Stock tips with a beat: Samsung Securities’ AI K-pop group racks up views

Detailed summary

Stock brokerage Samsung Securities has found brand ambassadors who never skip rehearsal and are unlikely to make tabloid headlines: a four-member, ...

SEOUL, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Stock brokerage Samsung Securities has found brand ambassadors who never skip rehearsal and are unlikely to make tabloid headlines: a four-member, AI-generated K-pop girl group called LUMINA.

The band's debut music video, "Override", passed 3 million YouTube views about five weeks after release.

Finding presenters for its social media channels was hard, said Uhm Sewon, head of the brokerage's media strategy team. Staff experts were novices on camera, while celebrities were costly and might not suit the brand.

"We make about 1,500 pieces of content a year, and finding people to appear in them is really not easy," Uhm told Reuters.

Beyond human planning, Samsung Securities' team made the song, characters and video all with AI. Rapidly improving tools have made LUMINA's dance moves look far more natural, Uhm said.

To maintain investors' trust, Samsung Securities labels the characters as "fictional" in prominent block letters, and has finance-related content checked by in-house specialists in about three stages.

"We make clear that they are AI characters, and we produce content only from material that internal experts have verified for accuracy," Uhm said.

Comments below the music video range from "This song is addictive" and "Why is this so natural" to "This beats actual idol groups".

Uhm said it was difficult to quantify measurable returns for its securities business yet, because it was LUMINA's first music video. She said previous Samsung Securities content that combined customer events with YouTube videos attracted more visitors than standalone events, suggesting there would be a positive impact over the longer term.

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