Forget the days when corporate training meant clicking through a PowerPoint and calling it professional development. According to TechCrunch, Synthesia just launched Roleplay Sessions—an interactive platform where employees practice everything from sales pitches to performance reviews with AI avatars that talk back, critique, and then score them.
For years, Synthesia's pitch was simple: use AI to create training videos faster and cheaper. But as the publication reports, the company realized something bigger: proving that training actually works is worth more than just generating content.
CEO Victor Riparbelli told TechCrunch the math is stark. "Video performs way better than text," he said. "But for most things, we learn the best by actually practicing something rather than just reading it." Watching a video about how to close a deal isn't the same as actually trying—and failing—in front of an AI judge.
According to TechCrunch, early customers already include one of Europe's top three companies by market cap, a Fortune 100 giant, and a global recruitment powerhouse. These aren't experiments—they're scaled rollouts.
The real advantage is data. If your entire sales team practices with an AI role player, you suddenly have granular, measurable intel on how your workforce actually performs. Synthesia is repositioning itself from an avatar company into a performance-management platform—one that happens to have a video front end.
Companies are done asking "Can AI generate training content?" They're asking: "Can AI prove my training investment moved the needle?" Synthesia's bet—that the future isn't in content creation but in measurable behavior change—signals where the real money in workplace AI is headed.
The platform is set to expand into job interviews and candidate screening next, meaning AI avatars could soon be vetting candidates before humans ever see a resume.
