AI avatars in business: How digital avatars are changing marketing, sales and events
AI avatars are digital points of contact that companies can use in marketing, in sales, at trade shows, in training and in virtual applications. They can speak, answer questions, convey information and guide users through digital applications.
Avatars are by no means a new phenomenon. We have encountered them for decades in computer games, social networks and digital worlds. But advances in artificial intelligence are fundamentally changing their role. A digital representation is increasingly becoming an interactive point of contact that can speak, answer questions, convey information and guide users through digital applications.
They can represent brands, explain products, approach visitors at trade shows or guide employees through training. One example is XAIRO, the AI avatar by VRtual X. XAIRO combines artificial intelligence with immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, which makes it possible to use it as an interactive digital point of contact across different areas of a company.
Photo by Addy Spartacus on Unsplash
From gaming character to digital company ambassador
The history of the avatar begins long before the AI boom. As early as the 1980s, digital figures were used to represent people in virtual environments. In gaming in particular, avatars developed into customizable digital identities. Players could determine the appearance, clothing and behavior of their characters and thereby create their own presence in a virtual world.
Social networks added another area of use. Avatars became digital representations of their users, ranging from simple profile pictures to animated figures and 3D characters.
Virtual bands, VTubers and so-called CGI influencers also showed that a digital figure can build its own personality and even an independent brand identity. A well-known example is the virtual band Gorillaz, which developed a fully digital world around its characters as early as the late 1990s. Later came virtual influencers such as Lil Miquela and Shudu.
What makes an AI avatar different?
The decisive difference between a classic avatar and an AI avatar is interaction. A classic avatar is, first and foremost, a visual representation. An AI avatar, by contrast, can also interact.
Instead of just playing predefined content, it can respond to questions, convey information in context and hold real conversations. This creates an entirely different form of digital communication. The point is not necessarily to imitate a human being as perfectly as possible. An avatar can also be deliberately designed as an independent digital figure, with its own personality, voice and visual identity.
This gives companies the opportunity to develop a digital brand ambassador and design it to fit the company as well as possible.
Image created with AI
Why AI avatars are especially interesting for companies
Companies have enormous amounts of knowledge: product information, technical data, use cases, training content, FAQs and company information all need to be made accessible to customers, prospects and employees.
The problem is often not the knowledge itself but how it is conveyed. A product expert can only talk to a limited number of people at once. A sales representative cannot be available to prospects around the clock. And a trainer cannot deliver the same introduction in person any number of times.
This is where AI avatars can create an additional communication layer by making recurring information delivery scalable.
For example, they can:
- explain products and services
- answer frequently asked questions
- inform visitors at trade shows and events
- guide people through virtual showrooms
- accompany training and learning content
- support prospects in the sales process
- convey information in multiple languages
- act as a digital brand ambassador
The focus is not on replacing human expertise. Rather, the aim is to scale recurring information delivery and to use human expert knowledge where it matters more.
AI avatars in marketing: When brand communication becomes interactive
In classic marketing, a company often communicates through content: videos, images, texts, websites or presentations. Users consume this content on a wide range of platforms. The rule here is multichannel or omnichannel marketing. An AI avatar can turn all of this information into a dialogue. Instead of watching a product video, a prospect can ask directly, for example:
“What advantages does this product have over the previous solution?”
Or:
“Which industries is this application suited for?”
This makes communication less linear. Users decide for themselves which information is relevant to them and don’t have to fight their way through a jungle of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube posts. This can be a major advantage for complex B2B products in particular. Instead of providing all the information at once, an avatar can guide the user step by step through relevant content.
In social media, too, digital avatars have already shown that virtual characters can work as recognizable brand or media personalities.
At trade shows: From eye-catcher to point of contact
Using AI avatars at trade shows and events is a particularly obvious choice. Trade shows have a classic communication problem: many visitors meet few available contacts.
Over the course of a trade show day, this can quickly lead to situations where prospects have to wait or staff explain the same basics again and again. Some people are also shy and prefer a low-threshold form of communication.
At trade shows, an AI avatar can act as an additional point of contact. It can greet visitors, answer initial questions, explain products and point them to relevant content. Meanwhile, the human staff can focus on in-depth conversations, consulting and specific business inquiries.
This is exactly the use that is also described in live marketing as a field of application for AI avatars. There, they can serve as digital brand ambassadors, for example, and add an interactive component to classic trade show communication. The avatar can help ensure that human staff are deployed where their expertise adds the most value.
XAIRO at trade shows and in immersive applications
This is where XAIRO comes in.
XAIRO was developed as an interactive AI expert and can also be used in augmented reality applications, for example. This means the avatar can not only speak but also appear together with digital content and objects in a real environment. The combination with virtual reality goes even further. In a virtual showroom, XAIRO can act as a digital guide and lead visitors through a virtual environment. Products, machines or other content can be integrated directly into the application and explained by the avatar.
This can be particularly useful when a real product:
- is very large,
- is hard to access,
- is still in development,
- is located at different sites, or
- is not suited to a classic trade show presentation.
The AI avatar takes on the role of the digital guide. It can lead visitors through the environment, explain individual stations and respond to questions. This turns a classic product or company video into an interactive product experience. Visitors decide for themselves where they want to go, what information they need and what questions they want to ask.
Sales: Digital consulting before the personal conversation
AI avatars can also play an interesting role in sales. In the B2B environment in particular, products are often complex and need explaining. Prospects need information before a personal sales conversation even takes place. An AI avatar can accompany this first information phase.
For example, it can:
- greet the visitor,
- ask about their interests,
- present suitable products or content,
- answer follow-up questions,
- provide further information, and
- then hand over to a human contact.
This makes the avatar a kind of digital first stage of sales. It does not replace personal contact but can help prepare prospects for that contact in a more targeted way. It can also take pressure off the company, especially with recurring questions. The conversation can also be documented and used to identify pain points or frequently asked questions from prospects. This also enables a subtle form of market and opinion research.
Training and onboarding
Another relevant area is internal communication. New employees need to learn about processes, products, safety rules or company structures. Existing employees need regular training and continuing education.
AI avatars can be used here as digital trainers or learning companions. The main advantage lies in repeatability. An avatar can convey the same basics many times without an expert having to be present in person each time. At the same time, the interaction can feel more personal than a purely static e-learning module.
For companies with many employees or international locations, multilingual delivery can also be of interest. The AI avatar thus becomes an additional interface between existing company information and the people who need to access it. This keeps the flow of information consistent and allows it to be scaled as needed.
What are the benefits of VR training?
The combination of an AI avatar and virtual reality can be particularly interesting for immersive training. A PwC study on the use of VR in soft skills training showed that participants could be trained up to four times faster with VR training than participants in classroom training. Taking into account the additional time for initially setting up and learning to use the VR hardware, the training in the study was still about three times faster.
In addition, according to PwC, the VR participants were up to 275% more confident in applying what they had learned after the training. Their emotional connection to the learning content was 3.75 times higher than that of participants in classroom training.
Source: PwC, VR Soft Skills Training Efficacy Study (2020).
These results refer to a specific PwC study on VR soft skills training and cannot be applied across the board to every training program or every AI avatar. They do, however, show why immersive technologies can be interesting for certain training and onboarding scenarios.
Photo by Julian on Unsplash
Social media: The avatar as part of a digital brand identity
Not every AI avatar has to be used at a trade show or in a VR application. Social media offers opportunities, too. Digital characters can serve as the recognizable faces of a brand. This is particularly interesting for companies that want to produce content regularly without putting a real employee in front of the camera for every video. An avatar can create a consistent visual identity.
The development of virtual influencers and digital characters already shows that digital figures can be built up as independent personalities over long periods of time. For companies, this opens up a possible approach for:
- explainer videos
- product presentations
- short social media formats
- FAQ content
- recruiting communication
- event communication
- digital campaigns
The decisive difference from a classic AI-generated video lies in the long-term identity. The avatar is not created for a single video. It can become the recognizable character of a brand.
The decisive difference: Avatar, chatbot or analog?
At this point, a legitimate question arises: Why does a company need an avatar at all? Isn’t a chatbot enough? Or is analog better after all? For many use cases, a chatbot is indeed enough. An avatar, however, offers an additional layer of communication. A chatbot is primarily text-based. An avatar, on the other hand, can communicate through voice, facial expressions, appearance and spatial presence. This can be particularly relevant when the application is designed around experience, attention and personal interaction.
Using virtual reality can also add value here. In its VR study, for example, PwC reports higher scores for training speed, confidence in applying skills, emotional connection and focus. So the question is less about which technology is fundamentally better. The decisive question is: Which form of interaction suits the use case at hand?
What companies should consider when using AI avatars
An AI avatar should not be used just because the technology is new and impressive. What matters is the concrete benefit. Before implementation, companies should therefore clarify, among other things:
- Which communication tasks recur particularly often?
- What information needs to be conveyed regularly?
- Where do waiting times or bottlenecks occur?
- Which target groups should be reached?
- What role should the avatar take on?
- What content is it allowed to convey?
- How do you ensure its answers are technically correct?
- How is personal data handled?
- Do the avatar’s appearance and personality fit the brand?
With interactive applications in particular, data protection, transparency and the quality of the underlying information are also important factors. A technically impressive avatar is of little use if it gives wrong answers or does not fit the company’s communication.
Conclusion: From digital character to digital point of contact
AI avatars are evolving from digital characters into interactive digital points of contact for companies. They can communicate, convey information and guide users through digital experiences. Avatars have come a long way. What was once found mainly in computer games and social networks is increasingly becoming interesting for professional applications.
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing their function. A modern AI avatar can do more than represent a digital identity. It can communicate, convey information and guide users through digital experiences. This opens up numerous possible uses for companies: from marketing and social media to trade shows and sales, all the way to training, onboarding and virtual showrooms. The technology should never be an end in itself. The decisive question is:
Where can a digital point of contact create concrete value?
Once this question is answered, AI avatars can become a useful tool for making communication more personal, more interactive and at the same time more scalable. XAIRO is one example of what this development can look like in practice.
You can learn more about XAIRO and what it offers companies at:
