Yonsei News

Rui, a Virtual Human who Mesmerized the World

There is a YouTube channel that has garnered more than two million views in a short period since its launch in October last year: "RuiCovery." Rui, the main character of this channel, is a 22-year-old female who sings and enjoys traveling. Rui's vlogs appear as lively records of the daily life of an ordinary college student, but Rui is not a real person. Rui is a "virtual human" created by deep learning technology that creates a new face using the facial data of seven real people and synthesizes it into a video. When Rui the Virtual Human was first unveiled to the world, it took the audience in awe. It mesmerized not only the YouTube audiences but also related industries and academia as Rui was too "real" to be a virtual character. At the forefront of creating this surprising twist was a Yonsei University alumnus, Oh Je-wook.

College Days Looking into "Me" and "My Life"

Metaverse, which refers to a three-dimensional virtual world that can replace reality, can be summarized as the following statement: "if the past twenty years were the era of the Internet, the upcoming twenty would be the era of the Metaverse." It is receiving much attention as a future platform. A virtual human, created by Oh Je-wook, is the closest realization of people's needs for "multi-persona," or "another myself," which is an important business content in the Metaverse world. Having extensive experience in various fields and launching businesses that utilize various content genres, he successfully introduced virtual humans that have received much attention from the world.

Oh has been interested in popular culture since his days at college. Instead of specifying a career path, he focused on discovering what he really wanted to do and in what field his heart laid.

"I was not very active in campus life. Instead, I thought deeply about life and tried fun things one by one. Until the first year of college, I aspired to become a celebrity. I used to make songs and write poems. I always enjoyed expressing myself and creating something. I passed the audition for becoming a singer at an agency and received an offer from a theater company. Then, as I became a sophomore student, I took the time to think more deeply about my life and to discover who I am."

As his interests in the world and contemplation of life continued, he decided to explore a new world, China, to find the answer to life. When he chose Chinese Language and Literature as his major, he was more curious about the world rather than about content such as literature and stories. However, he was able to develop his interest in China in earnest thanks to the encouragement of Professor Jin Chunji of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature.

"Unlike my friends who were fluent in Chinese from studying at foreign language high schools, I had to learn Chinese from the very beginning. Professor Jin never stopped encouraging me and praising my efforts. Thanks to her constant encouragement, I started to get interested in China and dared to fly to China. I believe I was able to improve my language skills and expanded my perspective on the world by spending a year in China. This experience served as the foundation for me to participate in and pursue projects related to China after graduation."

Learning the Basics as a Businessman

Although he founded D.O.B Studio last year and is working as a startup developing virtual humans now, his first career began at a large corporation. In his early career, he thoroughly focused on carving management knowledge and business capabilities. After graduation, he joined LG International, where he was tasked with business planning and analysis in various teams ranging from new business TFT to a management analysis team. Though he had little knowledge of business management, he was charged with most key management tasks. Thus, his early days at the corporation were more challenging than anyone else. However, with continuous efforts and accumulated knowledge from learning from excellent seniors, he became proficient in reviewing business feasibility for new business developments and creating business risk data and analysis, which serve as judgment tools for business management. The division that he oversaw at the business analysis team was even able to reach a high record in sales. Above all, he was able to grow his insight into the business. His salary also rose steeply. However, at one point, he was overwhelmed with frustration.

"Since I have a lot of traits as an artist or an entertainer, I was dissatisfied with having no room to make changes due to the tight rules of a large corporation. I decided to quit. Perhaps that was when I became vaguely aware of my ability as a businessman to create and pioneer new businesses. After leaving the company, I joined a company called Golfzon, which runs a screen golf business, and worked to establish a new business model in the Chinese market. To understand the local market, I was responsible for researching the local market, establishing a cooperative model and profit structure, then launching a Chinese corporation. The results were not good, but I learned extensively about overseas business. It was a valuable time."

Entering the Heyday by Serving as a Bridge of Hallyu

As he took the responsibility of expanding Golfzon's business into the Taiwanese market, he became convinced, over time, of his aptitude as a businessman. He was more confident as he always looked into himself and found his direction since college.

"I highly enjoy creating something new and original. I also found myself enjoying being the lead. I contemplated what field I could participate in with excitement, and I wanted to enter a content-related industry. After quitting Golfzon, I received a job offer related to launching new Hallyu (Korean Wave) projects from SBS Contents Hub, which operates global distribution of broadcasting content and sales of copyrights. It was my first time in the content field, but I was very excited."

As Oh started working on developing new businesses, he was able to acquire much know-how on content businesses, including sales of copyrights. With the great success of creating the Chinese version of Running Man, he was in charge of contract consultations and protocol related to the Running Man project. So he was naturally able to build key connections in the Chinese media and content industry. He then participated in the remake of the Chinese version of Finding Laugh People as a PM and the reality observation program Jjak. Thus, he accumulated much experience from going to and out of Chinese production sites. Despite the many hardships, such experience led to connections with the Chinese broadcasting officials and outsourced producers, encouraging him to start his own business.

"The Chinese officials I met at the scene gave me a lot of confidence and trust. In particular, executive members from not only the Running Man project, which was a big hit in China but also from Jjak, recommended me to start a startup. They said that I am "not only respect the Chinese but also capable of finding and mediating a win-win structure for both sides." Finally, after leaving the company in 2015, I established my first company, T-Ground. Looking back on myself, I decided that starting a business best matches my DNA."

As soon as the T-Ground was launched, Oh met his heyday due to multiple offers and various calls. He made headlines in the Chinese media as a lead producer at the center of Hallyu content. Not only did he remake entertainment programs in China, but he also served as a bridge between Chinese and the Korean contents markets as a copyright-related professional broker in more expansive content areas such as animation and webtoons. However, all of his businesses met a sudden halt due to restrictions on Korean culture imposed by the THAAD situation. After closing his company, Oh endured the meantime by lecturing on broadcast channel analysis at Dong Seoul University and working for an American OTT company.

Stepping on an Adventure for Virtual Human Market

Oh's aspirations as a content entrepreneur never ceased. An investor introduced a developer who wanted to do business related to artificial intelligence technology. After doing market research, he discovered that it was a virtual human technology that had not been on the global market yet. The more he imagined, the more interesting the idea appeared. After pondering upon it for more than a month, he reached a conclusion that there is much potential if the idea gets developed further. That's how he founded D.O.B Studio last year and created "Rui," the Virtual Human.

"We are the first business in the world to make profits by creating virtual humans with virtual faces and producing related contents. Various experiences in the content field and writing a thesis on the profit model of a one-person YouTube channel while doing the Hallyu MBA course at Catholic University of Korea helped me greatly. My business matches my thesis."

Rui was first introduced as a reference concept, but thanks to much enthusiasm from the audience, inquiries about business partnerships, collaborations, model casting, and content events are continuing.

"I have been so busy these days. Rui is currently introducing domestic tourist attractions as a digital honorary ambassador for the Korea Tourism Organization and is also filming a promotion video as a model for a furniture company. We also signed a joint business contract with an online Korean language education company and are working on producing educational content."

(Source: Rui the Virtual Human, by D.O.B Studio) 

For the driving force behind such a huge success, Oh Je-wook cites not only the technical perfection but also the transition to the Metaverse era and the prolonged stay at home due to the pandemic situation. As people adjust to non-face-to-face life, there is a widespread perception that switching to non-face-to-face does not result in problems.

On the other hand, there is a mixed reaction to Rui the Virtual Human. Oh is well aware of various concerns. Although it is a fantastic technology, it can intensify lookism or be abused for crimes, including fraud, if released as a B2C service. However, it is said that the perception of virtual human technology can change depending on the angle of view. In the field of special effects, virtual human technology can reduce production costs to less than 10% of today. Entertainment companies can reduce the risk that significant investments in raising a celebrity could increase smoke due to their moral hazard. The process to prevent the exploitation of virtual humans for crimes is currently on the way through technological advancement. Therefore, Oh Je-wook is not working on the B2C project yet.

A beautiful face and a desire to be a better person to others are universal around the world. Moreover, in the era of the Metaverse, where synthesis between reality and the virtual world is commonplace, implementing a multi-persona that shows various aspects of oneself will naturally lead.

"The insights I gained over the years of planning and pushing for new businesses are simple. Business is to fill the demand of or heal painful spots. Virtual human business can satisfy both aspects. Our competitors are not other virtual humans but plastic surgery, Photoshop, or photo cameras that can improve the appearance. Also, the experience of changing one's face can meet the needs of "fun," just like changing characters in a game. The desire to communicate through my alter ego, like a real face that people can't tell apart, will be more widespread on social media. So realizing the face sale business in the B2C field is the ultimate goal of D.O.B Studio."

Sharing Career Experiences and Insights

Capabilities and insights that Oh Je-wook gained from developing and planning new businesses as an entrepreneur, know-how on content experiences, and passion for learning to grow his capabilities in the relevant fields all resulted in an insight that enabled him to enter the digital human business faster than anyone else. Oh emphasized, "I was lucky to meet good relationships and the perfect time." Thus, he is supportive of sharing his insights with others. He is willing to participate in various guest lectures and plans to share his career experiences.

"In fact, I have been planning a virtual human version of myself since last year, and I have already made a face. It has been on hold as I was preoccupied with the Rui business lately, but I have set my character as a "chatterbox." My job experiences are unique, so I want to share my story through that character. Looking back, I believe the hard times I experienced can be encouraging for young people."

Oh will give a special lecture at Yonsei University on June 23. The theme is "Digital Human – In the Age of Metaverse and Virtual Human, Discussing the Multi-Personal Strategy for Human Social Influencers." He will share experiences and insights with Yonseians who aspire to work in relevant fields through the special lecture. In addition, he advises Yonseians that if they seek the future, they will find it.

"Although it is not clear how long it will take to find what they are looking for, I hope that the youth continuously seeks for their interests. I always tried to understand my traits and tendencies. After leaving my first job, the first book I read was Finding a Job that Suits Me as I sought so earnestly to understand myself and discover my weapon. As I could see my strength, I was able to enter the market and grab opportunities. I hope that you do not give up either."

A virtual human, created by alumnus Oh Je-wook, is a fictional myself; yet to make such accomplishments, he strived to discover himself. Perhaps creating a virtual myself is not creating a completely different myself, but rather it is in the process of completing who I am.