In the gold rush of the artificial intelligence (AI) era, most tech giants are racing to build the biggest, fastest engines – the large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini. But David Chung, the CEO & CTO of Daven AI, believes the industry is missing the most important part of the vehicle: the dashboard and the deed of ownership.
In an interaction with FE, Chung laid out a vision that positions his lean team not as model builders, but as ecosystem architects.
“Think about Apple,” Chung said. “When Apple introduced the smartphone, it didn’t manufacture every circuit component, but assembled existing parts into a unique experience – the iOS and the App Store. That kind of ecosystem is what I believe is the next step for AI.”
From black box to operating system
The problem Daven AI aims to solve is the ‘fragmentation of AI’. Currently, users bounce between different platforms to generate text, images, or code. Daven (it’s an acronym for Distributed AI Vertical Engaging Network) acts as a one-stop operating system. It allows anyone – from students to government bodies – to build and launch their own AI-driven applications on top of a unified infrastructure.
But Daven isn’t just a playground for developers. Chung says it is a “vault for creators.”
The digital shield for IP
One of the most pressing legal ‘blind spots’ in the AI world today is intellectual property. Under current laws in many jurisdictions, works created by AI are difficult to copyright. This leaves digital artists and content creators vulnerable to theft and forgery.
To combat this, Daven AI has moved past its MVP (minimum viable product) stage to become a functional ‘one-stop solution’. By integrating blockchain technology, Daven AI creates a permanent, tamper-proof record of the creation process, offering what Chung calls ‘IP protection’ for content creators. This ensures that as AI becomes integrated into core workflows, the humans behind the prompts have a verifiable claim to their work.
Scaling small, thinking big
Despite the high-stakes technology, Daven AI remains a very small team of fewer than 10 people operating out of South Korea and the US. Their footprint, however, is expanding. The company is now actively seeking partners to bring the Daven ecosystem to the Indian market, a move that could provide millions of students and creators in the subcontinent with the tools to monetise their AI innovations.
As the company prepares for its first major funding round later this year, Chung’s philosophy remains grounded: providing a platform where AI is not just a tool, but a secure environment for innovation.
By lowering the barrier to entry, Daven AI isn’t just building another AI tool, but is attempting to build the engaging network that ensures the next generation of services are built by the users themselves.
