These past few days, I played with Heygen's virtual avatar and created my own virtual incarnation to try out some content. It is similar to Synthesia, which I started using earlier this year, but the difference is that Heygen allows you to customize your avatar for free. (Synthesia also allows customization, but it is much more expensive. The last offer price was $1000 for initial training, and then an annual fee had to be paid.)
But after doing some, I felt something was not quite right. Although the virtual me speaks various languages fluently with a similar tone as mine, it lacks a certain vitality. This is similar to the initial feeling of using Synthesia. At first, it was amazing, and I no longer had to worry about stumbling over words or hiring an actor for videos. But soon, I found the fast production of AI-generated content to be tedious and uninteresting. Occasionally, I come across AI-generated content on other video platforms. Once I realize it's AI, I immediately lose interest and don't watch it. Why? Because I feel it's a waste of time to watch something automatically generated, no matter how visually appealing or fluent it may seem. I would rather watch an imperfect introduction by a real person. This actually reminds me of the difference between attending a live performance and listening to a stereo. Although most live performances have noisy audio and the live show may lack the polished perfection of a recording studio, the experience of being there is completely different from listening to a playback. Of course, the difference between AI videos and real videos cannot be compared to a live performance, but there is a similar psychological perception. AI videos may bring about a "backlash" effect, where people become less concerned about and demanding of "perfection" in videos and instead seek "authenticity." This, in turn, decreases the demand for AI-generated videos. Perhaps what is truly valuable is "automatic translation," where I record in one language and it automatically generates versions in multiple languages. Heygen currently offers this, but the results are still far from perfect in my testing.