Generating AI videos for enterprise with Synthesia CEO Victor Riparbelli | StrictlyVC London

Generative AI Discussion

• Ingrid London and Victor Riparbelli had a fireside chat about generative AI at a recent conference.
• They discussed the controversy surrounding OpenAI's use of Scarlett Johansson's voice without her permission.
• Synthesia takes consent seriously and does not clone anyone's voice or visual likeness without their explicit consent.

OpenAI's Growth Strategies

• OpenAI's growth strategies include creating impressive demo videos and having no content moderation or safety controls, which can help them go viral.
• There are concerns about the potential negative impact of OpenAI's actions on companies like Synthesia, which focuses on enterprise AI video platforms for internal videos and customer service.

Synthesia's Focus

• Synthesia believes that different AI companies will focus on different areas, with OpenAI aiming to be an infrastructure layer and Synthesia providing applied AI solutions for specific problems.
• While foundational models are getting a lot of attention, Synthesia emphasizes the importance of building great products that solve real problems for customers.
• Synthesia has a research team working on deep AI research, but their focus is on a narrow slice of the market: human presenters in videos in corporate contexts.
• Synthesia believes that customers care more about specific features and improvements that solve their problems rather than the underlying technology and parameters of the AI models.
• The focus should be on the customer and their needs, not on competitors like OpenAI or Anthropic.

Synthesia's Business Model

• Synthesia is open to collaborating with B2B companies, including social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, to integrate AI-generated content into their products.
• The company offers an API for developers to incorporate avatars into their applications.
• Synthesia believes that successful video evolution will involve a shift from static mp4 files to more dynamic and interactive video formats.
• The company is currently focused on improving the quality of storytelling capabilities through avatars.
• High-profile people may eventually be added to the platform, but the technology is not yet good enough for widespread adoption.
• The company has a strong business model and is not急于筹集资金.

Building a Moat in the AI Industry

• Building a moat in the AI industry is challenging due to the rapid advancements of AI models like LLMs and diffusion models.
• The speaker believes that building a foundational model should be done in the traditional manner, focusing on creating a product that is an integral part of the customer's infrastructure.
• Open-source models like SAR V are not controllable and are built for a different purpose, such as creative generation rather than consistency or specific instructions.
• The speaker's team has scanned thousands of people in a 3D studio over the past two years, giving them a unique dataset that provides an advantage in creating videos.
• The speaker emphasizes that these technologies should not be considered the end goal or the main product, but rather a temporary advantage in terms of speed to market.