Welcome to the second episode of our interview series, featuring Matthew Kershaw, a renowned expert in doing wonders in the AI Industry. Here, he shares his insights on D-ID, an AI tool making significant advancements in the industry. Notably, D-ID was recently recognized as a 2024 Innovation Prize Winner (Cubie Award) from Harvard’s Digital Data Design Institute.
In this interview, Mr.Kershaw discusses his Move Fast and Work Hard mantra, which has been a cornerstone of his success. Further, this interview provides insights into DID’s innovative approach to AI-driven user interfaces, the challenges they face, and their vision for the future of AI in enhancing human interactions.
Be sure to watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.
Now, let’s begin our conversation with Matthew Kershaw.
Before We Get Into the Specifics, Could You Briefly Tell Us About DID and The Concept of NUI (Natural User Interface)?
Absolutely. NUI stands for Natural User Interface. It’s designed to revolutionize the way people interact with computers and softwares. Traditionally, we’ve used text and, later, graphical interfaces like Windows and touchscreens. But these methods can be cumbersome, especially for larger businesses with complex websites.
It’s hard to find information, particularly when you’re a bigger business, and you have multiple products and different departments. It can be frustrating to sift through numerous manuals just to find an answer to a single question.
Our innovation aims to completely revolutionize this process by allowing face-to-face interactions at scale through AI digital people. This helps businesses engage with their customers globally, in multiple languages, and 24/7.
Could You Highlight Some Challenges You Faced While Developing This Technology?
There are two main challenges. First is the technological aspect, “making the technology work”! When I joined DID in 2020, we could animate a still image, which was impressive then, but now it’s very normal. Now we are able to generate our animations at 100 frames per second.
We constantly try to stay ahead technologically, ensuring our animations are fast and lifelike. We currently generate animations at 100 frames per second, allowing for incredibly low latency and natural interactions.
“We’re always working on the next version of that, the more natural-looking version and a more faster version and integrated into more different tools.”
The second challenge is focus. As a platform, our technology can be used in many ways. “There are so many different use cases for these digital humans.” We’ve had to concentrate on the customer journey, helping enterprises enhance their customer interaction, from awareness to conversion and loyalty.
How Do You Identify and Differentiate From Your Competitors?
We welcome competition. It keeps us innovative. Our niche lies in being enterprise-ready and enterprise-friendly. We’re not as focused on learning and development and training, which is a focus for our competitors. we cater to large enterprises with robust, scalable solutions.
How Do AI-Generated Video Content and Digital Avatars Enhance Marketing Strategies for Large Enterprises?
Engagement is key in marketing, and personalization helps cut through the noise. Our tool allows businesses for example to use high-profile figures, like actors or athletes, in marketing campaigns far beyond traditional media.
These avatars can interact with customers 24/7 in any language, significantly boosting engagement and conversions. This personal touch extends from initial awareness to customer service.
What Future Developments do You Foresee for DID Maybe Like Two Years Down the Road or Three Years?
The technology is still very new to most people. Right now ordinary people still aren’t using, you know, seeing these digital humans on a daily basis. In the future, it will become normal to interact with digital humans on websites and software and that’s one part of our vision. We want this to be normalised.
When visiting a website or using software, we want users not only to have written help but also a digital human to provide instant advice and accurate information.
When you talk to an AI, it’s very flat. We’re also working on making these interactions emotionally intelligent so that the AI can respond appropriately based on the user’s emotions. AI should start to learn and understand when we’re happy, when we’re frustrated, when we’re sad, when we’re bored, and respond appropriately.
“I think it would be good if AI has some EQ as well as some IQ”
How Does DID Handle Copyright and Ethical Concerns, Especially with AI-Generated Content? Recently, 4,700 Artists Filed a Suit Against So Many AI-Generated Apps.
Luckily, we don’t generate images. So, it’s not really an issue for us!
What we deal with is people and the people. Customers could either bring their own images, which they need to have licensed, or they can bring, you know, people or video of people, which they need to have licensed.
We have off-the-shelf, you know, 60, 70 avatars, which you can use. And obviously, they’re all paid, you know, fairly. We have contracts with them. They’re getting paid the kind of market rate for that. So, yeah, this is not a problem for us.
We focus on privacy and ethical usage. We prevent unauthorized use of celebrity images and monitor the content generated by our tools. Users must have permission, and our videos clearly indicate they are AI-generated. This transparency helps maintain trust and prevents misuse.
How Are AI and Digital Avatars Transforming Business Interactions and Operational Efficiency?
Our clients report significant cost savings and increased content production in multiple languages. The agents enhance user engagement and conversions by providing instant, accurate responses, making interactions smoother and more efficient.
People are saving money, that’s one of the things, the main reasons why people sort of came to us in the first place was because the cost of creating video is so expensive.
We also have to create videos, we have to go and film with our avatars. So, you know, I was just filming this week, there’s the location, the lighting, the camera, so many people the costume, the makeup, you know, so it’s a very expensive process.
So that’s one of the big bits of feedback we’re getting is it’s reducing cost and not just reducing the cost of making, but that allows people to make more.
So people are making, making a lot more content in more languages and more appropriate for the audiences that they’re trying to reach. And then in terms of agents, it’s a slightly newer product for us, But what we are seeing is better conversions.
So people are more engaged. They’re more likely to click. They’re more likely to buy when there’s one of these digital human avatars because they’re just getting their questions answered more. They’re able to do it more naturally. They’re not going back to what we were talking about, having to navigate submenus and submenus.
How do AI Technologies Enhance Human Creativity Rather Than Replace It?
Creativity would still be there no matter how much AI we are.
AI democratizes creativity by lowering costs and removing gatekeepers. This allows anyone with a vision to create and tell their story without needing extensive resources.
For example, if it costs me $5,000, $10,000 to do a shoot, just a really simple one in a studio, that’s a limitation for someone creative. But with AI now people on their own without having to pay, bring lots of people into the mix, and pay lots of money can now create their vision, and tell their story. That’s how, these AI tools are helping people’s creativity.
AI tools are freeing the shackles, but, it’s really only humans who understand the human story also what’s interesting, what’s not interesting.
Human creativity remains essential for understanding and innovating the human story, keeping content fresh and engaging.
We are super excited about superhero films. And then all of a sudden we’re like, kind of see. Yeah, we got bored. So the ability to always stay on the cusp of, like where the zeitgeist is, to know where the next thing is going to be that’s interesting is a uniquely human thing to do.
It’s just, that I don’t believe that’s something that AIs will ever be able to do because they’re not human and they don’t live in our world.
What Do You Think Is The Next Big Step In AI After Human Digital Avatars?
I’ve always envisioned a future where everyone has access to personalized support, much like the wealthy individuals depicted in TV shows like “Succession.”
These people have teams of lawyers, PR experts, photographers, and personal assistants handling every aspect of their lives. While this level of support has traditionally been out of reach for most, I believe AI will change that.
We will all have AI personal assistants to help us with tasks, both professionally and personally, making such support accessible to everyone. These assistants will handle various tasks, making our lives more efficient and interconnected like It’s going and making phone calls for us. It’s going to do the bookings and organizing things etc.
What Ethical Challenges Do You Anticipate For DID In The Future?
Our origins are rooted in privacy. Initially, we developed technology to slightly alter people’s faces in images, preventing them from being scraped online by bots and image recognition software.
A potential issue we face is the misuse of images of famous individuals to create misleading or harmful avatars and videos. To combat this, we have implemented several safeguards.
First, we use moderation tools to prevent the upload of celebrity images, such as those of President Biden or famous movie stars. Second, we moderate the text that users want the characters to say, ensuring that the content is not harmful or offensive.
Third, for voice samples, we require users to include a disclaimer stating they have permission to use the voice and that it is their own.
Additionally, we maintain transparency by embedding a logo in our videos indicating that the content is AI-generated. This ensures that viewers are aware of the content’s provenance and that we are not misleading anyone. We continuously enhance our safeguards as we develop our technology, reinforcing our commitment to ethical practices.
As AI evolves, we’ll continue to enhance these measures to uphold ethical standards.
Any Advice For Young Entrepreneurs Entering the AI Industry?
I would say the old rule still applies: move fast. It’s incredibly important. You need to work hard and move quickly because the world is constantly changing.
It’s crucial to consistently show value, which is something we are very focused on—bringing value to our customers. To do that, you need to be agile and quick on your feet. My main advice would be: move quickly. Don’t wait for opportunities; create them.
If you wish to know more about D-ID, please visit https://www.d-id.com/. We at AllAboutAI.com are excited to bring you more inspiring stories from industry leaders like Abhinav.
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