Character.AI, a platform backed by Google, allows users to create AI chatbots based on real people without their consent, raising ethical concerns. Megan Farokhmanesh reports in Wired about several instances where AI personas were created without the individuals’ knowledge or permission, including gaming journalist Alyssa Mercante and feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian. Even a chatbot … Read more
Zoom is planning to introduce a new AI feature that will enable photorealistic avatars. Kyle Wiggers reports this for TechCrunch. The function, scheduled for 2025, will allow users to create a digital clone from a short video clip that can speak predetermined texts. According to Zoom’s Chief Product Officer Smita Hashim, this is intended to … Read more
A new AI service enables real-time conversations with digital twins at a latency of less than one second. Startup Tavus has developed this technology, as founders Hassaan and Quinn report on HackerNews. Their goal was to enable the most natural communication possible between humans and computers. Numerous technical challenges had to be overcome to achieve … Read more
Duolingo is introducing new AI-powered features to improve language learning. The company unveiled the “Video Call” and “Adventures” features at its annual Duocon 2024 conference. As CEO Luis von Ahn explains, these innovations are designed to create immersive learning opportunities. “Video Call” allows Duolingo Max subscribers to have realistic conversations with the AI character Lily. … Read more
AI startup Rep.ai has raised $7.5 million in funding to launch its “digital twin” technology for sales representatives. This was reported by Michael Nuñez for VentureBeat. The company, formerly known as ServiceBell, is developing AI-powered avatars to assist website visitors in real-time video and audio conversations. Rep.ai combines visual and vocal replication with natural language … Read more
A new AI model called Infinity generates realistic talking characters. It is based on a video diffusion transformer that has been trained with audio input. According to the developers, this is the first model of its kind. Users can enter their scripts and get videos of animated characters speaking the text. It can process different … Read more
Calling app Truecaller is introducing a new feature that allows users to create an AI version of their own voice to answer calls and ask the reason for the call, for example. But is it a good idea to use your own voice for this? I think it would be confusing …
London-based Synthesia introduces “Expressive Avatars,” a new generation of AI avatars that adapt their facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice to the context of the spoken content. This makes it possible to create more realistic and emotional AI videos for marketing, training or patient communication.