EmbodyMe

EmbodyMe, Inc. is a Tokyo-based company developing deep learning technology for generating and controlling visual elements in images and video. Its two core technology components are Neural Rendering, which regenerates visual elements and is engineered to run in real time on mobile devices and low-end PCs, and 3D Dense Face Tracking, which captures facial movement using more than fifty thousand 3D points on any device with a camera.

The company's products include the DigiSelf series, which creates AI avatar videos from text or audio input with multilingual delivery and real-time interactive conversation, and the xpression series. xpression camera is a virtual camera application that lets a user take on the appearance of any person or face from a single photo in real time and works with video chat and streaming platforms including Zoom, Twitch, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and YouTube. xpression chat combines the company's generative AI with ChatGPT to animate a static photo for lifelike conversations, and xpression avatar converts selfies into avatars in styles such as humanoid, CG and cinematic anime that follow the user's head movements and facial expressions. EmbodyMe also offers a real-time AI video generation SDK for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac.

The company frames its work around what it calls the age of deep content creation: AI that can reproduce human abilities and physical characteristics such as appearance, voice and body movement, enabling content in which deceased actors, non-existent virtual celebrities and real people can appear together and in which performers' likenesses can be directed remotely.

Founding story

While at Yahoo in Japan, Issay Yoshida worked on computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning and launched several applications. Around 2016 he concluded that the physical camera could be replaced by a single software platform serving as the foundation for video chat, live streaming and video production, and founded EmbodyMe in Tokyo that year, recruiting a core team from colleagues and friends at Yahoo.

Business model

EmbodyMe operates primarily as an R&D company, devoting much of its effort to joint research and development with other enterprises rather than near-term profit, while distributing consumer-facing apps and licensing a real-time AI video generation SDK for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac that third parties can embed in smartphone apps, chatbots, live streaming, video production, advertising and games.

As of April 2021 xpression camera was free and the company prioritized adoption over profitability, functioning mainly on joint R&D with enterprises. A freemium subscription was planned for the end of 2021 at an average of $14 per month for additional features, structured as Basic, Pro and Enterprise plans.

Traction

As of April 2021 the company had a core team of 10 within a 15-person organization and reported more than 144,594 users in India. xpression camera is described as an award-winning app and the company has received press coverage of its avatar and virtual camera technology.

Latest developments

The company's product lineup has expanded beyond xpression camera to xpression chat, which pairs its generative AI with ChatGPT to enable conversations with animated photos, xpression avatar for stylized real-time avatars, and the DigiSelf series for AI avatar videos generated from text or audio with multilingual output and real-time interactive conversation, alongside a cross-platform real-time AI video generation SDK.