BitcoinWorld Synthesia moves beyond AI video creation into live coaching with Roleplay Sessions British AI startup Synthesia, known for helping enterprises generate interactive training video
BitcoinWorld
Synthesia moves beyond AI video creation into live coaching with Roleplay Sessions
British AI startup Synthesia, known for helping enterprises generate interactive training videos at scale, is expanding into a new category: live, AI-powered coaching. On Wednesday, the company launched Roleplay Sessions, an interactive product that lets employees practice high-stakes conversations—such as sales pitches, performance reviews, and customer complaints—with an AI avatar that responds in real time and scores their performance against a rubric. The launch, exclusively reported by Bitcoin World, marks a strategic shift from content creation to performance measurement.
For years, Synthesia’s core value proposition was speed and cost efficiency: create polished training videos in minutes using AI avatars, bypassing traditional production budgets. The new Roleplay product, however, bets that the real competitive advantage in enterprise AI lies not in generating content, but in proving it changes behavior. Citing a meta-analysis of learning research, Synthesia argues that most corporate training—including video-based formats—informs but does not transform. True learning, the company says, comes from practice paired with structured feedback.
“Video performs way better than text or sending out a document,” Synthesia CEO and co-founder Victor Riparbelli told Bitcoin World. “But for most things, we learn the best by actually practicing something rather than just reading it.”
Roleplay is the first release under a broader “Sessions” platform, which Synthesia plans to expand into other formats, including job interviews and candidate screening, according to information shared exclusively with Bitcoin World.
The launch comes as enterprises increasingly scrutinize whether their AI investments deliver measurable returns. By layering rubrics, performance data, and analytics on top of its proprietary avatar and voice technology—which currently uses OpenAI’s reasoning models—Synthesia is repositioning itself as a performance-management platform with a video interface, rather than simply an AI avatar company.
“From a managerial executive layer, we’re seeing huge interest in mapping out the talent in their company in a way that’s been really difficult to do before,” Riparbelli said. “If you have your entire sales team practice with an AI role player, you can get very granular data on how your sales force is doing overall.”
Early commercial customers include one of the top three European companies by market cap, a top-five Fortune 100 firm, and one of the world’s largest recruitment companies, per a Synthesia spokesperson. The two most common use cases so far are sales team training and leadership development—particularly soft skills like delivering difficult feedback or handling objections.
Roleplay is currently an enterprise-only offering. Customers can build their own training programs on the platform or work with Synthesia’s consultants to create bespoke solutions using existing company documents and context. The company plans to offer the product to small businesses, prosumers, and potentially educational institutions in the coming months, as inference costs continue to decline.
Riparbelli believes products like Roleplay represent the next phase of enterprise AI adoption: less about flashy demos and more about proving AI generates concrete business outcomes.
Synthesia’s move into interactive, AI-driven coaching signals a broader industry shift from content generation to measurable performance improvement. By combining proprietary avatar technology with structured analytics, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of training and talent management—a space where proving ROI is becoming the key differentiator for enterprise AI buyers.
Q1: What is Synthesia Roleplay Sessions?It is an interactive AI training product that lets employees practice conversations with an AI avatar that responds in real time and scores their performance against a custom rubric.
Q2: Who are the early customers for Roleplay Sessions?Early adopters include one of the top three European companies by market cap, a top-five Fortune 100 firm, and a major global recruitment company.
Q3: Will Roleplay Sessions be available to small businesses?Currently enterprise-only, Synthesia plans to expand access to small businesses, prosumers, and educational institutions in the coming months as costs decrease.
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