A: Came across this and found it interesting: https://generated.photos/humans. Lots of great use cases outside of learning tech, e.g. but could potentially be useful for learning content creation too.
generated.photosgenerated.photos
Get super realistic whole-body images. Use them wherever you want and don't worry about legal stuff.
We noticed the models currently have limited variety but looks like that's coming as they've said next steps are to add Diverse body types, Different ages, Various clothing, & Different poses.
Though it does look like they also have generated.photos which seems to be more 2D and headshots and this has the option for emotion and age: (edited)

B: I’ve also stumbled on this before and can certainly see this being used in traditional e-learning courses.  One of the many little ways that AI will start to impact on what we do. Could be even more powerful if they can do this with things like video talking heads. I think AI will impact both how we produce our courses (improving raw content, helping mock-ups, and prototypes, etc) as well as the end product.

C: Have you seen the synethesia talking heads? I think they are awful. synthesia.io
Synthesia | #1 AI Video Generation Platform
Create AI videos by simply typing in text. Easy to use, cheap and scalable. Make engaging videos with human presenters — directly from your browser. Free demo. https://www.synthesia.io/

A: Absolutely. It all seems to be happening quicker than (at least I) anticipated, so I reckon before too long we'll have some really solid stuff - Synthesia's translation videos are already animating their avatars pretty convincingly, think it'll be the full AI avatars very soon and giving us the power to edit.I think they're not bad at all, but perhaps because I know they're AI and so have lower expectations.

C: I think they look amazing except the voice and lips look and sound a bit off. Like we are in uncanny valley territory. I think that matters because it stops them being human-like. And that is what matters for learning. Also no gesturing :wave::pinched_fingers::i_love_you_hand_sign:

B: A slightly-related LinkedIn post from Nick Shackleton Jones, with an interesting viewpoint:
Nick Shackleton-Jones on LinkedIn: #learning #ai #people
So what does AI mean for Learning & Development?
As some of you know, I’ve been a critic of ‘content dumping’ for some time - by which I mean the kind... 4
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7005864248442503168/

A: I agree with it not being human-like enough to provide the best LX. I think AI is typically more aimed at making it easier, quicker, and less expensive to produce at scale - the commercial reality of our world. But I suppose that's where people like us come in - fight the experience corner to make sure the scale comes with quality as much as possible :slightly_smiling_face:

B: I think there are many situations where our customers would be willing to sacrifice the LX to some degree for convenience and costs savings - as you say, the reality of the commercial world
and our judgements of good quality do not always match those of our customers - our customers often like things we might think to be lower quality

A: Very true. Time will tell, and the quality of AI will only get better (hopefully!)

B: Agree. I do think in some ways it will require providers like us to ‘up our game’. Technology will allow others to enter the marketplace and will allow providers to make standard e-learning in a very cost-effective manner, so higher-quality suppliers like us will have to continue to find ways to innovate and differentiate ourselves with regards to our service and products (as per The Innovator’s Dilemma book)

A: Will give the book a read as I haven't before, but it certainly seems like sound reasoning, and what [we] are here for! :slightly_smiling_face: