Are we entering the ABBA Voyage era at work?
AI avatars are about to replace you in meetings. The possibilities are tantalising – and unsettling, writes Paul Armstrong
AI avatars are joining our Zoom calls, often before we do. Meeting note-takers, digital clones, even interviewers are now infiltrating the office landscape—often uninvited. This isn’t some distant sci-fi concept; it’s happening now. Is this progress, or are we spiraling into a strange, hybrid presence that reshapes what it means to actually show up?
Let’s start with job interviews. For millions of job seekers, the odds of meeting a digital clone – an avatar that’s never worked for the company but is tasked with evaluating your potential – are steadily increasing. AI-based tools are once again redefining office dynamics, and it’s about to get even weirder.
Can it get stranger than an avatar that’s your potential boss? Oh yes. Strap in, because we’re entering the ABBA Voyage version of office work. It’s not about faux holograms; it’s about photo-realistic AI-driven avatars that Zoom claims are coming by 2025. Think avatars that will join meetings, answer questions, and mimic real-life presence – theoretically. It’s an industry that’s supposedly going to be worth $506.46bn By 2032 according to Polaris Research.
Photo-realistic avatars themselves aren’t new. Companies like Heygen (US) and Synthesia (UK) have been in this game for a while, letting you create or use avatars for meetings. But none of them come anywhere near Zoom’s likely userbase – although the company did disclose that as of 2024, 510,000 accounts enabled the new “Zoom AI Companion” feature, generating 7.2m meeting summaries over five months, which won’t set many houses on fire over at Google but is still a lot of $12 a month. If Zoom’s plans stick – and it’s not just an AI hype stunt to prop up struggling stock prices – this tech could go mainstream fast. Not to be outdone, Heygen just launched its own take, allowing avatars to join calls now with one major twist: these avatars can be loaded with “whatever knowledge or persona you give them.” Heygen envisions these interactive avatars being used for coaching, customer support, sales calls, and beyond. If you’re curious, you can see how it works here: Heygen’s Interactive Avatar.
The possibilities are tantalising to nerds – and a bit unsettling for everyone else. Does this mean we’re all about to become the perfect office buddy? Maybe you’ll never have to interact with Doug from finance again? Probably not. The tech, while impressive, isn’t quite baked yet. The interactive elements still feel more than a few years away from being seamless. That said, it’s not hard to see its usefulness: sparring buddy for a tough conversation, or maybe a stand-in for those small, awkward daily check-ins. If I were a personal coach, I might start to worry. Imagine a world where we all had access to the world’s best performance coach to help us every day – your very own Wendy Rhodes whispering in your ear.
Digital clones
The benefits of digital clones are clear – in theory. Imagine fewer distractions as you delegate low-priority meetings to your digital twin, freeing yourself to focus on critical tasks. Routine check-ins, status updates and other mundane work rituals could be managed by your clone, giving you more room for deep work and creativity. You could attend multiple meetings at once, in different time zones, without even getting up from your desk.
But the issues are just as vast. No one really knows how avatars will influence workplace dynamics. Will company culture thrive because workers are more rested, less frazzled, and able to focus on meaningful interactions? Or will it tank because sending “the clone” becomes the norm, creating a void where genuine human presence used to be? And how do you effectively get updated on the nuances of a meeting you didn’t attend – the eye-rolls, the hesitation, the subtleties that experts say account for over 70 per cent of all communication?
The real question isn’t perhaps whether avatars will join the workforce – it’s whether your boss will prefer your clone over you
There’s also the question of security, IP, and the fundamental sense of trust in meetings. Who owns the data recorded by these avatars? For how long? Is watermarking enough to ensure authenticity and confidentiality? What about those classic “lost in translation” moments that AI might not catch? The implementation of digital clones is a leap many offices have never faced –technologically or sociologically – and it demands serious consideration.
With video fatigue on the rise and efficiency demands climbing, the question isn’t whether office avatars will materialise. It’s about when and how avatars will become the standard in corporate environments. The difference will lie in how they’re used – as digital mirrors of ourselves or as autonomous assistants for specific tasks. Right now, we’re in a strange hybrid limbo. The boundaries of “real you” and “digital you” are being redrawn, making us reconsider what it means to be genuinely present in our work interactions.
The real question isn’t perhaps whether avatars will join the workforce – it’s whether your boss will prefer your clone over you.
Paul Armstrong is founder of TBD Group