The growth of TikTok has made giants improve. Staying competitive in the market, Google bought Alter with the aim of opening up competition to the Chinese social network. The company in question is a startup that develops avatars based on Artificial Intelligence (IA).
Its technology makes it possible to integrate both with games and the metaverse. Like this, Everything indicates that Google will use the solutions from its newest acquisition to increase its competitiveness with TikTok, media focused on short videos.
It is not yet generally known how the startup will contribute to Google projects. But, the trend is for the new feature to be directed to YouTube Shorts, Google's take on short-form videos.
This space on the channel has been a success since last year, reaching 1,5 billion active users per month. Now, with the purchase of Alter, shorts may have exclusive versions, further increasing its reach among internet users.
TikTok becomes a search tool
It seems, the massive adoption of the Chinese social network would be causing Google to lose space in its main function: searching on the internet. TikTok users changed their behavior, today using the network itself to carry out specific searches such as restaurants and products.
This change happened organically, counting on the ease of the public locating information and places without having to leave the application. One of the main aggravating factors for this adoption would be linked especially to influencers active on TikTok.
Artificial Intelligence at Google
Despite the advantages Alter, Google has already been investing heavily in AI in recent years. The search company places this type of technology at the center of its product sets and functionalities. Like this, AI can be seen in language learning models and image generators.
Estimated at approximately US$ 100 million, the deal between Google and Alter was closed two months ago. Although, The negotiations were carried out confidentially and, only in the last week, Google confirmed the purchase. Nonetheless, details of financial terms were not provided.
Featured change
Google's new acquisition began to be highlighted by Alter employees themselves. The startup's co-founder and chief operating officer, Jonathan Slimak, recently made changes to your LinkedIn account.
The modification confirms that Slimak has edited a new position on his profile: “Build avatars not Google”. Alter is based in the United States and the Czech Republic and began as a plug – and – play avatar platform for social networks and games.
Last year, the startup had different investments from brands such as Play Venture and Rose Venture. Twitter alone has already invested around US$ 3 million in the company.
