While global headlines are dominated by trillion-dollar giants, one ASX small cap is quietly making big strides in artificial intelligence. AI-Media Technologies Ltd (ASX: AIM) has built its business on live captioning and translation services, but management is now steering the company toward becoming a fully technology-led operator.
At the centre is Lexi, AI-Media's flagship automatic captioning solution. Once seen as a complement to human transcription, LEXI is now positioned to replace it entirely.
Going fully AI
In a recent interview, CEO Tony Abrahams set out bold ambitions: By year's end 2025, the company expects to remove the human element from its workflows altogether. The company indicates Lexi could deliver transcription and translation with better than 99% accuracy, a benchmark previously reserved for manual services.
This shift has powerful implications for scale. Human labour is expensive and difficult to grow globally. Purely AI-driven systems, by contrast, can scale almost instantly, lowering costs and improving margins as demand rises.
Abrahams highlighted the growth trajectory: LEXI revenue has expanded from just $800,000 four years ago to $24 million today. By FY29, the company is targeting $120 million in LEXI revenue, forming the bulk of an expected $150 million group total.
Expanding markets
AI-Media is already a dominant supplier in the US broadcast market, but the growth plan stretches much further. Management is investing in geographic expansion across Europe and Asia, while also moving into government and enterprise contracts.
That government angle is becoming a competitive edge. The company has achieved security accreditation from the US Department of Defence, leading to a $500,000 purchase order for Congress. Its captioning equipment is now installed across legislative chambers in the US, UK, Canada, and multiple Australian states. These wins provide sticky, long-term revenue and credibility to pursue further contracts.
Riding the AI wave as a consumer
One important point often missed by investors is that AI-Media isn't competing to invent new AI models. Instead, it's a consumer and integrator of the latest AI breakthroughs. The faster the world's largest tech companies advance, the faster AI-Media can bake those improvements into its stack.
That means lower latency, higher accuracy, and better economics for LEXI over time. In other words, rather than fearing disruption from bigger AI players, AI-Media can actively benefit from their progress.
Foolish Takeaway
AI-Media's journey reflects how small ASX companies can leverage global AI innovation to build competitive advantages. With ambitious revenue targets, expanding global contracts, and a shift to fully automated transcription, management is positioning AIM as a technology-first business.
If successful, AI-Media could turn its niche into a global platform and provide a fascinating case study of how Australian ingenuity can ride the AI wave.
