Synthesia, an AI-powered video creation startup, debuted its "Expressive Avatars" that convey human-like emotions based on user inputs. The Nvidia-backed firm says the avatars will be reserved for enterprise users who want to create on-demand training videos, presentations, and other corporate materials without rounding up human actors.
In a virtual event livestreamed via LinkedIn on Thursday, Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli showed off avatars Alex, Joshua, Talia, Francesca, Jaz, Julia, and Paloma. The seven digital actors mimic humans of varying ages, ethnicities, accents, and even attire, with some dressed casually and others in office-appropriate clothing. Users can choose how the avatars deliver their scripts: when and for how long they pause, where they glance, and what mood they convey, among other things. The avatars can deliver scripts in any of 135 languages and a male or female voice, or users can upload audio clips for the avatars to lip sync to.
Users can also customize the video's background. Synthesia's own examples include the blurry landscape of a busy office, the inside of a store, and 2D visual assets. Still, it's also easy to imagine the avatars being used inside imitation car dealerships or in airplanes for travel safety videos. In minutes, users can create lifelike, closed caption-optional videos without taking on the expense or hassle of using the cameras, microphones, human actors, and time-consuming edits associated with conventional video production.
The avatars aren't meant for just anyone, however. With the world's attention increasingly honing in on misinformation, Synthesia plans to restrict its avatars' availability to enterprise customers. While everyday web users can test out the avatars with up to 36 minutes of video per year, a paid account is required to access Synthesia's full bank of 140 avatars, collaboration features, custom fonts, and other design tools. Enterprise access also unlocks the ability to create a "digital twin," or an avatar that looks just like yourself. By putting most of its customization features behind a paywall and marketing mainly to large businesses, Synthesia hopes it will avoid many of the abuses associated with deepfakes and other "virtual characters."
Synthesia currently sells its technology to over 55,000 businesses, largely for corporate presentations and training videos. The firm raised $90 million last year during a funding round led by Nvidia-owned NVDA.O NVentures. Synthesia is just one of many AI-related peripheral investments Nvidia has made recently: On Wednesday, the chip maker acquired the startup Run:ai.
