Stock avatars are yet another way that artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how we engage with technology. As AI learns to create more and more realistic human avatars, businesses and individuals are able to generate thousands of highly realistic videos for a variety of needs within minutes. This is especially valuable as video takes off on social media and industries like marketing, finance, and more discover the applications and benefits of video and AI avatars.
What is a Stock Avatar?
An AI avatar is a digital representation of a person with lifelike expressions, movements, and speech. In some cases, AI avatars can have their own personality and backstory and can interact with real human beings in real time.
In general, AI avatars can be created to exactly model a real human being, or they can be “stock” representations of a person created from various human images and data. The former type of avatar is a virtual representation of a real-life human being, while the latter is a type of “character” or actor that you can use either for testing products or if you do not wish to be the face of your content.
Stock Avatar vs Digital Human vs. Digital Replica vs Digital Twin vs Digital Avatar
It can be difficult to understand the varying types of “virtual humans” when each term, including stock avatar, digital replica, digital twin, and digital avatar, is very similar. Nonetheless, each of these terms carries a slightly different connotation in the world of digital human representations.
A digital twin is a digital representation of any human, object, or system created to exactly recreate that asset in the virtual sphere. Digital twins are often used for research, testing, observation, regular monitoring, and more. Human-type digital twins can be used for anything from simple virtual representations of a human being to more in-depth models that help predict and monitor health outcomes.
Digital humans similarly recreate human beings and simulate actions, but they are, to use a video game term, non-playing characters (NPCs). They’re often present in video games, where they seem lifelike and react to your input in seemingly intelligent ways. However, they are not “intelligent” in the same way as humans. They’re also not “replicas” of real-life humans but rather new “characters” created for specific uses.
Human users can use digital avatars as surrogates in video games, social media, and more. Digital avatars are digital replicas, but they are designed with animations for movement and action that the user can control themselves. Digital replicas, on the other hand, are made to emulate or simulate humans (or other objects).
A stock avatar might be considered closest to digital humans. They are not exact replicas of existing, real-life human beings, but are usually made to be “actors” of content rather than interactive players. Some AI companies keep a library of stock avatars from which users can choose their preferred actor.
AI Stock Avatar Use Cases
Let’s explore various use cases for AI stock avatars.
Marketing & Sales
AI avatars are revolutionizing marketing and sales due to their ability to create a more authentic feeling of human interaction and attention to individual details. Instead of sending out stock videos to every customer or lead, companies can now use a stock avatar (or an avatar of themselves) to create personalized marketing videos in mere moments.
Product
The business applications of AI stock avatars are wide. One such possibility is in the realm of product information and sales. Customers have historically been limited to learning about potential products through product descriptions. Dedicated shoppers have to search through reviews, check out FAQ sections, or even call companies to learn exactly what they need to know.
With stock avatars, companies can choose their own avatar to represent the organization and interact with customers in the moment. These avatars can respond to customer questions naturally and accurately, keeping the customer on the site to learn what they want to know.
Recruiting & Onboarding
Recruiting and onboarding practices can make the jump to an AI-powered future, too. AI avatar generators allow human resources (HR) departments to significantly simplify their resource-creation work. Instead of recording their own recruiting or onboarding materials, HR departments can utilize stock avatars to act out scripts.
Platforms like Tavus also offer developers a powerful API to easily integrate personalized videos into their workflows. Rather than stop and record videos for every new hire, teams can simply use Tavus to create unlimited videos from one stock avatar or digital clone. This allows them to step away from behind the computer and in front of their people.
Customer Success
AI is revolutionizing customer support. Customers today can access so many tools, products, resources, and more with the click of a mouse. And businesses will have to evolve to meet the expectations of their customer base. Customer service needs to be fast, accurate, and available 24/7, which AI is helping businesses achieve.
Personalization is another new benefit of AI that can help organizations drastically improve customer relationships. With more individual attention geared toward shoppers’ or users’ desires and needs, businesses can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
This is where stock avatars come in. Video is a more personal-feeling medium than text or audio, so organizations can either create their own avatars or choose from AI libraries to choose their customer service representative.
Benefits of Stock Avatars
Let’s explore the benefits of using AI stock avatars.
Privacy
Although anonymity brings with it the threat of deepfake identities used for illegal or unethical actions, the use of an AI stock avatar also provides the benefit of privacy. Protecting one’s identity has long been a concern of the digital age.
Some people wish to remain anonymous online to maintain distance between themselves and their audience. Access to AI stock avatars allows them to avoid using their own likeness in photos or videos, thus helping them maintain both their privacy and their ability to create engaging content or resources.
Scalability
AI stock avatars offer the benefit of scalability on several fronts, especially when it comes to customer service, where departments often become overwhelmed with more customer interactions than they can handle.
AI avatars, however, can handle potentially unlimited customers simultaneously, since the avatar can work without the need for a human working behind the scenes. Human customer service representatives can work with only the cases that truly require human labor, freeing up time, increasing customer satisfaction, and decreasing the costs of large customer service departments.
AI avatars also make personalization at scale possible. AI video generators like Tavus allow developers to enable their users to generate thousands of highly realistic AI videos within minutes, saving both time and money.
Personality
Avatars created without the help of AI are often dry characters with little personality. AI avatars, however - even stock avatars - are trained with real human beings, helping to make even invented personalities (constructed from various sources) seem engaging and human. With more personality, your avatars create a better, more natural experience for your audience.
Versatility
AI stock avatars are available for use across a wide variety of platforms and use cases, including profile pictures, social media video content, onboarding and training videos, customer service agents, personalized marketing, and much more. The versatility of conversational AI avatars makes the technology a great tool for many industries and organizations.
How to Access Stock Avatars in Your Technology
Let’s dig into the process of how to access and deploy a stock avatar into your platform.
1. Log into Tavus’ Developer Portal
Start by creating your Tavus account and navigating to the Developer Portal, where you’ll find all available stock avatars. If you’re planning to use your own likeness to create an AI avatar or video, the process is simple. Simply submit a 2-minute training video to Tavus of you presenting the information you want to convey. From there, Tavus does the rest, cloning the original user’s likeness, voice, and exact movements!
If you prefer to deploy a stock avatar “represent”, the process is even easier. Simply access Tavus’ stock avatar library, where you can watch previews of how the avatar speaks and moves, and choose your favorite!
2. Get the Avatar ID
Once you’ve selected an avatar, note its unique ID. This ID will allow you to incorporate the avatar into your application through Tavus’ API.
3. Integrate the avatar into your platform
Use Tavus’ API with the selected Avatar ID to generate videos directly within your app. Input the Avatar ID, along with any personalization variables, into your API request. This allows your platform to deliver personalized video content featuring the chosen stock avatar within your application’s user interface.
Get started on your AI avatar with Tavus!
More Questions on Stock Avatars Answered
Here are some answers to common questions about AI stock avatars.
Why do people use stock avatars?
Some argue that stock avatars are becoming popular because they provide humans with a sense of belonging and safety through anonymity. With AI stock avatars, we can unleash our creativity while still shielding ourselves from privacy breaches and from the negativity so common on social media or in online forums.
Can I customize a stock avatar to represent my own identity?
You can definitely craft your own customized avatar, using an AI avatar generator, based on your own identity! It wouldn’t be considered a “stock” avatar, since it’s uniquely created based on you, but it is a realistic, usable avatar for all your needs.
Can I use my own voice with stock avatars?
AI avatar generators can replicate the user’s image, voice, expressions, and movements, so videos will look and sound like they’re behind the camera. If you integrate an API like Tavus, which offers customized avatars and voice generators, you can tackle all your customized avatar needs in one place.
Create Your Stock Avatar With AI Video Generation
With so many benefits and use cases, stock avatars are a powerful new AI tool for any industry. Whether you’re interested in enabling users to create more engaging marketing videos, getting into AI content creation, or increasing engagement with your users, AI stock avatars may be just the thing for you.
