TikTok offers brands ambassadors animated by AI

The video looks like that of an influencer, but his words and movements come from artificial intelligence. Via the “Symphony Digital Avatars” tools, the Chinese social network TikTok offers advertisers and influencers the opportunity to create short videos, which can also be automatically dubbed for international campaigns.

TikTok concretely provides brands and creators with pre-produced avatars with the help of actors, “who have been paid and whose commercial use is authorized”, specifies the group, which mentions different profiles and more than 30 languages supported. But it is also possible to use a personalized avatar, taking on the role of spokesperson or ambassador.

For TikTok, these artificial voices, faces and words unironically aim to “humanize” (sic) company content. The group points out that 58% of users would be more inclined to trust brands after being informed by creators. The company adds that 79% of users have a preference for brands that demonstrate a clear understanding of how to create platform-specific content.

What we call “avatarization” is not new, but TikTok could well mark the democratization of its use here. Tools like Lalal.ai or ElevenLabs would already make it possible to make artificial voices based on real voices speak. Tools offered by Microsoft, HeyGen, Synthesia and Argil had previously paved the way for the physical generation of realistic avatars. Avatars who are now even beginning to be able to move in virtual universes that are themselves generated at will.

The mistake would be to see this as just a gimmick. With TikTok Shop, the social network intends to generate nearly 16 billion euros in product sales this year in the American market alone. In April, the group even launched a section in the United States and the United Kingdom dedicated to the sale of second-hand luxury products. TikTok’s European ambitions will, however, have to accommodate local legislation, the European Union having launched several investigations concerning the practices of the Chinese social network.