Introducing Synthesia 2.0, the world’s first AI video communications platform built for the future of work

Published on
June 25, 2024
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  • Synthesia 2.0 is the world’s first AI video communications platform, reinventing every aspect of the video production and distribution process to help businesses create and share AI generated videos at scale
  • We’re introducing two new types of Personal AI Avatars and giving you a glimpse of a new generation of AI avatars coming later this year (spoiler alert: they have hands!) 
  • AI Video Assistant will convert an entire knowledge base into a library of videos and supports brand elements such as an organization’s custom fonts, colors or logos 
  • AI Screen Recorder is a new product that allows you to turn screen recordings into beautiful video presentations, powered by AI avatars 
  • We’re building a new video player that can offer personalized and real-time, interactive experiences
  • Thanks to its pioneering work on AI safety, Synthesia is on track to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification, ensuring the responsible development and use of AI systems.

Today, we’re introducing Synthesia 2.0—the world’s first AI video communications platform for business—and sharing with you the new products and features we’re building to improve the way organizations and individuals communicate and share information.

Over the past 100 years, we've seen the rise of radio, television, the internet, and social media slowly shifting the way we communicate and share information, from text to video and audio. Just over a decade ago, video made up about 30% of internet traffic; today, it’s over 82% and growing exponentially. Globally, people spend on average 3 billion hours per day on TikTok, 1 billion hours per day on YouTube, and over 200 million hours per day on Netflix.

So, in our everyday lives, it’s clear that we’re already living in a video-first world. However, at work, we’re not quite there yet: most of our business communications still heavily rely on text while video is limited to major brand moments such as ads or keynotes or daily business interactions like video conferencing.

With Synthesia 2.0, we aim to reinvent every step of the video production pipeline from the ground up and create a single, powerful, and easy-to-use platform, enabling your entire business to transition to a video-first world and drive real business outcomes.

Introducing Personal AI Avatars

Avatars are at the core of Synthesia, and we’re constantly working on improving the quality and capabilities.

We’ve made it our goal to create the world’s most realistic AI avatars to help humans augment their capabilities. Last month, we introduced the world’s first Expressive AI Avatars, powered by our EXPRESS-1 model. These avatars understand what they’re saying and how they should say it, adjusting their tone of voice, facial expressions and body language based on the context of your script.

Many of our customers want to have their own avatar. With Synthesia 2.0 we’re making it a much easier experience and significantly increasing the quality and capabilities.

With Synthesia 2.0, you will have two ways of creating a personal avatar

  • An Expressive Avatar shot in a studio using high-definition cameras for a professional feel
  • A custom avatar in a natural background, using your webcam or phone at home or on the go. These new avatars improve on our existing webcam offering by providing better lip synchronization and a more natural voice, together with the ability to replicate your voice in over 30 languages 

‎But we’re not stopping here. 

Today, I am excited to share with you a glimpse into the future of our AI Avatars. Over the last 12 months, we’ve been capturing thousands of people in our studios all over the world. With this data, we’ve been training several large video and audio foundation models that can now work in lockstep to produce incredibly realistic and engaging avatars. 

Up until now, avatars have mainly served as assistants in video. With this next generation they will be able to have personalities and tell captivating stories by using the full range of body language available to humans, including their hands. These new AI avatars will also be fully controllable: users will be able to specify avatar appearance with images and videos, and create animations with skeleton sequences.

Below you can see a clip of these full-body avatars in action:

Expect more news from us on this topic later in the year. 

Bulk creation and brand templates coming to AI Video Assistant

If you've ever tried to write a script, you're probably familiar with “writer’s block” or the fear of the blank page. 

To solve this problem, earlier this year we introduced our AI Video Assistant. Today, it enables you to simply select a template, write a prompt, upload an existing document or link, specify things like the tone of voice, length of your video, or audience, and with a click of a button, you get a draft of your video.

Since we launched it, it’s been widely adopted by our customers, and we’ve received great feedback on how we can improve it.

One key request was for the AI video assistant to incorporate your brand identity. We’re making this feature available next month, allowing users to create videos automatically with their brand elements, such as typography, colors, and logos, and achieve a consistent look and feel for all your videos.

A few months ago, during a conversation with one of our customers, we discovered they have hundreds of help articles they wish to convert into videos, as this would help their customers find answers more easily and save resources for their customer service team.

So we’re building bulk video creation with our AI Video Assistant. Soon you'll be able to simply select a template, provide a link to your knowledge center, and the AI video assistant will transform the articles into high-quality videos.

More intuitive editing with Triggers and our new AI Screen Recorder

Another thing we’ve learned from our customers is that most video editing tools are designed for professionals, or require extensive training. With Synthesia, we've dramatically simplified the editing process, without compromising on flexibility. In fact, 9 out of 10 people can create their first video in less than 10 minutes, without prior experience.

We’ve achieved that by replacing the traditional video timeline with simple triggers that you can control directly from your script. This change puts your script at the heart of your story, allowing you to animate video elements and make edits in a simple and intuitive way. It also simplifies scene content generation, creating a whole new editing experience that’s easy to use for everyone.

But what we’ve also learned is that many of our customers need to include screen-recorded content in their videos, but find the process complicated. Today, you’d have to use multiple tools to capture your screen, edit the recording, match the voiceover, and if you need to update it, you have to start all over again.

We believe there’s a better way with our upcoming AI Screen Recorder. Here’s how it works: let’s imagine we’re creating a step-by-step guide using a screen recorder so employees can see how to book time off through an online HR system. 

You will be able to do this from Synthesia using the AI Screen Recorder. Once the recording is done, the video is immediately available for editing, with the voiceover transcribed, perfectly matching the screen capture, and automatic zoom effects to emphasize key actions. 

From here, you can edit the script if needed, trim the video, and even add your own avatar and voice for a personal touch. The result is a sleek, high-quality video that can be easily updated.

The AI Screen Recorder is coming to Synthesia in the next few months.

Translations and a new, dynamic video player

Out of 4.2 billion internet users, only about 25% are English speakers. In a world where employees and customers are distributed globally, adapting communication to local languages and cultures is not just an option; it’s a massive business opportunity.

Translations are a complicated process which can take weeks or even months, delaying important communications and increasing costs.

About a year ago, we introduced the 1-click translations feature in Synthesia, which enables you to automatically translate your videos into over 120 languages with one click.

And even though that unlocked massive productivity gains for our customers, they still had to manage and maintain and share multiple files, which wasn't a good experience.

Today, we’re introducing the updated translation experience in Synthesia. You simply create one version of your video, translate it into any language you want, and if you need to update your video, just make changes to the original version. All other language versions will update automatically.

‎We are building a new type of video player, one that we believe will enable a new generation of video experiences that are interactive, personalized, and fun. The first feature we’re launching next month is the ability to simply share your video, and our player will automatically play it in your viewer's language. It’s quite magical and truly complements our translation capabilities.

Later in the year, we’re launching a whole suite of interactive capabilities for our player. You will be able to create rich video experiences with features such as clickable hotspots, embedded forms, quizzes, and personalized call-to-actions. 

These capabilities will make your videos more engaging, drive higher viewer interaction, and unlock use cases that are simply impossible today.

AI safety built in from day one

We know generative AI is a powerful technology. We’ve seen how, in the hands of companies or individuals that don’t care about using AI responsibly, it can be misused

That’s why, from day one, we’ve treated AI safety as a core part of building our products and growing our business - you can read more about our approach to responsible AI here. By doing so, we give our customers confidence that they can leverage our state-of-the-art AI capabilities while upholding ethical and legal obligations. 

Thanks to these investments that we’ve made early on, Synthesia will soon be the first AI company in the world to achieve ISO/IEC 42001 certification. ISO/IEC 42001 is the world’s first standard for AI management, providing a structured way to manage risks and opportunities associated with AI, and balancing innovation with governance. 

Be the first to experience Synthesia 2.0

We’ve reinvented every step of video production from the ground up and created one, incredibly powerful, yet remarkably easy-to-use platform, enabling your business to transition to a video-first world and drive business outcomes.

We’re incredibly excited for everyone to try it out and see what you create!‎ Head over to www.synthesia.io/2 to learn more.

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