Lee Soo-man, the former chief producer of SM Entertainment in South Korea, has invested 10 billion won in Mindlogic, a Korean AI startup. Mindlogic specializes in developing ‘persona’ chatbots that embody distinct personalities and knowledge, aiming to broaden its services to include celebrity persona chatbots.
According to industry insiders on Mar. 25, Mindlogic secured $7.4 million (10 billion won) in a Series B funding round earlier this year, with Lee being one of the contributors. The total investment received by Mindlogic has reached $11.2 million (15 billion won), with prior rounds of funding attracting contributions from DSC Investment, Strong Ventures, Tekton Ventures, and Partech Partners.
Founded in 2019 by Kim Yong-woo and Kim Jin-wook, who both previously worked at McKinsey & Company and now serve as Co-CEO, Mindlogic’s primary focus is the Mindlogic Persona Chatbot. This service, introduced last year, creates a ‘persona’ by imbuing AI with the personality and knowledge of specific individuals, enabling it to engage in meaningful conversations with users.
A distinctive feature of the Mindlogic Persona Chatbot is its advanced long-term memory capability. Utilizing a technology known as Persona Engram, the chatbot retains a record of all previous interactions with users. This memory aids the chatbot in deducing the user’s mood and behavior, fostering more personal and engaging dialogues. In contrast, competing services typically limit conversation data to around 100,000 characters.
To safeguard users’ privacy and intellectual property (IP), Mindlogic has integrated IP protection technology into its chatbots. This ensures that personal information or IP revealed during conversations is filtered out and stored separately, preventing its use in training the AI.
Moreover, the chatbots are equipped with technology designed to curb hallucinations, thereby reducing the chances of the AI presenting incorrect or misleading information as factual. This minimizes the risk of false or unethical statements. The Mindlogic Persona Chatbot also supports voice interactions.
Lee’s decision to invest in Mindlogic was reportedly influenced by the persona chatbot’s business applications and the company’s technology. Looking ahead, Mindlogic is exploring extending its persona chatbot services to cater to celebrity fandoms, such as K-pop idols, by teaching the AI about celebrities, including their personal traits and speech patterns, enabling personalized one-on-one interactions with fans.
