Image: Kaspars Grinvalds (Shutterstock)
TikTok recently announced Symphony Digital Avatars, a new way to incorporate ads on its platform. The social media app will soon feature AI-generated avatars of popular creators. According to the company, the aim is “to help creators and brands captivate global audiences and deliver impactful messages in an immersive and authentic way.”
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Two types of avatars are being introduced for now: Stock Avatars and Custom Avatars. The former uses paid actors, while the latter will feature creators or brand spokespeople.
Custom Avatars are being touted for having the ability to converse in multiple languages, which would help promote their content to a broader audience. TikTok is hopeful that the multi-linguistic ability of these upcoming avatars will help creators leverage their appeal even better. According to the announcement post, the company is currently testing Custom Avatars with their community of creators.
I’m unsure how I feel about seeing AI-generated versions of my favorite creators peddling products to me. The inundation of ads on our most-used social media platforms is already a complaint among users. Consumers have been experimenting with ways to circumvent adblockers on sites such as YouTube, but video-sharing platforms continue to test new ways to handle adblockers.
Sitting through unskippable ads on TikTok was bothersome enough, and I imagine watching an AI ad of my favorite creator will be even harder. Ironically enough, this announcement comes as part of Tiktok’s new Symphony generative AI ad suite, which was revealed recently and aims to “add a human touch” to branded content on the app.