AI in Gaming Investment Seminar

The AI in Gaming Investment Seminar in Bangkok on 25 November showcased an afternoon of presentations and discussions around investment in and adoption of AI and frontier technologies. 

Presentations highlighted both the immense potential for growth and the regulatory, ethical, and operational challenges that come with integrating artificial intelligence. The Dual Imperative: Profit and Player Protection

A core theme revolved around the challenge of maximising profit while maintaining player safety, an idea presented as “The Double-Edged AI Sword”.

Conclusions drawn were that it is possible for operators to optimise for both maximum profit and maximum player safety at the same time by leveraging AI. However, building dual-objective AI models is challenging due to the need for niche, expensive talent (Data Scientists, AI Ethicists). The common issue of data silos, where “Engagement” data lives with Marketing and “Risk” data with Compliance, is also a challenge.

Moreover, operators who implemented proactive AI-driven Responsible Gaming (RG) measures reported a 20% decrease in player churn and a 17% increase in player Lifetime Value (LTV).

AI and Business Intelligence: Transforming Operations

The integration of AI with Business Intelligence (BI) was presented as a solution for transforming the iGaming landscape by moving beyond dashboards to real-time insights.

Operators face issues such as a lack of real-time intelligence, mis-targeted segments, too many dashboards causing delayed decisions, margin leakages, and teams operating in silos.

AI acts as “The Predictor” (what will happen next), while BI acts as “The Explainer” (why it’s happening).

AI & BI are leveraged for:

• Revenue & Cost: Predictive Smart Bonus ROI and Early Margin Leakage Detection.
• Retention: Customer Value & LTV, and Churn Intelligence for identifying at-risk players earlier.
• Product: Games & Optimisation, and Content Performance forecasting.
• Risk: Real-Time Exposure & Risk Management.

The Future of Decision Intelligence includes an Intelligence Layer for a single real-time truth, automated workflows, instant real-time alerts, and reduced operational leakage.

Next-Gen AI for Market and Competitive Intelligence

Advanced AI is being used to provide comprehensive, real-time market insights that transform competitive analysis, creating a more transparent, efficient, and responsible gaming ecosystem.

Blask presented AI-Powered Discovery: An advanced AI system that autonomously discovers and analyses 17,280 new gaming websites daily, providing instant insights on new competitors and market shifts.

Key Analytical Metrics include the ability to provide an hourly interest indicator of market demand by country or brand, which historically shows a strong correlation with actual market size. 

Also, the Acquisition Power Score (APS): An AI model that estimates a brand’s sustained capacity to acquire new users, and the Game Rank (GVR) which tracks the average lobby position of a game to show its visibility, promotions, and priority shifts by country, operator, and provider.

The Evolving Regulatory Landscape

Regulatory bodies are racing to keep up with the pace of AI development, with a focus on legislative considerations for equity and sustainability.

Thailand’s Draft AI Law emphasises Human Accountability, in that Humans remain legally responsible for AI actions, as AI is treated as a tool, not a legal entity.

It also grants individuals the right to be informed, receive explanations, and contest decisions.

Current Thai laws address AI implications through Tort Law (liability for harm), the PDPA (player data), and Copyright Law (ownership of original game content and AI-generated works).

Legal risks include lawsuits over training models on copyrighted art and the unauthorised use of voices via AI Voice Cloning/Deepfake.

Regional Trends

• Singapore prefers a non-binding Model AI Governance Framework, emphasising trust and responsible AI over heavy regulation.
• Malaysia is developing a National AI Blueprint and an AI Governance Code, planning a future AI Act with a risk-based approach.

Since the event was a blend of Western ideas with Asian talent, the market differences between Europe and Asia were also discussed. It was proposed that Europe, driven by strict regulation (GDPR, KYC, AML), leads to “Reactive Innovation” focused on compliance and fraud detection. European players are motivated by fair play and consumer protection.

Asia, on the other hand, is driven by fierce competition and a mobile-first player base, leading to “Proactive Innovation” for rapid product prototyping and new game mechanics. Asian players are motivated by luck, destiny, community status, and design.