As a communicator, you’ll know that video is often the most effective way to reach people.
Half of all time spent on Facebook is spent watching video and we retain 90 per cent of a message compared to just a tenth of it in text.
But creating video takes longer than writing out a sentence. So what can we do?
If you wanted to, you could create a basic avatar for your organisation in less than five minutes. An avatar is an AI-powered video likeness of someone who can then deliver your script. Or maybe you need to borrow a voice for a voiceover.
If you are public sector, there’s a few things to take into account first.
Firstly, have you got an AI policy?
In 2025, more than 20 per cent of the public sector are using AI, according to the Alan Turing Institute. But how many of those are using it without having an effective policy in place? The number of people who are creating work arounds isn’t clear but its likely to be significant.
If you haven’t got an AI policy here’s a few pointers for you.
An avatar for external comms: probably not
Trust in AI is a huge issue. A 2025 UK Government tracker survey said that 71 per cent trust the NHS to use AI but just a third trusted Westminster. Not only that, almost half UK people in a 2024 UK YouGov study said they’d not trust content marked as AI.
So, the idea of sending an avatar out to bat with a media statement on an issue feels eye-rollingly bad. When we want to hear from an organisation we still want to see the whites of people’s eyes.
An avatar for internal comms: maybe
How about an internal audience? We need to qualify this. An avatar for an internal message from the senior leadership team doesn’t feel particularly wise. However, there may be places where internal training videos could benefit from an avatar in principle. How you deliver this will decide how successful this is likely to be. Yes, you need to mark it as AI. YouGov data has shown that nine in ten people of all ages want to see AI content marked so they know what they are dealing with.
A generic avatar maybe not
There are several places where you can experiment with off-the-shelf avatars. HeyGen or veed.io are one of two tools that canm create avatars for you. If you’d like a generic received pronunciation voice then there’s certainly something for you. But would this work in Dudley in the Black County? I suspect not.
A localised avatar
However, you can reate an avatar with a local voice using HeyGen. You sit the person down in front of a webcam, you ask it to read set passages and from that a local face and voice can be created.
However, the issue with this is that it may be good but it’s not as good as the real thing. In this example, I’m saying the word ‘path’ as though I’m from the south of England which I’m not.
Creating audio
Creating audio for a voiceover is more effective than creating video and audio at the same time. Eleven Labs does a good job of with audio that can be used to narrate your next video. It is quite handy at replicating accents that are inputted to it.
The awkward GDPR issue
However, if you are looking to create an avatar likeness or to use the voice of a member of staff do remember that GDPR kicks in. You need their permission. You’ll need their permission for every delivery too.
You may be tempted to use that voice in the delivery of press releases on the website or in other public facing content. You’ll need permission for each delivery. When that volunteer with the distinctive local voice gets tapped on the shoulder and asked why they are closing that person’s local library the volunteer voice may quickly lose interest in being the face and voice of the cost-cutting organisation.
At any point said voice actor can withdraw permission for their voice and likeness to be used. This may leave you in an awkward position of losing a stack of content.
Dubbing isn’t that great
Eleven Labs and others do offer the ability to translate from one language to another using AI. Don’t do this without a translator. The risk of mistranslating some medical advice or some important information is significant.
Welsh communicators have long warned against the use of Google Translate as a time-saving tool. All-important subtlety can be lost and the text can be mangled. AI tools may be useful but I can’t stress enough that they still need human oversight.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
I deliver training to help you make sense of the changing landscape ESSENTIAL AI FOR PUBLIC SECTOR COMMS, ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER, ESSENTIAL MEDIA RELATIONS and ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED.
Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons Buxton by Anthony Ewart Smith
So. Seems best not to do video AI. Potentially saves time but loses trust? Makes you wonder where the market is for it. There must be one otherwise AI companies would not have created the option.