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Will Avatars Turn Employees Into Surrogates In An AI Workforce?

Will Avatars Turn Employees Into Surrogates In An AI Workforce?

Forbes03-05-2025
Will Avatars Turn Employees Into Surrogates In An AI Workforce?
I've been playing around with a few online platforms that let you create an avatar of yourself that looks and sounds a lot like you. The one I tried most recently, VEED.IO, created a version of me where the mouth movements didn't quite match how I normally speak. It was basically my face, but the way the mouth moved gave it away. The voice was close, but not exact. Still, it reminded me of the Bruce Willis movie Surrogates. That film showed a world where people stayed home while sending robotic versions of themselves out to live their lives. We already have filters on Zoom that make us look less tired or smooth out a few wrinkles. But creating a video presence that speaks for us without us actually being there feels like a bigger shift. It raises some real questions, especially now that companies are experimenting with AI workforce tools that blur the line between showing up digitally and showing up in person.
How AI Workforce Technology Is Changing The Way Employees Show Up
Several platforms are pushing the limits of what is possible with AI avatars. With just a few clicks, someone can create a professional video of themselves delivering a message, hosting a training session, or participating in a meeting without ever being live. The message they deliver comes from a script that is just copied and pasted into the software, and then the avatar reads it. It's not unlike a video I saw of a complete standup routine that imitated George Carlin's voice and his style. His estate sued for that creation, but it's a different situation when we create avatars of ourselves.
It is easy to see the appeal. No more rushing to get camera ready for Zoom calls. No more worrying about lighting, background noise, or even your energy level. As AI workforce options expand, it becomes tempting to wonder if showing up personally is even necessary in every situation.
Why AI Workforce Solutions Are Appealing In A Remote Work Era
Remote work is not going away. In fact, many companies are embracing it more fully than ever. AI workforce solutions offer a way to stay visible and productive without the constant drain of live video appearances.
There are practical benefits. Employees who feel uncomfortable on camera might feel more confident sending an avatar. Teams can create consistent training content without repeating themselves. Leaders can appear across multiple meetings at once without ever leaving their office.
In a way, the rise of AI workforce tools feels like a natural next step in a world that is already blending digital and human experiences.
What AI Workforce Trends Could Mean For Trust And Authenticity
Even though the technology is impressive, it raises real questions about authenticity. If an AI avatar shows up for a meeting or delivers a message, how can you be sure the real person was involved?
In education, although not allowed, there have already been examples of online professors hiring others to teach courses under their names. Imagine how easy it would be to use AI workforce avatars to replicate a presence without any personal involvement.
How much trust might erode if we cannot tell whether we are interacting with a real colleague or just their digital twin.
How AI Workforce Innovations Raise New Questions About Responsibility
There is also the issue of responsibility. If an AI avatar says something inaccurate, misleading, or even offensive, who is accountable? Is it the employee, the company, or the technology provider?
As AI workforce innovations become more common, the lines could blur quickly. In fields like customer service, sales, and leadership communication, getting it wrong could have serious consequences.
The legal system has not fully caught up yet, leaving a lot of gray areas around what happens when avatars act on someone else's behalf. In the Carlin case, the lawsuit ended in a settlement, and the creators agreed to remove the content and stop using his likeness. It set an early precedent, but when people start creating avatars of themselves for work, it opens up a whole different category of questions the courts still haven't addressed.
Are AI Workforce Avatars Making Human Connection Harder To Build?
One thing to consider is the role imperfection plays in building trust. Live conversations are messy. People pause, stumble over words, laugh at unexpected moments, and show real emotion. Those small signs of humanity are part of what helps us connect.
If AI workforce avatars start replacing more human interactions, will we lose something important? A perfectly polished video presentation can deliver information, but can it create real relationships?
It is an open question, but it seems worth considering before we trade too much authenticity for convenience.
Real Companies Are Already Using AI Workforce Avatars
This may still feel futuristic, but some companies are already using AI avatars for real work. Synthesia is used by more than half of the Fortune 100, mostly for training videos and internal updates. BESTSELLER, a global fashion company, uses it to reach thousands of employees while cutting back on classroom time.
Other platforms like Hour One and Colossyan are being used to speed up everything from compliance videos to investor updates. Companies like HP, BMW, and Vodafone are already exploring these tools. Most current examples focus on communication and training, but with this kind of momentum, it's not hard to imagine how quickly that could expand into meetings, customer service, or even leadership messaging.
Even Zoom is experimenting with AI avatars. They are working on photorealistic avatar options that would let you record messages or participate in meetings asynchronously, which is something that takes all this to another level.
We are not talking about future tech anymore. These tools are here, and companies are already testing how far they can go.
What Companies Can Do To Prepare Now For An AI Workforce
Whether or not companies adopt AI avatars this year, it makes sense to start talking about what this kind of presence means. Is it okay to use an avatar in a team meeting? When is live participation required? What kind of training should be offered to help people use these tools responsibly?
Companies that begin defining expectations now will be in a better position later. It is easier to build trust when people know the rules and understand how these new tools fit into workplace culture.
Final Thoughts On Where The AI Workforce Might Take Us
The idea of outsourcing our real selves to technology is no longer just a movie plot. As AI workforce tools become more advanced and accessible, they are shaping the way businesses operate and how people show up professionally. There is no clear roadmap yet. Some companies will likely embrace AI workforce avatars quickly. Others will move more cautiously, trying to protect human connection wherever possible. As exciting as the technology is, I keep coming back to the same feeling I had when I first saw Surrogates. Just because we can send a version of ourselves into the world does not mean we always should. Maybe the real question is not whether avatars will become part of the AI workforce. It is how much of ourselves we are willing to hand over to them.
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We report these measures because Thermo Fisher management believes that in order to understand the company's short-term and long-term financial trends, investors may wish to consider the impact of acquisitions/divestitures, and/or foreign currency translation on revenues. Thermo Fisher management uses these measures to forecast and evaluate the operational performance of the company as well as to compare revenues of current periods to prior periods. We report adjusted operating income, adjusted operating margin, adjusted net income, and adjusted EPS. We believe that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures, in addition to GAAP financial measures, helps investors to gain a better understanding of our core operating results and future prospects, consistent with how management measures and forecasts the company's core operating performance, especially when comparing such results to previous periods, forecasts, and to the performance of our competitors. Such measures are also used by management in their financial and operating decision-making and for compensation purposes. To calculate these measures we exclude, as applicable: Certain acquisition-related costs, including charges for the sale of inventories revalued at the date of acquisition, significant transaction/acquisition-related costs, including changes in estimates of contingent acquisition-related consideration, and other costs associated with obtaining short-term financing commitments for pending/recent acquisitions. We exclude these costs because we do not believe they are indicative of our normal operating costs. Costs/income associated with restructuring activities and large-scale abandonments of product lines, such as reducing overhead and consolidating facilities. We exclude these costs because we believe that the costs related to restructuring activities are not indicative of our normal operating costs. Equity in earnings/losses of unconsolidated entities; impairments of long-lived assets; and certain other gains and losses that are either isolated or cannot be expected to occur again with any predictability, including gains/losses on investments, the sale of businesses, product lines, and real estate, significant litigation-related matters, curtailments/settlements of pension plans, and the early retirement of debt. We exclude these items because they are outside of our normal operations and/or, in certain cases, are difficult to forecast accurately for future periods. The expense associated with the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets because a significant portion of the purchase price for acquisitions may be allocated to intangible assets that have lives of up to 20 years. Exclusion of the amortization expense allows comparisons of operating results that are consistent over time for both our newly acquired and long-held businesses and with both acquisitive and non-acquisitive peer companies. The noncontrolling interest and tax impacts of the above items and the impact of significant tax audits or events (such as changes in deferred taxes from enacted tax rate/law changes), the latter of which we exclude because they are outside of our normal operations and difficult to forecast accurately for future periods. We report free cash flow, which is operating cash flow less net capital expenditures, to provide a view of the continuing operations' ability to generate cash for use in acquisitions and other investing and financing activities. The company also uses this measure as an indication of the strength of the company. Free cash flow is not a measure of cash available for discretionary expenditures since we have certain non-discretionary obligations such as debt service that are not deducted from the measure. Thermo Fisher Scientific does not provide GAAP financial measures on a forward-looking basis because we are unable to predict with reasonable certainty and without unreasonable effort items such as the timing and amount of future restructuring actions and acquisition-related charges as well as gains or losses from sales of real estate and businesses, the early retirement of debt and the outcome of legal proceedings. The timing and amount of these items are uncertain and could be material to Thermo Fisher Scientific's results computed in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures of Thermo Fisher Scientific's results of operations and cash flows included in this press release are not meant to be considered superior to or a substitute for Thermo Fisher Scientific's results of operations prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of such non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are set forth in the tables above.

I tried Tesla's new Robotaxi. Here's what it got right (and wrong).
I tried Tesla's new Robotaxi. Here's what it got right (and wrong).

Business Insider

time4 days ago

  • Business Insider

I tried Tesla's new Robotaxi. Here's what it got right (and wrong).

This week, I flew to Austin to do what only a few have been able to: ride in Tesla's Robotaxis. I took five trips that my rider companion and I found mostly smooth, but there were some bumps. We encountered three issues, including one in which the Robotaxi began to drive the wrong way onto an empty one-way street clearly marked with "Do Not Enter" signs. Since the end of June, Tesla has been testing Robotaxi, the company's autonomous ride-hailing service. Musk has said that Robotaxi is part of Tesla's road map to becoming a full-fledged AI and robotics company. The service is still in its early stages. A limited number of autonomous Model Ys navigate Austin roads, and a safety operator sits in on every ride. A small group of people has been given early access to the service, including Vu Kong, an Austin resident who manages a dental group and invests in Tesla on the side. Kong seems to be one of the few Robotaxi invitees who aren't Tesla or EV influencers with a large social media presence. He told me he got access about a week after the Robotaxi launch by signing up on the company website. "I was pretty impressed about how consistent the rides were," Kong said after seven trips. "They were all pretty smooth, and I felt safe in all of them. By the third time, I just forgot I was in an autonomous car. I was doing meetings in the car, taking phone calls, and doing Zoom calls." I took two half-hour rides and three shorter rides with Kong. Pick-up times weren't always consistent, and the app had a few glitchy moments. In Downtown Austin, Tesla will be going up against pick-up times of less than 10 minutes and relatively low prices from Uber, which manages Alphabet's Waymo fleet. A spokesperson for Tesla and a few employees on Tesla's Robotaxi team BI reached out to did not respond to a request for comment. Here's what I saw. A confident Tesla First, the new 2025 Tesla Model Y feels great. I always appreciate how spacious Teslas feel, thanks to the glass roof that allows light to enter the cabin. The seats are comfortable enough, but I wondered why Tesla would go with bright white seats for cars that will presumably be taking on a lot of passengers. The seats are leather, so maybe they'll be easy to maintain. Throughout the rides, I saw an autonomous driving system that can be safe and confident in its maneuvers. Tesla's Robotaxi, unlike its competitors, relies only on external cameras and neural networks to navigate its environment. Our car maintained a safe distance with a cyclist, recognized construction zones that are rampant in Austin, and could judge when to make turns while there was oncoming traffic. Human interventions Despite the mostly smooth experience, I encountered a few disengagements — moments when the safety operator inside the car or a remote support agent had to intervene. Two of the Robotaxi disengagements occurred on the very first route, which we began at around 7 a.m. on Wednesday at Summer Moon Coffee, an Austin-based café chain. At the start, when the Robotaxi was attempting to pull out of the parking lot, a message appeared on the console screen: "Our team has identified an issue and is working to resolve it." A remote "support agent" connected with us: "It looks like the vehicle isn't making any progress. Is everything OK?" In-car safety operators hired by Tesla largely avoid interacting with riders. When the remote agent asked us the question, the operator quietly turned to us and nodded his head, nudging us to talk. It was unclear what caused the Robotaxi to be stuck. There were no oncoming cars and the roads were quiet. After the support agent said they would help, the steering wheel came back to life and made a jerky movement. The Robotaxi inched forward and slammed on the brakes. It's unclear how much control Tesla's remote team had over the vehicle. The Robotaxi pulled out of the parking lot and began its route. The second disengagement came 20 minutes into the ride, when Kong changed the route to return to his office. The safety operator inside the car touched the screen to pause the ride. While I was talking, I hadn't noticed the Robotaxi begin to head the wrong way down an empty, one-way road marked with two signs that said "Do Not Enter." The safety operator did not talk to us. When Kong pressed "Resume Ride," the operator immediately stopped the car again. That's when we realized we were supposed to wait for another remote support agent, who quickly helped us. The Robotaxi made a three-point turn to get back in the right direction. The last disengagement came during my fourth Robotaxi ride on a late Thursday morning. Kong and I wanted to go to the very tip of the phallic-shaped service area Tesla unveiled earlier this week. The Robotaxi app allowed us to put in a destination that was just outside of the service area — a Summer Moon Coffee location in North Austin. The app indicated that the vehicle would drop us off close to the destination, requiring a 10-minute walk the rest of the way. As we approached our destination, Kong changed the route to another location that was within the geofence. The Robotaxi put us on a route that would take the vehicle just outside of the service area for a brief moment in order to head to our new destination. The vehicle soon pulled over, and another remote support agent got in touch with us. "I just wanted to let you know it was routing a little bit outside of our range, so we just changed the route so that it wouldn't go outside our fence," the agent said. At no point did I feel the Tesla Robotaxi put us in danger. It was interesting to see the system's limits. Other Robotaxi limits Pick-up times for the most part were under 10 minutes. On Wednesday afternoon, the Robotaxi app gave us a nearly 30-minute pick-up time for a 20-minute ride. The app showed that a Robotaxi was picking us up from the northern part of the new service area. It was the same Robotaxi we had for the first ride that morning, based on the matching license plate. Kong attempted to find another car with a shorter pick-up time to no avail. It also appears that Tesla's Robotaxis are avoiding the highway. During our fourth ride to North Austin in the upper part of the service area, Kong, who has lived in the city for five years, said the Robotaxi was taking a longer route to a destination that should be about an 18-minute trip. "Normally we'd take the highway to get there," he said. Musk has long pitched an autonomous car that is generalizable — meaning the vehicle could handle any environment, including highways, with few operational limits and without the need to map a region before deployment. The AI driver is trained on large amounts of data, so, in theory, it should be able to drive the same way a human driver can go through unfamiliar areas. It's unclear why the Tesla Robotaxi avoided the highway. Tesla's FSD (Supervised) handled San Francisco's highway flawlessly in BI's last test. Kong added that the drop-off location could be improved so that the Robotaxi is closer to the actual destination. In terms of the app experience, Kong told me that it can be a bit buggy. We saw one moment when the app showed that a car was arriving in 29 minutes, even though we had just ended our ride and did not order another Robotaxi. A work in progress My colleagues and I at BI have closely reported on the robotaxi race, the efforts Tesla has made to push out an autonomous driver system, and the bold promises Musk has made around self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. I've also compared Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised), the EV company's advanced driver-assistance system, to Waymo with my colleague Alistair Barr. I walked away impressed that FSD could navigate San Francisco roads and highways using only cameras, but saw a critical error after the Tesla ran a red light. My expectations for the Tesla Robotaxi were high — I expected quiet, uneventful rides — but I also suspected that it would probably not be perfect. The company has indicated that the Austin service is a "pilot launch." Safety operators are inside the vehicle, access is limited to invitees, and the company is charging a flat fee of $6.90 per ride. Waymo began testing its own robotaxi service with an early-access program in California in 2021. That year, the company reported 300 disengagements to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. In 2024, when Waymo opened up to the San Francisco public, the company reported about 245 disengagements in the state. Waymo also says it's now providing over 250,000 paid rides a week. Tesla could get there. It just needs to start by conquering Austin.

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