In 2022, the company introduced web3 as a stream, and at last week’s Creator Week Festival, AI was added to the family. The next edition of All That Matters will take place in September in Singapore. 

Donat explained to me that,  “AI absolutely matters and is front and centre for the creative industries as we’re still learning about the opportunities and challenges it presents. Having AI sit as a vertical alongside our sport, gaming, music, web3 tracks is crucial, but will also be a horizontal conversation across all the tracks too.”

AI is going to make unicorns out of solopreneurs

The Creator Week conference was aimed at those who create, upload and monetize their short or long form content across platforms like YouTube, Tik Tok and Instagram. The creator economy is currently worth around $250 billion and is expected to hit $500 billion by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs. 

Generative AI was the elixir that fueled the NFT hype of 2021. Some may argue the elixir was greed, but it is undeniable that generative AI, firstly for the creation of images, then music, animations and avatars has led to an explosion of creativity since that has helped creators to monetize, build communities and become financially sustainable brands. 

The most successful creators are able to amass hundreds of millions of fans with revenues to match. A hot topic was the recent announcement by the world’s biggest YouTuber, Mr. Beast, of his split from his longtime management company, Night Media, to build his own team. Mr. Beast’s estimated annual revenue is $700 million.

Several musicians and brand influencers took to the stage, where the overarching sentiment was that Generative AI tools are enabling them to enhance their creativity, speed up production times, lower costs and streamline their personal brands more efficiently as solopreneurs. 

Kevin Chan, chief partner officer of Microsoft Singapore, shared that OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman has a WhatsApp group with other Silicon Valley CEOs in which he is running a betting pool on when the first company run by a solopreneur will reach billion-dollar revenue.This is based on OpenAI’s thesis that AI agents will soon become viable members of staff, fulfilling all the tasks required for a billion-dollar business. 

What is an AI agent? Well, it is every sci-fi movie you have seen. An AI agent is not a person, but a piece of software that is trained to run single or multiple tasks autonomously. These tools are already available and are becoming more sophisticated by the week. GPT4o sounds and interacts like a real person, as seen in the video below.

Letting creators lead, sharing in the spoils 

Several large companies took to the stage to explain how they collaborate with creators. The conversation focused on both long-term brand building and short-term sales effects, with a goal of creating unique experiences that resonate with audiences. 

Mike McCabe is managing director of gaming giant Epic Games, the maker of 3-D game building tool Unreal Engine and Fortnite, which is still one of the world’s biggest online games. He explained that the company has embraced collaboration and democratisation, opening up access to several tools that will help creators build their own games within the Epic Games ecosystem. The company committed 40 percent of net revenue in its first year, equaling $320million, that it distributed to its creators.

“We want to really work with the creator economy and all of the creators, whether they be developers or whether they be camera-facing personality creators,” McCabe said. “The idea is that we can build the ecosystem bigger together.”

Similarly, Mastercard has been utilizing creators to produce content on a range of lifestyle experiences under their iconic “priceless” brand. MasterCard supports creators through their Artist Accelerator and Gamer Academy, offering access, education, and autonomy. Kaveri Kullar, senior vice president marketing & sponsorships of Mastercard Asia Pacific explained that the Artist Accelerator offers important support, “because we know that the digital world and particularly web3 can sometimes be difficult to navigate. So we can offer them access and education. We also help them build communities, how to mint an NFT and how to get traction with an NFT. “

It’s a Girl Thing

The Festival wrapped up with a day conference and night musical performances by female artists from across the region. The event served as a way to inspire the largely female audience of all ages to create authentic content and build communities. Inch Chua, a Singaporean multi-disciplinary artist and entrepreneur and established indie singer-songwriter, has produced theatrical experiences that blend sound and technology. Chua released her first music NFT in January on sound.xyz. She encouraged content creators in the audience to be fearless and embrace their creative calling. 

I met one young lady at the conference, Churen Li, a Singaproean classical pianist with a large fan base. She has already launched five music NFTs of her original piano compositions. 

“As a classical musician who usually plays music of other composers, NFTs represent a radically different paradigm of my own music,” she said. Li’s next project is producing a piano recital that blends augmented reality throughout the performance. 

Kevin Chan of Microsoft summed up the effect of experimenting with all these tools we now have at our fingertips, “Magic truly happens in all sizes, whether you're a small business, or you're a creator, or you're a big enterprise, or you're a government agency or anyone out there, magic can really happen.” 

lead image: Rich Robinson, entrepreneur-in-residence at Animoca Brands interviewing Mike McCabe, managing director of Epic Games.