British tech startup Synthesia has unveiled a new line of AI-generated avatars that can convey emotions such as happiness, sadness and disappointment.
Synthesis
NvidiaAI-backed Synthesia on Thursday unveiled a new wave of AI-powered digital avatars that can convey human emotions through a user’s text input.
The company said its “Expressive Avatars” could blur the line between the virtual world and real-life characters. It aims to eliminate cameras, microphones, actors, lengthy editing and other costs from the professional video production process. Synthesia has a studio in London where actors read scripts in front of a green screen to train the system.
During one demonstration, the company showed three lines of text inserted into its platform: “I am happy. I’m upset. each corresponding emotion.
According to Synthesia, the company’s technology is used by more than 55,000 companies, including half of the Fortune 100, to create digital avatars for corporate presentations and training videos.
Founded in 2017, Synthesia last year raised $90 million from investors at a valuation of around $1 billion, making it one of the UK’s latest unicorn artificial intelligence firms. Shareholders also include Accel, Kleiner Perkins, GV, FirstMark Capital and MMC.
The company responded to concerns about how its videos could be used to create fake news content by saying publishers must register as corporate customers to create synthetic avatars. Content created using this technology is reviewed by moderators.
Synthesia does not publicly disclose pricing for its enterprise clients.
The company also requires all its new clients to undergo a thorough Know Your Customer process, similar to that used in the banking industry, which helps prevent bad actors from creating fake company profiles to spread misinformation.
Synthesia said it is already preparing for the upcoming global elections and has implemented a number of controls to ensure its platform is not used by hostile actors seeking to manipulate the results of various votes.
The company is also part of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity, an organization of artificial intelligence companies that aims to implement content credentials and digital watermarks on AI-generated content so that viewers know what they’re looking at is authentic. created artificially. mind, not man.
