AI and art magic: Learn how Hike is innovating at the intersection of AI and art at their exclusive AI First event in Bengaluru

Hike, India’s AI-led unicorn is working at the intersection of AI and art to innovate and build magical experiences for the Indian market. With AI, Hike believes technology can finally begin to wrap itself around people, and together with art, bring a bit of romantic value into these incredibly personalised experiences.

Introducing HikeMoji

Using advancements in the field of AI together with a unique art style, Hike recently launched HikeMoji, the first and only made-in-India hyperlocal avatar. Hike believes in the online world one can go beyond the constraints of the offline world, hence one of its principles with HikeMoji is that it’s 60 percent of what a user is and 40 percent of what they would love to be.

The role of AI in HikeMoji

AI plays a key role in bringing HikeMoji to life, using advanced Computer Vision and deep neural networks.

• Creating the HikeMoji: HikeMoji is created using advanced Computer Vision and deep neural networks. Hikers can take a selfie and this enables the platform to search around 100 trillion combinations of facial shapes and colour features to create a HikeMoji and HikeMoji Stickers reflecting the user’s looks within a few seconds

• Discovery of HikeMoji Stickers: With hundreds of HikeMoji Stickers of themselves to choose from, ML and NLP play a key role in enabling easy discovery and providing apt sticker recommendations for each user across a total of nine languages

“Behind the scenes, all of this comes to life through Machine Learning. It’s at the intersection of both art and ML that we’re able to bring such novel and unique experiences to life. While we launched the first version recently, we are quite excited to build upon this foundation,” says Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder and CEO, Hike.

The role of art in HikeMoji

Hike is also one of the only tech companies that also has a huge focus on art which enables it to create an incredible hyperlocal experience. With HikeMoji Stickers, hikers can supercharge expression beyond the keyboard. With over 1,000 hairstyles, facial features, bindis, local clothing, nose pins and more to choose from, users can make their HikeMoji truly their own. To start with, users get over 100 exclusive HikeMoji Stickers of themselves in any of the seven regional languages available, in addition to English and Hindi.

Talking about how the artwork was key to making it work, Kavin adds, “People need to feel that this is them, so we’ve ensured that the HikeMojis feel relatable but they’re also aspirational. There’s a local flavour to the avatar and all the 1000+ customisations that come with it. Users also get over 100 exclusive HikeMoji stickers that only they can use to start with.”

HikeMoji uses hyperlocal elements to reflect a relatable ethnic identity to the emojis. What’s unique to Hike is that the artwork across has an essential Indian feel. From colours, design schemes and personalised nuances, it all comes to life with hand-drawn elements to maintain high quality.

Leading with research and innovation

As India’s AI-led unicorn startup, Hike takes its growth and innovation pretty seriously. The company is one of the top three patent filers in the field of IT, with 66 patents filed in the year 2017-2018. Hike has also launched the Hike Patent Program, which not only incentivises Hike employees with rewards and grants but also lends legal and market guidance to prospective patent filers. The company is also offering rewards and grants ranging up to ₹60,000 per inventor, depending on the impact of the idea. The company has also presented papers in IJCAI, ECIR and has represented in global platforms including Tensor Flow and the World AI Show.

AI First: Innovating at the intersection of Art and AI

Excited to find out more? Well, now you can! Hike is bringing its exclusive event, AI First: Innovating at the intersection of Art and AI to Bengaluru. This is where attendees can get a ringside view of its innovation story and strategy,

The event will focus on the areas they have worked on so far, and the road ahead. You will hear from Kavin Bharti Mittal (Founder and CEO, Hike), Dr. Ankur Narang (VP of AI and Data Technologies), and Anshuman Misra (VP of Operations), on all things AI and Art. It will be hosted on November 30, 2019 at the Ritz Carlton Bengaluru.

Entry to the event is by invite only and is non-transferrable, think you should be on the list? Register below and get a chance to score an invite and be part of this exclusive event.

Register for an invite here.