| Highlights for March 2024
Education and Training Contexts AI-Humans is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that supports immersive learning by allowing users to animate virtual characters, improving educational experiences across various sectors such as education, finance, and technology. Kevin Alster, Head of Synthesia Academy and a learning strategist, created an AI avatar of himself at Wapping Press Studios in London. His process highlights how individuals in educational leadership roles can harness avatar technologies for instructional innovation, blending personal presence with digital scalability. Cultural and Historical Contexts Euvatar Storyliving developed an AI avatar of Machado de Assis, a foundational Brazilian writer, bringing together virtual human technology with historical storytelling. The avatar enables audiences to interact with a simulated version of the literary figure, offering a culturally enriched narrative experience and showcasing how synthetic characters can preserve and communicate historical legacy through interactive media. Marketing and Social Media Contexts The virtual influencer Leena Khuraana was launched in India as a fashion-forward and tech-savvy digital persona. She actively interacts with users on social media platforms, serving as an example of how avatars are used in influencer marketing to build brand engagement and cultivate digital identities that resonate with targeted demographics. Similarly, brands are widely reported to use human-like virtual characters as assistants or influencers, based on the premise that anthropomorphic design enhances user trust and drives consumer behavior. Enterprise and Communication Contexts David Macchia introduced “Shari,” a digital human chatbot designed to improve conversational engagement by simulating face-to-face communication. Unlike traditional text-based interfaces, Shari employs audiovisual interaction, enhancing the authenticity and human-likeness of exchanges. This development illustrates enterprise adoption of digital humans for customer-facing roles, particularly where trust, clarity, and natural interaction are priorities. Technology and Platform Innovation HRAvatar represents a method for producing realistic, animatable 3D head avatars from standard video inputs using advanced facial tracking. This technology emphasizes accessibility and lifelike animation for virtual beings. SadTalker AI, an open-source tool, animates still images in sync with audio inputs, generating realistic facial movements that match speech patterns. Both systems expand the toolkit available for developing expressive, responsive virtual humans, with broad implications for communication, storytelling, and real-time interaction. |
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