This is not something that I look forward to. But, I can definitely understand the appeal. You don’t need to rehearse your talk, dress up, drink a cup of tea to calm down your nerves. The technology is already here. New AI-powered platforms like DeeVid, Synthesia, and HeyGen can let you generate a talking avatar from your photo. The quality and the accessibility of such tools will only improve exponentially. One question is if this is ethical. This is like hiring a professional actor to present your seminar. Of course, this is your work and the seminar script is prepared by you. So, if you inform the audience that your seminar is presented by an AI avatar, I don’t see why this is not ethical. Perhaps, a more important question is if your seminar attendees will be okay with listening to your AI avatar talking. I am not so sure about that unless you provide a very good excuse why you cannot present your work by yourself (e.g., if you are sick on the day of seminar or have a conflict in your schedule).
Of course, this technology can be a blessing for those who are absolutely bad at oral presentation. I am talking about those who have thick accent, or extremely low talkers. But, I don’t think people will accept that as a good excuse, although listening to AI avatar could be much more effective than listening to the actual person in such cases. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how things evolve and new norms emerge in the realm of online and in-person meetings.
Here is a 30 sec clip of my AI avatar presenting a shortened abstract of my paper “Human-induced changes in the global meridional overturning circulation are emerging from the Southern Ocean”.
Well. He is slightly better looking than actual myself, for some reasons. For one, he has almost perfect teeth. 😂
Image Credit: https://www.uctoday.com/unified-communications/the-evolution-of-ai-avatars-digital-twins-in-uc-tools/
Ocean to Climate 
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