Synthesia now lets you give AI presentations using your webcam

Among the new updates Synthesia is rolling out are the ability to produce AI avatars using web or phone cameras, “full body” avatars with hands and arms, and a screen recording tool that displays an AI avatar that walks you through what you’re watching.

Synthesia, which says it’s used by nearly half of the Fortfune 500, uses AI avatars for all sorts of purposes.

These can range from creating custom training videos to instruct employees on specific processes, or creating promotional materials that can be viewed in video form rather than an email or other text communication.

But this was not always the case. According to co-founder and CEO Victor Riparbelli, in the first three years of the company’s story, Synthesia actually started trying to sell its technology to Hollywood agencies and big-budget video production companies. The company used computer vision for an AI-powered dubbing tool that made mouth movements more realistic for different languages.

“What we discovered is that the quality threshold for doing anything with these people was so high that no matter what we did, we would be a very small part of a much larger process,” Riparbelli told CNBC in an interview at company headquarters. London office.

“What’s most interesting is the democratic aspect: there are millions of people in the world who want to make a video, but they’re not making a video today because they don’t have the budget.”

In an Apple-style keynote, Synthesia’s CEO unveiled the company’s new products, describing them as a more productivity-focused set of tools for use by businesses, rather than just a platform that delivers AI avatars.

One of the biggest new features the company showed off was the option to create AI avatars by recording less than five minutes of footage using your webcam or phone. You can also clone your voice to make your avatars speak in several different languages

Typically, to create an AI avatar using the Synthesia platform, you have to go to the studio in person. Human actors enter a recording booth, record their voices, and perform lines in front of a green screen on a real set.

This is all training data to provide Synthesia’s AI algorithm with the facial and vocal nuances it needs to come up with human-like avatars that speak expressively. Earlier this year, Synthesia launched new expressive avatars that can convey human emotions, including happiness, sadness, and frustration.

But now, Synthesia offers new software that makes it easier for users to produce a digital version of themselves from anywhere, using just a webcam and Synthesia software.

The company is also launching the ability to create full-body avatars. This is different from Synthesia’s current avatars, which are limited to portrait view only. Now, you can go into a studio with dozens of cameras, sensors, and lights around you to create avatars that can move their hands.

Creating hands is something that is traditionally difficult for AI to do — mostly because hands are only a small part of the human body and aren’t typically focused on visual content.

Synthesia has also launched the option to play videos of AI avatars speaking in any language you wish, be it English, French, German or Chinese.

In the future, Synthesia says, it will be able to tailor AI avatars to suit different countries: for example, a Nigerian avatar that walks a user through a tutorial instead of an American avatar.

Synthesia has also launched a new AI-powered video assistant that can produce summaries of entire articles and documents. This could be an HR professional, preparing a quick video explaining the company’s benefits packages, for example.

Another big feature the company is rolling out is a new screen recording tool, which displays an AI avatar that walks you through what you’re watching.

In his CNBC interview, Riparbelli described what Synthesia is trying to do as an enterprise-focused product overhaul, bringing it closer to giants like Microsoft, Salesforce and Zoom in the enterprise category.

“The world has been blown away by these things over the last 12 to 18 to 24 months, which is amazing,” Riparbelli told CNBC.

“But now we’ve experimented a lot, and we’ve discovered the right use cases for these technologies that have lasting business value. It’s not just a short-term PR moment.”

“You have to achieve that business goal of reducing customer support tickets by showing videos instead of text, or selling by creating videos instead of just sending emails,” he added.

“Now people are creating workflows around that. They need better ways to achieve their business goals, not just an interface with AI models. That’s where we’re headed as a company.”

Last year, Synthesia raised $90 million from investors including US chipmaker Nvidia and venture capital firm Accel, in a funding round that valued it at $1 billion and gave it “unicorn” status.

The company’s competitors include AI-powered video tools Veed, Colossyan, Elai, and HeyGen. Chinese-owned social media app TikTok also recently debuted Symphony Assistant, a product that allows creators to create their own AI-powered avatars.

The company makes money through a number of subscription pricing plans ranging from $22 for the “Starter” plan and $67 for the “Creator” plan, to custom “Enterprise” plans where pricing is based on negotiations with Synthesia’s sales team.