New Astro series launches with a cool AI initiative

Project; Exit is a new Astro series that embraces the difficult topic of mental health. Parallel to the theme of the Astro Originals series, an AI-powered initiative was concurrently launched to empower and provide support for those in need via positive social media engagement.

The power of generative AI was leveraged to create a way for Project; Exit stars Mierul Aiman and Shasha Abedul to give moral support to those in need directly on social media.

The initiative is a collaboration between Astro and advertising agency Talon Creative. Talon’s Managing Director Gavin Teoh says they saw an opportunity to go just beyond telling stories. This is further reinforced by Astro’s Tai Kim Leong:

“We believe that content can go beyond the screen and it can have an uplifting effect on people’s lives. By leveraging the crossroads of content, celebrity and technology, we hope to inspire young audiences and support the community at large.”

– Tai Kam Leong, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Astro.

Proprietary AI technology was trained using the cast members’ voice recordings and footage. This way, the AI is able to generate custom responses that mimic their style and tone. Meanwhile, a social listening system identified social media posts expressing sadness, frustration, and anxiety.

The result was the generation of up to 50 personalized responses to these posts per day. These messages provide support, encouragement, and allowing users to see that they were not alone.

The initiative attracted praise from netizens as the characters of Hadi (Meirul Aiman) and Jannah (Shasha Abedul) doled out words of encouragement. Influencers were also seen interacting with the A.I.,
reacting in surprise that A.I. could be leveraged for the good of mental health awareness.
All of this resulted in an outpouring of netizens speaking about their battles and the battles of
those close to them.

Check out the #ProjectExit hashtag to see how this inspiring journey unfolds.