AI avatars are replacing CEOs on camera – trend or gimmick?

The face of your favorite CEO might soon be synthetic. Klarna and Zoom have just used artificial intelligence (AI) avatars for their CEOs to deliver quarterly updates, a bold signal in the age of synthetic communication.

These high-profile companies are among the first to test the waters of artificial leadership, raising eyebrows across the tech and business worlds.

Klarna presented their quarterly earnings report with an AI-generated avatar of CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski – not the man himself.

The avatar was trained on hours of archival footage of Siemiatkowski to replicate his voice, mannerisms, and speaking style.

Synthetic speeches begin

In the video, glitches were apparent, including slightly off facial expressions, awkward blinking, and lip-syncing errors.

The move wasn’t just a PR stunt, as Klarna positioned itself as an AI-first company.

While not perfect, it proved that Klarna walks the talk when it comes to wearing AI on its sleeve.

For Zoom, CEO Eric Yuan also used a generated version of himself to promote a new Zoom feature, in which users can create their own avatars and make 30-second videos for $12 per month.

This is proof that Zoom is evolving into a full-stack productivity platform powered by AI. The companion feature, already built into the app, automates meeting notes and follow-ups, reducing workflow by 25%.

This avatar's launch acts as a repositioning for Zoom, and puts them in competition with other big AI players like Microsoft and Google.

Different AI philosophies

Klarna and Zoom have relatively different company cultures.

Klarna’s approach is rooted in lean operations, as they have reduced staff by 40% since 2022, from 5000 to 3000.

They are known to embrace aggressive automation and have replaced 700 customer service staff with OpenAI-powered bots.

Zoom, meanwhile, hasn't reported any significant layoffs due to the development of AI.

If anything, they’ve tripled their engineering team, and as Eric Yuan has explicitly said, “AI can’t replace a handshake at Starbucks,” proving Zoom to be quite human-centric.

Tensions and trade-offs

While it’s an impressive move on one hand, on the other hand, it sparks debates as to whether a scripted and synthetic execution would be as ethical with tough news such as layoffs or financial losses.

When you see a human CEO, such as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, show a pedigree of humanity, it can bring faith throughout the infrastructure of a company.

One also wonders how much polish is necessary to apply to a CEO’s speech, and if the avatar risks crossing the line from transparency into theatrics - delivering a performance instead of a message.