Nvidia-backed Synthesia introduces Gen AI avatars with human-like emotional range

AI avatars

Britain-based unicorn, Synthesia AI has launched its new generation of AI avatars, which promise to convey human expressions like sadness, happiness, frustration, and more. According to a report by CNBC, Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli said that previous traditional AI avatars, including those made by his own company, have always struggled to capture the nuance of human facial expressions and emotions.

Synthesia claims its latest “Expressive Avatars” are an upgrade over the previous AI avatars, and can loop out the footage of a human speaker and lip out his expressions. These generative AI avatars aim to eliminate cameras, microphones, hosts, production costs, and other expenses involved in the shooting of any films or shows.

Synthesia already has a studio in London, where various actors have already read scripts in front of a green screen to train this system. According to Synthesia, its AI technology is utilised by more than 55,000 companies—including half of the Fortune 100—to create digital avatars for training films and corporate presentations.

The startup, however, is concerned about how its AI-generated videos can be used to create fake or manipulative content. Therefore, to use its synthetic avatars, Synthesia has asked publishers to register as enterprise customers. It also wants moderators to review their content regularly created with its technologies, as per the report.

The British-based AI company is already getting ready for the next round of international elections and has put in place several safeguards to make sure that hostile actors abusing its platform to rig different polls won't be successful. It plans to digitally watermark and include content references in AI-generated videos so that viewers are aware that it was produced by AI rather than by humans, according to the CNBC report.