Could the next big Kpop group be a virtual Kpop Girl Group called ETERN!TY? ETERN!TY is an 11-member Kpop girl group comprised of virtual avatars created using AI technology. These 11 members have been developed by the AI startup Pulse9 and they first made their debut in early 2021. This was perfect timing as many Kpop groups were not able to perform offline due to COVID. Moreover, it paved the way for the idea of virtual avatars being used for not only making AI celebrities but also influencers. ETERN!TY is the first official all virtual Kpop group and they have been getting a lot of attention online.
One of the members named DAIN released its first digital single album called No Filter which got over 2.2 million views to date on YouTube. You can watch the YouTube video below.
How was ETERN!TY created?
Pulse9 used Deep Real AI technology which is very similar to Deep Fake technology to create these AI Kpop Idols. The company’s goal is to create the most realistic AI celebrities in order to lease their IP. Moreover, these IPs can be used by brands all around the world as virtual brand ambassadors.
The 11 members of ETERN!TY was created through the AI Simkyung Challenge 101 which was an online competition. Therefore, fans got the opportunity to vote for their favorite potential member. In total there were 101 virtual characters for fans to choose from. At the end of the competition, 11 were selected. Furthermore, in order to create all 101 potential members, Pulse9 used data collected from 20 years of Kpop singers. The data was based on 4 factors: Sexiness, cuteness, innocence, and intelligence. Therefore, each of the members has a different appearance and personality.
You can check out some of the 11 members below.
DAIN JUNG
SEOA RYU
SOOJIN PYO
YEORUM CHAE
HYEJIN KIM
SARANG OH
MINJI HA
Other members include CHOONG HAM, YEJIN LEE, JAEIN KWAK, and WOO JI. You can get full details of ETERN!TY through their official website here.
Not the first Virtual Kpop Avatars
ETERN!TY is not the first Kpop group to use virtual avatars. SM Entertainment launched Aespa in 2020. Aespa is a Kpop girl group made up of four real members who each have their own virtual avatars that act as additional members. Think of them as avatars of each of the real members. This is different than ETERN!TY which has zero real members. Therefore, ETERN!TY is the first Kpop group to go fully virtual and can be called the first Kpop AI virtual group.
The Future of Virtual Kpop Groups
Using AI Kpop members has the potential to save Kpop Entertainment companies a lot of money. It costs a lot of money for Kpop entertainment companies to train and market Kpop groups. Moreover, now with the help of AI technology, Kpop entertainment companies can save millions of dollars by creating AI virtual Kpop Idols that can work 24/7 and will never leave the company. In addition, as technology allows for even more realistic-looking AI Kpop stars, there will be fewer and fewer human Kpop idols.
The biggest question is whether Kpop fans will embrace this new technology and embrace virtual Kpop groups overall. If they do, there really is no need to invest in real-life Kpop talents as virtual talents will again never age, do anything, and work non-stop without complaint. What more could Kpop entertainment companies ask for?
