Will 2024 Be the Year of the AI Clone?
- By Lachlan Colquhoun
- December 11, 2023
Millions of people have become used to conversing with AI-enabled digital assistants, but not many have interacted with digital versions of real people.
In what could become one of 2024's significant trends, a growing number of people are now creating digital clones of themselves, harnessing the power of AI to make clones that can interact with tens of thousands of people at any hour of the day.
The concept has gained traction in China and Taiwan among the booming influencer markets, and a Taiwanese fashion influencer recently live-streamed for 15 hours straight with the help of an AI avatar.
Companies like Silicon Intelligence can now create AI clones at low cost.
"For as little as 8,000 yuan, we can generate a basic AI clone," says Sima Huapeng, CEO of Silicon Intelligence.
For example, a property consultant in the U.K. has a chatbot version of himself which can answer questions from clients and write in his tone of voice.
Trained on the consultant's book, his column in a U.K. newspaper and his podcast, the chatbot has increased the number of people he interacts with, freeing up his time and providing a good initial experience for clients he can follow up with later.
His chatbot was created by U.K. company Coachvox AI, which has reportedly also made a chatbox for an astrologer, a nutritionist, a fitness coach and a marriage counselor.
Coachbox says its clones can help clients generate leads and engage with audiences.
"Clone yourself with AI trained on your content and style," the company's website says.
"Coach and mentor your audience, add value to your clients and empower your team."
Jodie Cook, the founder of Coachvox AI, says the idea enables people in various professions to "scale up to infinity."
"You are essentially cloning yourself by making your brain available 24/7," she says.
There are seven "training rooms" where users can configure their AI, replicate their voice tone, and upload content.
Users then "talk" with their AI clone to assess responses, give feedback and improve it before it is embedded on a website or app.
There is also a dashboard with data on the number of conversations, where visitors are based, and what they are talking about. A data point also tells users how much time the AI clone has saved them.
This is particularly relevant for people who spend much of their time answering queries and repeating the same answers to frequently asked questions.
They can now save that time, answer the FAQs around the clock, and respond to queries from any timezone.
"If you've been creating content for a while, you are perfectly placed to turn yourself into an AI coach," says Jodie Cook.
"You've done so much of the hard work already."
Inspiring Loyalty
Tavus is another player in this developing market, offering a video personalization platform "with the power to take what you record once and automatically transform it into countless AI-generated videos."
These videos are customized with voice variables to "inspire loyalty and repeat conversions long after you hit send."
With this technology, marketers can send an endless stream of video pitches to prospective customers either through cold calling or through responding to online inquiries.
Recruitment firms could also, in another example, send personalized videos to candidates using information on LinkedIn profiles.
Based in California, Tavus recently raised $6 million in seed funding in a round led by Sequoia with participation from Lightspeed Ventures.
AI voice overs
Another AI cloning is based on replicating a person's voice, and Aug X has released a feature called Augie, which enables users to record their own or someone else's voice and clone it for short videos.
The feature is aimed at social media teams and marketers who need to quickly add voiceovers to photos, text, and music without the need to go into a studio.
Another vendor, Synthesia, offers a combination of sound and video to create a talking avatar on the screen.
Users film themselves talking into a microphone, and the program can then speak to customers or staff members in more than 120 languages, which the company says is a "realistic digital version of yourself."
2024 is shaping as a year when not only will the world's population of bots grow exponentially, but an ever-increasing number of virtual clones will join them.
Image credit: iStockphoto/jroballo
Lachlan Colquhoun
Lachlan Colquhoun is the Australia and New Zealand correspondent for CDOTrends and the NextGenConnectivity editor. He remains fascinated with how businesses reinvent themselves through digital technology to solve existing issues and change their business models.