A journalist's digital twin: the rise of AI avatars in media and business

Alexandru Voica, head of corporate affairs at Synthesia, unveiled an AI avatar of himself to answer press questions, signaling a new era in AI-driven PR. Synthesia, a UK-based startup with a $4 billion valuation, recently expanded to New York and launched Roleplay Sessions, allowing employees to practice sales pitches with AI avatars. The company also offers a platform for enterprises to build interactive training videos. Dominic-Madori Davis, a TechCrunch reporter, became the first journalist to have an AI avatar created by Synthesia. The avatar, trained on her story about venture-backed fraud, only responds to questions related to that narrative. Davis noted that while her friends found the avatar interesting and slightly creepy, her mother praised it as 'amazing.' Davis expressed mixed feelings about the future of journalism with AI avatars, emphasizing the importance of trust in the profession. She also speculated that Gen Z might find digital twins more sci-fi than practical, though she found avatars less jarring than humanoids.