Tues 2 July 2024 11:00am UK time

“At the most recent Robots Are Coming event, I showcased my digital avatar. It’s really like me – but clearly AI,” says Heather Murray, founder of AI For Non-Techies.

So, what is a digital avatar? And how can agencies use them?

“It’s basically a digital me,” explains Heather. “You film a bit of video, talk to your camera… and after that minute-long video, it trains an avatar of you.”

These avatars can say anything you tell them to – even in foreign languages, offering personalised communication to potential clients.

What are the use cases for something like this?

  • You can use it for sales outreach. “If you wanted to send a video to people and say their name, in your voice, all you have to do is record one video, and it can go out to say, 3000 people.” This opens up tonnes of new sales and biz avenues, as well as engagement and conversation rates.
  • You can use it for training. Heather herself uses its it to talk to herself during training – but several law firms are also harnessing this technology to deliver regular, in-house training from ‘off-the-shelf’ expert avatars.
  • You can use it to stand out from the crowd. Heather explains: “For example, at the end of the video you can say, ‘I actually created this using AI’ and it puts your agency at a real cutting edge. It’s not a case of pulling the wool over peoples’ eyes. You’re not trying to convince people that it’s real. It’s saying ‘We’re cutting edge, therefore we’re at the top of our game, and we’ll give you our top-of-our-game services’.”

There is increased concern over the challenges that come with this kind of technology, especially with the rise of deepfakes across the internet. However, there are guardrails in place for this kind of software – and the possibilities this can open up for agencies are endless.

If you’re interested in harnessing these tools for you and your agency, make sure you’re signed up to this month’s AI Whisperers. Heather will be showing us how we can harness the power of AI avatars, and even give us a live demo of these tools.