Hour One yes describes it as a “video processing company” that wants to replace cameras with code. His latest creation is the ability for anyone to create a completely digital clone of himself that can speak on video without.
The company launched its digital clone technology in collaboration with the YouTuber Taryn Southern . In the video you can see a completely digital creation, born from a proprietary AI-based process.
Video? Let's get the digital clone to do it
Hour One provides that in the next 5-7 years, 90% of the content will be synthetic. Generated using computers instead of cameras.
When the pandemic hit, production across the world came to a halt. People were looking for alternative ways to create content and I was curious about what could be produced with AI-generated videos. Experiencing the digital clone makes you think about the future of identity and trust, and will undoubtedly change the future of manufacturing.
Taryn Southern
To create her AI clone, Southern had to walk into a studio and stand in front of a green screen in order to be shot from multiple angles. He also uttered several sentences so that the program could replicate his voice. Few things: he read some lyrics and sang a song. The entire process took just seven minutes. Here is a backstage video.
From that process it was possible to create hundreds of videos in minutes, simply by sending text to the platform. No cameras, no shots to record, no audio to edit.
The advantages of the digital clone
Hour One claims that the advantages of having a digital clone outweigh the possible disadvantages. The company claims that with this technology, content creators will see a dramatic reduction in video production time and cost. Taryn jokes that she can now create new YouTube videos "without the real Taryn having to shower or leave her bed." And she's not wrong.
But there's more: any AI clone can speak multiple languages, easily distributing its content to more people around the world.
What is the difference with a deepfake?
It is important to distinguish this digital clone technology from a “deepfake“. The deepfake takes a face and overlays it onto existing or newly recorded footage. What Hour One does is create completely original content as if it were spoken by a real person. Hour One calls the result a “photorealistic digital human.”
While this process may not lend itself to all types of content (like comedy, for example, which relies heavily on performance and timing), Hour One argues that it could be very effective for news formats, for which l he focus is on the timeliness and quality of writing and reporting, and other types of speaker-driven content.
In our increasingly virtual work environment, Hour One's technology can also be applied well to e-learning, e-commerce and digital health, places where a human speaker is extremely valuable
From a company press release
The digital clone technology, according to Hour One, is already available. Sul company website there are numerous examples. While the initial iteration of the technology may seem slightly inferior to the real thing, it's already pretty close. I hate to think about the possible improvements and applications, for example in virtual reality environments.
