Imagine a world where you can create captivating, high-quality video content at the speed of thought. AI-generated videos are now transforming this vision into a reality. These digital platforms can turn basic scripts – and generate the scripts themselves, as well – into stunning masterpieces, adapting to various languages and global audiences through diverse avatars and instant translation options.
To delve into this cutting-edge technology, I chose to test out Synthesia, a leading AI video platform, and a unicorn with a $1 billion valuation (UCL, 2023). With features like automatic script-to-video conversion, multilingual support, and customization (Synthesia – AI Video Generation Platform, n.d.) as well as an impeccable customer list, I was intrigued.
I delved deep into researching the company and the ethics of AI-generated content, generated two demo videos, and had an interview with Borys Khodan, the Head of Paid Media at Synthesia, for a comprehensive research about the company’s direction and ethical considerations.
The Synthesia Experience
To start with, the overall customer experience for demo videos at the moment seems heavily targeted towards B2B. The clients list of Synthesia features well-known companies, including Amazon, Zoom, BBC etc., and not individuals. Organizations collaborating with Synthesia often use it to create how-to videos, used for learning & training, IT, sales, and marketing teams. There are a ton of features available for them. What truly caught my attention is the effortless video updates – if a script of a video has to be changed, a simple script tweak yields a new video almost instantly, sparing companies from the costly ordeal of re-recording content from scratch. The potential savings here are impressive and certainly make a difference in the corporate landscape. Moreover, Synthesia has plans to expand its offerings for individuals (B2C), introducing advanced 3D avatars and other features for additional use cases, as confirmed by Borys.
My personal experience involved choosing one of Synthesia’s demo video options, “Sales Pitch.” I edited the standard text and received the video via email within minutes. It was an impressive process, though there was a minor glitch. While the AI handled the standardized text perfectly, it struggled to pick up the word “Resume” as a noun and mispronounced it as the verb, when I attempted to generate a sample pitch for a potential employer. However, in the paid version, there must be tools to easily adjust the videos. When I tried the “compliment” option to generate another video, it worked smoothly – sending a personalized video to me directly without any hiccups. It was quite fun to watch the text that I wrote in 15 seconds come to life in a video!
Industry Overview
In this rapidly evolving landscape, competition among AI-driven video generation platforms is fierce, leading to heightened ethical concerns. Lots of companies scape the web for data – sometimes, using personal data for training their algorithms to get ahead of the competition. But for Synthesia, the path is clear – no shortcuts, no compromises. The company’s founders have committed substantial resources to ensure ethical data procurement, even if it may mean encountering short-term delays and additional expenses. The company wants to be sure that the data they use to train their models on are ethical, legal, and are not violating any privacy laws (Browne, 2023). This approach may shield Synthesia from potential legal repercussions stemming from unethical or illegal data sources.
Ethical Implications
This ethical lens extends to the creation of AI-generated videos, and brings us to the questions of authorship, artistic authenticity, and ownership. What if AI is requested to generate violent or inappropriate content? What happens when an AI can replicate the voice and likeness of a person without their consent? The concept of deepfakes, where AI manipulates content to deceive and misinform, also poses a clear danger, and there are many opportunities and threats in that direction (Collins, 2023). I asked some of these questions to Borys in a fruitful discussion about the future of AI-generated videos.
“We maintain very high ethical standards and closely monitor all content generated by our customers. If the content violates any of our policies, such as featuring violence, harmful behavior, offensive language and more, the video would not be generated,” Borys said. “Our high ethical standards aren’t just nice to have; they are core to our mission and set us apart in a competitive market.”
Unfortunately, not everyone in the industry follows these standards, making the next few years crucial for determining who will succeed, and what legal requirements will evolve. For now, there are no current regulations requiring content to be labeled as AI-generated, but that may change in the future.
Conclusion
AI-generated videos hold immense potential for reshaping the corporate landscape. Synthesia serves as an inspiring example of this transformation, and working even with their demo product was seamless, quick and simple. However, harnessing the potential of the technology to the fullest extent requires unwavering adherence to strict ethical standards of all the companies in the sector, reminiscent of Synthesia’s own commitment. When wielded responsibly, AI-generated videos stand as a remarkable testament to the synergy of technology and business solutions, marking an important step into the future.
References
Browne, R. (2023, June 13). Nvidia-backed platform that turns text into A.I.-generated avatars boosts valuation to $1 billion. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/13/ai-firm-synthesia-hits-1-billion-valuation-in-nvidia-backed-series-c.html
Collins, T. (2023, April 24). The Rise of Ethical Concerns about AI Content Creation: A Call to Action. IEEE Computer Society. https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/trends/ethical-concerns-on-ai-content-creation
Synthesia – AI Video generation platform. (n.d.). Www.synthesia.io. https://www.synthesia.io/
UCL. (2023, June 15). AI firm Synthesia, co-founded by UCL scientist, becomes $1bn unicorn. UCL News. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2023/jun/ai-firm-synthesia-co-founded-ucl-scientist-becomes-1bn-unicorn
