Virtual Humans in Language Learning, News Media, and for Creators
Virtual Humans in Language Learning, News Media, and for Creators
New use cases emerge
There was a time not so long ago that many people thought that virtual humans would break through first in customer contact centers. The rationale was that putting a friendly face in front of a chatbot would improve customer satisfaction. There are some examples of this support use case, but it doesn’t appear to be where the momentum is right now.
Natalie Monbiot, head of strategy at Hour One, joined me at the recent Synthedia Conference to discuss a number of new use cases. First up was language learning and a video about Hour One’s work with Berlitz (video time stamp: 5:20).
Language Learning
Berlitz wanted to use video recordings of instructors for several of its online language programs because it improves user learning progress and satisfaction. However, the time and cost were significant. This tied up the instructor’s time recording and rerecording lessons when changes were needed. Instead, they created virtual human clones of the instructors, which now gives them a humanlike touch, maximum flexibility, and an order of magnitude lower cost.
In addition, the instructors no longer need to be language instructors or even speak the language. Voice actors can be enlisted and applied to any number of languages. It’s a scalable solution that is already paying dividends for Berlitz as Monbiot details in her remarks.
I have had many conversations with virtual human companies, and training is clearly a hot use case. Companies can produce text and have virtual humans go through the training instead of dedicating human staff to the task or providing a far less engaging text-only solution. Language learning is simply a specific form of a training use case.
Information Publishers
Monbiot also provided examples of what we can call information publishers. Defiant media has a virtual news anchor (video time stamp: 17:08)for its futures report and are producing more content due to the efficiencies. Interestingly, the virtual news anchor is a clone of the company’s futurist.
Hour One is also working with social media creators such as YouTuber Dom Esposito, which we covered in an earlier post. Monbiot shared a video of another creator, Taryn Souther, whom the company worked with in 2021 (video time stamp: 13:05). Many creators don’t have production staff and the technology has the potential to provide them with new opportunities to develop more and more varied content for their audiences. It’s a scalability solution that also can introduce new content formats for creators.
A Better Virtual Human Introduction
One thing these use cases have going for them is the user comes to these virtual human engagements primed for a good experience or at least with a neutral attitude. When they are engaging with customer support, they typically have a negative mindset because they are in problem-solving mode, and the contact is not how they would prefer to spend their time. Is that the best situation to introduce customers to virtual human technology?
Consumers are likely to be more receptive to virtual human technology if their experiences start off with a positive intent, such as learning. This, in turn, will raise awareness around virtual humans while increasing user familiarity and acceptance of the technology.
Much more to come on this topic. Let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter. What do you think are the best near-term virtual human use cases?
