Company:Synthesia
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founder | Lourdes Agapito, Matthias Niessner, Victor Riparbelli, Steffen Tjerrild |
| Headquarters | , England |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Website | www |
Synthesia is a synthetic media generation platform used to create AI generated video content. It is based in London, England.
Overview
Synthesia's software algorithm mimics speech and facial movements based on video recordings of an individual’s speech and phoneme pronunciation. From this a text-to-speech video is created to look and sound like the individual.[1][2]
Users create content via the platform's pre-generated AI presenters[3] or by creating digital representations of themselves, called artificial reality identities (ARI), using the platform's AI generation tool.[4] These avatars can be used to narrate videos generated from text. As of August 2021, Synthesia's voice database included multiple gender options in over sixty languages.[4][5]
The platform also does not allow its software to be used to recreate celebrities or political figures for satirical purposes.[6] Explicit consent must be provided in addition to a strict pre-screening regimen for use of an individual’s likeness to avoid “deepfaking”.[7]
Synthesia is most often used by corporations for communication, orientation, and training videos.[8] It has been used in advertising campaigns, reporting, product demonstrations, and to create chatbots.[3][9]
History
Synthesia's software utilizes deep learning architecture and was developed by Lourdes Agapito and Matthias Niessner. The company was co-founded in 2017 by Agapito, Niessner, Victor Riparbelli, and Steffen Tjerrild.[10] In 2018, the company first demonstrated the software’s capabilities on the BBC programme Click when it presented a digitization of Matthew Amroliwala speaking Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi.[11]
In 2021, Synthesia partnered with Lay's to create the Messi Messages campaign featuring Argentine footballer Lionel Messi. Users created personalized messages with Synthesia's software and sent custom artificial reality video messages from Messi based on their text input.[12] The campaign received a Cannes Lion Award.[13]
Funding
Synthesia raised $3.1 million in seed funding in 2019.[9] In April 2021, the company raised $12.5 million in Series A funding.[4] In December 2021, it raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Kleiner Perkins and GV.[14]
References
- ↑ Simonite, Tom. "Deepfakes Are Now Making Business Pitches" (in en-US). Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. https://www.wired.com/story/deepfakes-making-business-pitches/.
- ↑ "Dubbing is coming to a small screen near you". 2019-12-21. https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2019/12/21/dubbing-is-coming-to-a-small-screen-near-you.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Khalid, Amrita. "The Next Great Tool for Winning Customers and Training Employees: Deepfakes". https://www.inc.com/amrita-khalid/deepfake-technology-artificial-intelligence-employee-training-customer-service.html.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Crook, Jordan (2021-04-20). "Synthesia's AI video generation platform hooks $12.5 million Series A led by FirstMark" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/20/synthesias-ai-video-generation-platform-hooks-12-5-million-series-a-led-by-firstmark/.
- ↑ Dale, Robert (2022-04-08). "The voice synthesis business: 2022 update" (in en). Natural Language Engineering 28 (3): 401–408. doi:10.1017/S1351324922000146. ISSN 1351-3249. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/natural-language-engineering/article/voice-synthesis-business-2022-update/0E02E7E5A3934A243E84D4FD7E8A3502.
- ↑ Heilweil, Rebecca (2020-06-29). "How deepfakes could actually do some good" (in en). https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/6/29/21303588/deepfakes-anonymous-artificial-intelligence-welcome-to-chechnya.
- ↑ "Synthesia, which is developing AI to generate synthetic videos, secures $50M" (in en-US). 2021-12-08. https://venturebeat.com/ai/synthesia-which-is-developing-ai-to-generate-synthetic-videos-secures-50m/.
- ↑ Crook, Jordan (2021-12-08). "Synthesia raises $50M to leverage synthetic avatars for corporate training and more" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/08/synthesia-raises-50m-to-leverage-synthetic-avatars-for-corporate-training-and-more/.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Roettgers, Janko (2019-08-22). "How AI Tech Is Changing Dubbing, Making Stars Like David Beckham Multilingual" (in en-US). https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/ai-dubbing-david-beckham-multilingual-1203309213/.
- ↑ Butcher, Mike (2019-04-25). "The startup behind that deep-fake David Beckham video just raised $3M" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/25/the-startup-behind-that-deep-fake-david-beckham-video-just-raised-3m/.
- ↑ "BBC World News - Click, Top Quality Fake News, BBC newsreader 'speaks' languages he can’t" (in en-GB). https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06r8g4l.
- ↑ "You can now send personalised videos from an AI version of Messi. It's weird." (in en). 2021-03-16. https://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-the-toe-poke/story/4339225/messi-messages-fans-can-send-personalised-video-from-ai-version-of-barca-star-and-its-weird.
- ↑ "The Work | Lions Entry | Messi Messages" (in en). https://www.lovethework.com/en-GB/entries/messi-messages-590442.
- ↑ Lee, Jane Lanhee (2021-12-08). "AI video avatar platform Synthesia raises $50 mln in venture capital" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/markets/funds/ai-video-avatar-platform-synthesia-raises-50-mln-venture-capital-2021-12-08/.
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