Shutterstock will share its content library with London-based AI unicorn Synthesia as it trains a new model for its generated avatars.
The new agreement grants the research and development team at Synthesia access to Shutterstock’s hundreds of millions of images and videos to support the development of EXPRESS-2, an upcoming AI video and audio model that will power the company’s new generation of avatars.
Synthesia has become one of the UK’s biggest AI companies, after a £145.5m Series D round valued the firm at more than $2bn.
The group’s AI technology can generate photorealistic avatar speakers that can present scripts in a natural, human-like way – generally used for corporate communications and training.
The company has poured millions into developing its technology to incorporate emotions and realistic body language to make its avatars more natural.
Synthesia hopes that by being granted a licence to use Shutterstock’s vast content library, its latest model will be able to learn to a greater degree the nuances of human behaviour, particularly in the context of business.
This is not Shutterstock’s first foray into artificial intelligence, with the stock image and video firm releasing its own AI image generation tool trained on its content library.
Rival group Getty Images has similarly launched an AI image generator.
Read more: Can AI art inspire? Synthesia’s CEO says maybe
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