TikTok has unveiled a new feature that could flood the platform with advertisements showcasing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered “digital avatars” that brands can use to promote their products in a variety of ways.
The social media giant announced on June 17 that it is expanding its Symphony ad suite with “stock avatars” and an “AI dubbing” feature to assist brands in creating and customizing content for their target audiences.
These stock avatars are created using video footage of real paid actors who are licensed for commercial use. Users can select an AI-powered voice and accent to read a script, which will then be dubbed onto the avatar by TikTok.
A demonstration video showcases how a text-to-speech tool can dub over the actors with voices in multiple languages while attempting to synchronize mouth movements. The AI can even generate scripts for the avatars.
The new avatar feature is part of TikTok’s AI-powered ad suite introduced earlier in 2024, which also includes a “virtual assistant” that monitors trends on the platform and generates ideas and scripts for ads.
The AI avatars, translation, and dubbing features are currently in beta versions and are available to a limited number of users through a waitlist.
In addition to the stock avatars, TikTok is also introducing “custom avatars” that can replicate the likeness of content creators and brand representatives with the same multi-language capabilities. These custom avatars are currently being tested by the TikTok creator community.
To ensure transparency, TikTok will automatically label videos created using its AI tools as AI-generated. A small label will be displayed in the corner of the video denoting this feature.
While the AI avatars are impressive, they are not without flaws. The mouth movements and gestures of the avatars do not always perfectly match the spoken words, leading to what is known as the “uncanny valley” phenomenon.
TikTok’s venture into AI avatars follows Meta’s introduction of AI chatbots in September 2023, which were designed to resemble various celebrities. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg, and Tom Brady now use AI bots to manage their Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Overall, TikTok’s integration of AI avatars signals a significant shift towards using artificial intelligence to enhance user experiences and advertising capabilities on the platform.