The Impact of Seeing My FIRST Hyper-Realistic AI Avatar
In commercial video production, we have a saying, 'Seeing is Believing'. So it goes with the job that I do, that when we deliver videos, they need to have inherent in their creative design, quality, and presentation to hit the mark. I recently invested in starting up a new division to build the next stage of our already three-year journey to transform TVNF into an AI-driven media production agency. This was in partnership with my new business soulmate Doriel Alie, who is now Managing Director of our AI Avatar creation service, which we have called MirrorMe. The aim is simple: convert a script using AI into a presentation by your own Digital Twin without the need for any filming.
As co-founder of MirrorMe, I simply had no choice. Doriel said, "JP, this is not optional, you must lead from the front and show this really works". So my first-ever AI Capture session was booked.
Just a few days after my capture session, I stood beside Doriel and Nesanath (our genius Head of Production) for the big reveal ...and prepared for the worst! Would I appear semi-robotic? What about those tell-tale AI glitches that I had seen with YouTubers trying to show off their latest Avatars? And how about the sense of realism? This was about to shape the level of success we could expect from MirrorMe. I come from the corporate media production world. Standards are high amongst our TVNF client base and are always at London Agency level. This had to match the best natural performance any CEO might expect to see.
I also had my own presenting standards. My first video presentation was back in 1997 when I worked at IBM to present on camera our partnership in providing a global network for a company called Healix. This was at the advent of the Internet. Healix was launching the World's first internet TV Channel for Doctors. I had my first taste of being in a professional TV studio with an autocue. Ever since then, I have feared appearing on camera. This is despite my running a video company. Yet I have been privileged to direct and learn from top professional presenters, TV celebrities, and CEOs of Blue Chip companies, and learnt the craft of good on-camera presenting by osmosis. In my early days, this included working alongside David Bowen-Jones, who for over 20 years produced and presented as a journalist for the BBC's Panorama. Such experience was invaluable, and I have been told I now look like a pro. I was lucky to gain such lessons, but this was accompanied in equal measure by psychological baggage. The problem is that as you move from being an amateur presenter to a decent one and eventually to somewhat acceptable, you only achieve this by analysing your own flaws and then honing your skills. My own standards now give me a little voice in my head that keeps telling me 'JP, that's not good enough!'. That's why the stress of presenting to the camera never eases, and I usually end up doing countless retakes or trying out the latest AI tools to clean up my act in post-production. The result is that deep down I hate doing what I most need to do to which is to regularly present on camera and promote TVNF on LinkedIn and all our social media.
Doriel started the session not with my 'Digital Twin' but the real me presenting to the script. I watched and grimaced as I instantly spotted the flaws, like hmm's and ah's, incorrect intonation, poor modulation, eye contact, body language, and weak conviction in certain parts of my video presentation. Not good.
Then Doriel played my Avatar. I was (and this is rare) speechless. Here was a natural-looking 'best version' of JP Allard presenting to the level I had aspired to. BBC quality with flawless clarity and perfect in every respect, including my hand gestures. I felt a glow inside me - this really works. Doriel and Nesanath had formulated a sophisticated multi-step process to remove the rough edges from the popular 'off-the-shelf' software tools on the market and got us to agency-level production. I also felt a magical sense of relief. Using my Avatar would mean I might never need to present on camera again, simply send Doriel a script "et voila''. A few days ago I demoed my Avatar to the Group Marketing Manager of European IT Company who had been using AI Avatars for 3 years. He instantly recognised the quality so instead of a "no thanks we have already got this" follow on discussions were planned for key areas of his international marketing. Seeing is believing, here's the demo video I showed him.
My very first personalised MirrorMe AI Avatar LINK TO VIEW HERE
The next Avatar Doriel showed me was a test of my speaking the same script in fluent Hindi. See for yourself and imagine the limitless global communications and marketing possibilities.
Hindi Test of my MirrorMe AI Avatar LINK TO VIEW HERE
High-quality corporate and agency-level production AI Avatars have been born. The next MirrorMe version of me is nearly here, where I will present in interactive mode connected to Chat GPT. The challenge of authentication and managing security is also one my team is working on with the release of a blockchain-secured delivery platform with a certificate for authentication. But technology aside, as a Director, all I care about is people seeing the best version of me ...and not having to appear on camera.
