Val Jones CTO of Storyfile on Conversational Video - Voicebot Podcast Ep 271

Val Jones joined Storyfile as CTO in January 2021 after a
leadership role at Raxium and 16 years at the USC Institute for
Creative Technologies. The institute has been at the forefront of
synthetic media research and innovation for more than a
decade. 


Storyfile has products that might be thought of by some as
virtual humans or digital twins, but the company characterizes
its solution as conversational video. After capturing robust
video recordings of people discussing a particular set of topics,
Storyfile creates an interactive lifelike avatar that you can
talk to through a website, app, or kiosk. The most famous
Storyfile user is the actor William Shatner though the project
first gained widespread attention by capturing the experiences of
holocaust survivors. 


Today, the technology is used for everything from entertainment,
training, and answering product questions to preserving the
memories of loved ones before they pass away. Jones discusses the
use cases, technology evolution, and trade-offs in this rapidly
growing market segment. 


Jones earned PhD, master's, and undergraduate degrees in computer
science from USC.