A vendor pitched us a ‘personalized’ training video where the spokesperson is an entirely synthetic avatar. then they offered to ‘use our CEO’s likeness’ with permission. on the spot i was kind of impressed and also kind of horrified. is anyone using or actively avoiding this stuff in L&D
Weve avoided it. internal trust on training is high right now precisely because employees know a real person made the videos. once you go synthetic that signal evaporates.
real estate brokerage version of this: agents using AI avatars for property tours. customers can tell. its lukewarm at best
Yeah my gut is similar. we’re going to pass on the synthetic spokesperson and stick with our own people.
The use case where it does work is heavily-repeated compliance modules where engagement is already low. anything where you actually want people to internalize a message, synthetic kills the message.
We got pitched the same kind of synthetic narrator for an audiobook line. passed for the same reason - the genuine human narrator is half the value. the synthetic version commoditized the product immediately.
The marketing version of this: brands experimenting with AI avatar spokespeople are getting roasted in the comments. the audience signal is consistent and negative. for now its a brand risk, not a brand asset.