AI Avatars: What They Are and How Leaders Can Use Them

What do Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Sam Liang, and Eric Yuan have in common?

Aside from being CEOs of major tech companies — Klarna, Otter.ai, and Zoom, respectively — the three business leaders are using AI avatars to attend meetings and even give updates on earnings calls.

What is an AI avatar?

An AI avatar is a digital representation of a person (i.e., you) created using artificial intelligence. By loading a script and voice into an avatar generator, you can produce an avatar that appears on video speaking the text you wrote naturally, as if it were you.

From creating videos for social media to using your avatar to engage prospects in sales calls or train your team, there’s no shortage of ways you can use AI avatars, also known as AI clones or digital twins.

For this reason, it comes as no surprise that the market for AI avatars is projected to grow from $800 million in 2025 to $5.93 billion in 2032, increasing 33.1% each year in between.

Scripted vs. interactive avatars: What’s the difference?

Within the world of AI avatars, there are two subspecies:

• A scripted AI avatar is a digital twin that “reads” from a pre-written script, with matching facial expressions and gestures. This is the less risky variety of AI clones.
• An interactive AI avatar is trained on a knowledge base you define and then given free rein to improvise based on your past writing and content, following specific rules and guidelines you spell out. Since the tech is still nascent, there’s a bigger chance an interactive avatar might go rogue.

While the second variation is probably a bit too risky to deploy in the wild, a scripted avatar is a safer, more realistic application of the tech right now.

AI avatars are a sort of realization of the long-fabled CEO dream of being able to clone yourself.

What are the benefits of digital twins?

From helping you reclaim time to making it easier to reach a wider audience, AI avatars can help you increase your effectiveness as a leader.

Efficiency and time savings

Did you know that the average CEO spends 72% of their time in meetings? While some of these meetings are no doubt crucial for business success, a lot of that time could likely be spent more effectively elsewhere. CEOs largely agree, with 36% saying they spend too much time on tasks like meetings.

By attending meetings on your behalf and enabling you to automate repeatable messaging, like welcoming a new hire to the company, AI avatars can deliver significant efficiency and time savings gains.

In fact, Otter.ai’s Liang expects that his digital twin, trained on his words and ideas, will be able to answer 90% of questions asked during meetings in the near future. Similarly, Yuan expects AI avatars will soon be able to attend five or six meetings on your behalf.

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan’s AI avatar.

What would you be able to accomplish each day with an AI clone taking that much off your plate?

Communication at scale

Poor communication can have a significant impact on business outcomes, and not in a good way. According to one report, 89% of executives say that poor communication has resulted in missed deadlines, increased costs, or damaged reputations.

Using AI avatars trained on your language, you can mitigate these downsides by ensuring your message is delivered identically across departments and time zones, and even translated into other languages.

Since video content engages us more than written communication — we’re visual creatures, after all — your AI avatar not only helps you broadcast the same message to everyone who needs to hear it but also increases the likelihood it’ll actually resonate.

Beyond using your AI avatar to improve internal communication, you can also use it to create video content for external purposes like social media, conferences and media interviews. For busy leaders looking to reach and influence key audiences, a digital twin enables multiplying your thought leadership impact.

Need inspiration for what this could look like? Look no further than Julia McCoy, who runs a 100-person agency and also has a popular YouTube channel with nearly 200,000 subscribers primarily powered by her scripted AI avatar.

While you’re at it, check out this post, this post, and this post, all from CSuite Content cofounder Remy Scalza, who’s been an early adopter of the new tech.

CSuite Content CEO Remy Scalza multiplying his own thought leadership using an AI avatar on LinkedIn.

Personalized interactions

AI avatars are a sort of realization of the long-fabled CEO dream of being able to clone yourself. In an age where everyone expects personalized experiences, this is a big deal.

Your AI clone lets you engage with stakeholders, whether they’re employees, investors, or customers, in a personalized way, using your likeness and voice. It might not be you in the flesh, but it can feel quite similar to how you come across during any run-of-the-mill video meeting.

If you’re curious to what this might look like in the real world, head on over to Delphi.ai, which has avatars representing best-selling authors, business leaders, and celebrities that you can pay to engage with.

Professional video on demand

Creating professional video is time-consuming and expensive. For business leaders, it means blocking time during an already busy day to do wardrobe and makeup, rehearse a script, and then run through multiple takes in front of the camera. Not to mention that a professional video and lighting set-up represents an expensive investment.

Using AI avatars or digital twins radically compresses the time and energy required to create high-quality video. Once you’ve made the up-front investment of recording some initial clips and creating your avatar, you can then generate endless video clips … without ever stepping into the studio or getting in front of a camera.

For busy executives, this means your comms staff or support team can create videos starring you (for employees, investors, customers, etc.), while you’re attending to more important tasks.

How do digital twins work?

Digital twins use generative AI models to create avatars that look and sound like their human equivalent. They speak naturally, understand questions, and generate responses with the proper tone. Using neural rendering models, the tech creates lifelike videos, with facial expressions that mirror human communication.

These tools also use genAI to replicate the cadence and tone of your voice, making your digital clone feel more authentic.

How do I make my own AI avatar?

The AI age moves faster every day. As an executive, it’s your job to keep pace with trends and stay ahead of your peers.

Creating an AI avatar is one way to do that. And the best part is that it’s easy:

• Find a reputable platform. Choose a trusted tool to protect your likeness and personal data. One emerging leader in the space with an easy-to-use platform is HeyGen.

• Upload a short video clip of yourself. A quick recording, 30 seconds to a minute, should be enough for most systems to clone your appearance and learn your natural speaking style.

• Develop a written script. Provide clear messaging so your digital twin delivers your ideas with the same confidence you would in person.

• Generate a video. Now the magic happens. Behind the scenes, your platform will generate a lifelike video of your digital twin delivering your script. Keep in mind you can customize these videos with different backgrounds, overlays, and effects.

• Assess and iterate. Since your very first AI avatar video probably won’t be a home run, review the output, figure out what’s working and what isn’t. Tweaking your script and regenerating the corresponding video can yield different and sometimes better results.. Most platforms also allow you to choose between different video and voice models, which may lend themselves more naturally to your speaking style.

84% of experts agree that companies should be required to disclose their use of AI.

AI avatars: Risks & caveats

While AI avatars can help you reclaim time and supercharge your thought leadership strategy, just like with any piece of technology there are some caveats you need to consider.

Don’t hide the ball

Since trust is the top currency in business, it’s important to be transparent when you’re using an AI avatar (i.e., letting your audience know that this isn’t the real you!).

Being upfront on this issue will save you headaches down the road; 84% of experts agree that companies should be required to disclose their use of AI, according to MIT.

Remember the tech is new

As of now, engaging with video avatars is super new. It hasn’t been normalized and can still feel awkward and creepy — landing somewhere in the uncanny valley.

That said, the tech is improving rapidly, and cultural norms are evolving. What feels weird right now might very well soon become a standard part of business communication.

By experimenting with an AI avatar today, you stay ahead of the curve.

Don’t overlook security

In the age of deepfakes, security is the most important feature in any AI avatar platform.

As you research your options, consider security first. Reputable platforms have built-in security guardrails to ensure that only you can create and control your AI avatar, which helps keep your personal likeness safe.

Interested in AI avatars? We can help

You’re reading these words because you keep up with cutting-edge tech and want to save time and become more impactful as a leader.

We can help.

If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use AI avatars to be more productive — and how your digital clone can amplify your thought leadership efforts and expand your reach — get in touch.

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