Synthesia Ai, a British AI startup, announced new updates to make video creation easier for big companies.
Key Points:
- With support from Nvidia, Synthesia now lets you create AI avatars using just a phone or webcam.
- The new features include making videos in English, French, German, and Chinese, and using full-body avatars that move their hands.
- Synthesia aims to reduce customer support needs and increase revenue. Last year, they received $90 million and were valued at $1 billion.
Synthesia Ai: New Product Updates
Synthesia, a seven-year-old firm supported by Nvidia, has introduced new features that allow users to create AI avatars using just a laptop webcam, or phone. This is a big change from their earlier offerings, which required users to visit a studio to create avatars. The new updates include:
- Creating AI avatars with webcams or phones
- “Full body” avatars with hands and arms
- A screen recording tool with an AI avatar that guides users through content
CEO Victor Riparbelli discussed the company’s shift from targeting Hollywood agencies and big-budget video production companies to making video creation accessible to a broader audience.
“We realized that working with Hollywood meant we’d only ever be a small part of a much bigger process,” Riparbelli said.
He emphasized that the goal is to make video creation accessible to millions of people who don’t have the budget for traditional video production.
New Features: AI Avatars
Synthesia has introduced several new features to make creating AI avatars easier and more accessible:
- Easy Avatar Creation: Users can now create AI avatars by recording less than five minutes of footage using a webcam or phone, eliminating the need to visit a studio.
- Full-Body Avatars: These new avatars can move their hands and arms, offering a more realistic experience than the previous portrait-view avatars.
- Multilingual Capabilities: AI avatars can now speak in multiple languages, including English, French, German, and Chinese. The company plans to create avatars tailored for different countries, such as a Nigerian avatar for local tutorials.
- AI Video Assistant: This tool can summarize entire articles and documents, making it useful for tasks like explaining company benefits packages.
- Screen Recording Tool: This feature includes an AI avatar that guides users through content, enhancing the platform’s utility.
Focus on the Enterprise and Market Position
In an interview with CNBC, Riparbelli described Synthesia’s shift towards an enterprise-focused product overhaul, likening it to giants like Microsoft, Salesforce, and Zoom.
“The world has been blown away by this stuff for the last 12 to 18 to 24 months, which is awesome. But now we have experimented a lot, and we have found out the right use cases for these technologies that have lasting business value. They’re not like just a short-term PR moment.” Riparbelli said.
Riparbelli emphasized the importance of creating workflows that help businesses achieve their goals, such as reducing customer support tickets through video content or enhancing sales efforts with video communications. Last year, Synthesia raised $90 million from investors, including Nvidia and venture capital firm Accel, in a funding round that valued the company at $1 billion, giving it “unicorn” status. Synthesia’s competitors include AI video tools like Veed, Colossyan, Elai, and HeyGen, as well as TikTok’s Symphony Assistant, which allows creators to make their own AI avatars.
