TikTok ads may soon contain AI avatars of your favorite creators

TikTok is introducing some new generative AI tools that aim to help organizations and content creators grow their global audiences using customizable digital avatars and language dubbing features. Building on the Symphony generative AI ad suite unveiled last month, TikTok says these new tools are intended to break down language barriers in marketing and allow brands to “add a human touch to their content” where real models or presenters wouldn’t otherwise be used.

The first of the new offerings is Symphony Digital Avatars, which are available in two varieties: stock or custom. Stock avatars are based on paid actors from a diverse range of backgrounds, nationalities, and languages. They are available for commercial use. Custom avatars, meanwhile, are created to resemble a specific creator or a brand spokesperson and speak multiple languages — allowing the accounts that utilize them to reach foreign audiences while retaining a specific likeness. Regardless of which type of avatar is used, videos that use them will be marked with an “AI-generated” label.

That multi-language support comes courtesy of Symphony AI Dubbing — a “global translation tool” that enables creators and marketers to dub their content into over 10 languages and dialects, including French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Korean. TikTok says the tool automatically detects what language is being spoken in videos and is capable of transcribing, translating, and producing a dubbed video in whatever language was selected by the user.

There’s certainly precedent for creators attempting to retain their own identities while breaking into other language markets. For example, MrBeast notably uses YouTube’s multi-language audio track support to dub his videos into other languages. FKA Twigs also revealed last month that she’s created a multilingual “deepfake” version of herself to help promote her work globally. We have asked TikTok about the pricing structure for its new AI marketing tools but have not yet heard back.

The demonstration video TikTok provided of a custom digital avatar — based on TikTok’s global head of content strategy and operations, Adrienne Lahens — is a little uncanny, but it looks just natural enough to be convincing if you’re not fixated on its overly expressive movements.

Still, creators will need to have faith that TikTok’s new dubbing tools will be accurate enough to avoid embarrassing mistranslation blunders. And TikTok users who are already sick of the platform’s pervasive ads may not find being pitched to by digital avatars any less frustrating than the real deal.