DLD AI Summit: Christian Teichmann About The “Huge Opportunity Of AI”

Christian, the first “DLD AI Summit” is almost over. What are your most important takeaways?

Christian Teichmann : At the DLD Circular yesterday and today at the DLD AI Summit, it became clear to everyone how significant the topic of AI is. Hermann Hauser said in his presentation that ultimately every company, regardless of industry and size, has to deal with the topic of AI and needs an AI strategy. That is the right way to look at it. AI is the third big wave after the internet and the cloud. Only the speed at which everything is developing now is much faster than it was then. ChatGPT has a billion users in less than a year. When you hear from different people here, all with a slightly different perspective, the significance really becomes clear. AI is a huge opportunity for all of us and that's the way to look at it.

BPI, the investment unit of Hubert Burda Media, invests worldwide in fast-growing companies in the media and digital technology sectors. Are you also focusing on AI at the moment?

Christian: No, not only. We are a classic financial investor, a venture capitalist. We rarely invest in companies in the very early stages, but typically get involved in the second or third round of financing. Our focus is on consumer tech and platform models, where AI is naturally a topic. However, we also have a whole range of fintech topics in our portfolio, both here in Europe and in Southeast Asia. What also drives us is the combination of the sustainability topic yesterday and the AI topic today. We are working a lot on technologies that help to reduce carbon emissions.

BPI: An early radar for the media group

Why is it so important for the media group Hubert Burda Media to have a strong and globally active investment unit?

Christian: As a financial investor, our mission is to contribute financial profit to the Group. We invest without any strategic interest, and many of the companies or topics in which we have invested are not directly related to the core business. However, with our unit, we are naturally an early radar for the company and we live by that. We have a very intensive exchange with all units at Burda. When we see topics that we believe are relevant for the company, we share them very early on. It was the same with AI, where we were certainly much earlier on the media side than others because we saw many topics early on the investment side.

Which companies that are now relying on AI are particularly exciting for you?

Christian: AI is a very broad field, so you have to look at the three different layers: The infrastructure layer, the foundation model layer and the application layer. The infrastructure layer is less relevant for us and is almost finished. These are the big players such as Amazon Web Services or Nvidia. The Foundation Model Layer is super relevant for us. This is not a “winner takes it all” market, as there are now almost 100 models worldwide - by far the most in the USA, a whole range in China and then there are a few in Europe. In the third layer - the application layer - general models are further developed for industries and niches. This is where fine-tuning takes place, for example for the travel industry, the financial sector, etc. For example, Adam Bittlingmayer from Modelfront was on my panel today, who is active in the super-top translation sector.

How do you identify promising business models?

Christian: For us as an investor in the application layer, it's important to find out: What is just a feature, and what is a business? That's not entirely trivial. Many things are an add-on to something that already exists. And then there are new things that really become businesses.

What disruptive effects do you see AI technologies having on the media industry?

Christian: I don't know if you should call it disruptive. Our CEO Martin Weiss said on stage today that the internet was also portrayed as a major threat, and Hubert Burda Media is now three times as big as it was back then. Many things will be different, but that doesn't necessarily mean that anything will disappear. I believe that we have to see this as a great opportunity.

Christian Teichmann on AI: “Most people underestimate the opportunities and speed”

Where do you already see AI technologies in use in the media industry?

Christian: In our own company, for example. We brought “Lisa kochen und backen - 99 Pasta Rezepte” to the kiosk. A magazine that was created entirely with AI, from the images to the text. In the end, the editors made sure that the recipes were actually real pasta recipes that met our expectations. We tried it out and it was very controversial, especially in the Bavarian press, which is fine. However, I can't quite understand the outcry. Since the introduction of the Internet, every newsroom has used Google. Internet search is data-rich. ChatGPT and other AI solutions are information-rich. This means that data and information are combined - and the output you get is much more descriptive. This means that the AI solution now simply writes a recipe. But people used to google recipes. This should be looked at very objectively and soberly. Of course this will bring about a change in the media industry, but we have to see it as an opportunity and not as a major threat.

What specific opportunities do you see?

Christian: For example, you can create lots of new media titles because it's naturally much faster. The crucial thing is what Martin Weiss also said: this now benefits traditional businesses. For example Burda, Lufthansa or BMW. They have an advantage because they enjoy the trust of the customer. A media company like Burda can now expand its entire media portfolio even more, based on the customer trust that we rightly have.

Do you see opportunities or risks that are currently underestimated or overestimated by media companies?

Christian: At the moment, people are focusing more on the risks. That's a mistake, because there are actually two things that are underestimated by the vast majority of people: The opportunities, but also the speed at which things will now change. The DLD AI Summit was another eye-opener for this.