Kogan.com chief Ruslan Kogan rolls out AI to deliver half-year results presentation
Kogan.com founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan has once again enlisted the help of artificial intelligence to deliver his half-year results presentation to analysts.
Kogan.com founder and chief executive Ruslan Kogan has once again enlisted the help of artificial intelligence to deliver his half-year results presentation to analysts.
For nearly half an hour, Mr Kogan and chief financial officer David Shafer’s digital recreations talked numbers before the bots were switched off and the real-world versions jumped in to field questions from analysts.
In his AI-generated presentation, Mr Kogan said it “wasn’t just about using the latest tech, it is a practical demonstration of the Kogan.com DNA”.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“You’ve heard us talk a lot today about efficiency, scalability and operating leverage, well, we practice what we preach. Once again, we have used AI to assist in delivering today’s presentation,” he said.
“We are constantly finding smarter, faster and more cost-effective ways to operate.
“Whether it is in our logistics, our marketing or our investor relations, innovation isn’t just what we sell. It is how we operate.”
Last August, Mr Kogan admitted on the company’s full-year earnings call that he used AI-generated voices for himself and Mr Shafer for the prepared portion of their remarks before jumping into Q&As.
Using AI-generated voices for delivering the presentation meant the two executives could spend that half-hour working on something else, Mr Kogan said at the time.
A few days later, AI also crept into Chris Ellison’s opening statement on Mineral Resources’ full-year earnings after the blunt-speaking Kiwi’s voice briefly changed into a posh English accent.
Mr Ellison denied using AI but said the statement had been pre-recorded, with MinRes later admitting the glitch came from using an AI software tool to edit the address.
On Monday, Kogan shares jumped 6.6 per cent to $3.29 just before 10am after it delivered a 5.5 per cent rise in revenue to $287.6 million, while net profit fell 20 per cent to $8.2m in the six months to the end of December.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Wei-Weng Chen said Kogan beat gross profit expectations by 4 per cent and pre-tax earnings by 23 per cent.
Meanwhile its New Zealand online business Mighty Ape — which sells electronic games, board games, toys, homewares and collectables — recorded an adjusted loss of $3.2m.
Mr Chen said Kogan’s 7.8 per cent revenue growth in January was tracking below expectations for a near-14 per cent growth.
Kogan lifted its interim dividend by 14.3 per cent to 8¢ a share.
