{
  "id": 9693882,
  "title": "Google Gemini can present cartoon or lifelike avatars to lip-sync generative chatter",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/google-gemini-can-present-cartoon-or-lifelike-avatars-to-lip-sync-9693882",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-24T23:57:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/09/25/google-gemini-can-present-cartoon-or-lifelike-avatars-to-lip-sync-generative-chatter/5299016"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Google has introduced a new feature called Live Avatar to its Gemini 3.8 Live model, enabling the creation of animated characters and realistic human simulacra that can lip-sync machine-generated speech. This multimodal capability allows for more engaging conversations by processing both visual and audio inputs simultaneously. The feature, explained by Google DeepMind researchers Shuo-yiin Chang and CJ Zheng, is designed to enhance enterprise agents' conversational experience, catering to various applications such as hotel guest check-ins. The introduction of Live Avatar comes at a time when concerns about anthropomorphizing AI models are surfacing, with potential risks including inflated user expectations and reliance on conversational agents. Despite these concerns, Google has implemented strict safeguards to ensure transparency and protect user identity while deploying these AI-generated personas across multiple languages.",
  "summary": "Despite uncertainty about how human mimicry affects people, DeepMind fakes are here",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 10,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Android Police",
        "title": "Google Docs now pulls your Gemini Notebook research without the tab switching",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/google-docs-now-pulls-your-gemini-notebook-research-without-the-tab",
        "published": "2026-09-24T11:34:17.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "9to5Mac",
        "title": "Adobe expands creative tool access to Google Gemini, brings Acrobat to Claude",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/adobe-expands-creative-tool-access-to-google-gemini-brings-acrobat-to",
        "published": "2026-09-24T13:00:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "XDA Developers",
        "title": "Google’s new experimental Gemini Intelligence feature makes the phone calls you’d rather avoid",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/googles-new-experimental-gemini-intelligence-feature-makes-the-phone",
        "published": "2026-09-24T16:00:17.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Techmeme",
        "title": "Google is testing Call for Me, which lets Gemini call businesses on behalf of users, initially for Pixel 11 users with a Gemini subscription in the US (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/google-is-testing-call-for-me-which-lets-gemini-call-businesses-on",
        "published": "2026-09-24T16:10:01.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Verge",
        "title": "Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar gives Google’s AI a face",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/gemini-3-8-live-with-live-avatar-gives-googles-ai-a-face",
        "published": "2026-09-24T19:59:26.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Android Authority",
        "title": "Google’s new Gemini Live Avatars want to make support bots feel more human",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/googles-new-gemini-live-avatars-want-to-make-support-bots-feel-more",
        "published": "2026-09-24T21:03:59.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Register Science",
        "title": "Google Gemini can present cartoon or lifelike avatars to lip-sync generative chatter",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/24/google-gemini-can-present-cartoon-or-lifelike-avatars-to-lip-sync",
        "published": "2026-09-24T23:57:01.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Indian Express",
        "title": "Google’s Gemini AI assistant can now call businesses for you: Here’s how it works",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/googles-gemini-ai-assistant-can-now-call-businesses-for-you-heres-how",
        "published": "2026-09-25T03:46:21.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Haaretz",
        "title": "Netanyahu's media adviser used Claude to vibe code a monitoring tool for PM, wife - exposing media priorities and risky data",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/netanyahus-media-adviser-used-claude-to-vibe-code-a-monitoring-tool",
        "published": "2026-09-25T07:10:13.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}