Napster is trying to stage a comeback — and it’s betting on AI video.
The OG music-sharing platform got a new lease on life earlier this year in a $207 million sale to Infinite Reality, a 3D tech company. Its comeback plan centers on a host of AI assistants and a device for video chatting with them.
Napster described the hardware, which Business Insider got a peek at in a virtual demo last week, as a “3D holographic” device that can clip to a monitor. The $199 device allows users to video chat with AI agents or digital twins on a separate screen, like they would on FaceTime or Zoom.
It connects with the Napster Companion app to access a range of “AI experts” for a subscription fee of up to $219 annually. It offers a customizable crew of AI career coaches, wellness gurus, and more, with a chief of staff leading the way.
When paired with the device, you could see your AI assistant, and it could view your environment for help with something like figuring out what to wear. Users can also share their screen.
Napster said you can create a 3D digital AI twin in the Companion app that can communicate with users of the app and answer questions like you would.
“Think of it like voicemail on steroids,” Napster CTO Edo Segal said during the demo.
Segal said his digital twin meets with his engineering team each week. The engineers share what they’re working on and any issues they’re having, which is summarized for Segal in an email.
“My digital twin is spending a meeting every week with my entire team of 120 engineers, where they’re talking to my digital twin,” he said. “It’s been an incredible experience for me.”
Napster View’s design was inspired by the Mac computers it was made to pair with, Segal said. The Companion app will only be available on macOS at launch.
“If you add this to your Mac device, your Mac becomes the most amazing AI powerhouse in the world,” Segal said.
Napster isn’t the only company bringing AI to more devices.
Apple is trying to improve its AI, Apple Intelligence, and incorporate it into more of its hardware. OpenAI has partnered with Apple’s former design chief, Jony Ive, on a mysterious AI device that’s yet to be revealed. And Meta is working to infuse more AI into its smart glasses.
When Infinite Reality bought Napster — shocking many millennials who didn’t know the music streamer still existed after its original platform was shut down in 2001 — it wrote that it wanted to use the brand to “create branded 3D virtual spaces where fans can enjoy virtual concerts.”
Monday’s product reveal suggests Napster’s ambitions are much bigger than that.
Napster may have started life as a music-sharing platform, but breaking into the AI arms race could be a rebirth.
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