What is Synthesia?
Synthesia is an AI video platform for business that turns typed text into videos of lifelike AI presenters, no camera, actor, or studio needed. Founded in London in 2017, it offers 240+ avatars, 1,000+ voices, and 160+ languages, and is used by over 1 million users, including Fortune 100 companies, for training and communication videos.
Why — the first-principles explanation
Synthesia exists to solve one expensive problem: making a talking-head video normally requires a person, a camera, and an editor. Synthesia removes all three by generating the presenter with AI.
Underneath, it's a text-to-video system. You type a script, pick a digital avatar (a pre-filmed likeness of a real actor, or your own personal avatar) and a voice, and the platform generates natural speech plus lip-synced facial movements, then renders a finished video in the cloud. Because the video is produced from a script, the whole thing behaves less like a film and more like a document you can re-render.
That design choice drives everything Synthesia is good at. Updating a video means editing text, not re-shooting. Translating it means switching the language and re-generating, which is why it supports 160+ languages and one-click translation. Scaling to hundreds of videos costs a subscription, not a hundred film shoots.
That's also why it's framed as a business tool rather than a creative studio. The target jobs are training, onboarding, internal communications, product explainers, and localized content, high-volume, informational video that companies need to keep current. Founded in 2017 and based in London, Synthesia has grown to over a million users and emphasizes enterprise safety and consent controls, which matters because the same technology that animates a friendly trainer could be misused for deepfakes.
An example that makes it click
Think of Synthesia as a word processor that outputs video instead of pages. In a word processor, you type text and it appears as formatted words. In Synthesia, you type text and it comes out as a person on screen saying those words, with matching lip movements and a voice you chose.
And just like a document, you can go back and edit. Change 'our office opens at 9' to '8:30,' hit re-render, and the on-screen presenter now says the new time, no reshoot, no studio, no actor called back in.
Key facts
- Synthesia is an AI video platform that generates presenter videos from typed text.
- Founded in 2017 and headquartered in London; used by over 1 million users, including Fortune 100 companies.
- Offers 240+ AI avatars, 1,000+ voices, and 160+ languages (as of 2026-07).
- Main use cases are training, onboarding, internal communications, and product explainers.
- Holds security and AI-governance certifications including SOC 2, ISO 42001, and GDPR compliance.
AI avatar video creation for corporate training and comms.
Affiliate link — we may earn a commission at no cost to you.▶ The 60-second explainer (script)
What is Synthesia? It's an AI video platform for business that turns typed text into videos of a lifelike AI presenter, without a camera, actor, or studio. Here's how to picture it: it works like a word processor, except instead of formatted pages, it outputs a person on screen saying your words, with matching lip movements and a voice you choose. You pick an avatar and a voice, paste your script, and the platform generates the speech, syncs the lips, and renders a finished video in the cloud. Because the video is made from text, you can update it by editing the script and re-rendering, no reshoot needed, and translate it into any of over 160 languages with a click. Founded in London in 2017, Synthesia now serves more than a million users, including Fortune 100 companies, mostly for training, onboarding, and internal communication videos. It offers over 240 avatars and 1,000 voices.
What authoritative sources say
People also ask
What is Synthesia used for?
Mostly business video: employee training, onboarding, internal communications, product explainers, and localized content, anything informational that needs to be produced at scale and kept up to date.
Who owns Synthesia?
Synthesia is an independent company founded in 2017 and headquartered in London. It has grown to over 1 million users and is backed by venture investors.
Is Synthesia a real person or AI?
The presenters are AI avatars, digital likenesses filmed from real actors (or your own personal avatar), animated to say whatever script you type.
What makes Synthesia different from a video editor?
You don't edit footage, you edit a script. The video is generated from text, so updating or translating it means changing words and re-rendering, not re-shooting.