Editorial illustration for Synthesia’s AI Platform Moves From Training Videos to Live Coaching
Synthesia Expands AI Beyond Training Videos to Live Coaching
Synthesia has spent five years selling companies on a simple idea: skip the film crew, skip the actors, and let AI generate a training video from a script in minutes. That business built the London startup into one of Europe's better-funded AI companies. On Wednesday, it launched something that looks less like a video tool and more like a flight simulator for awkward conversations.
The product is called Roleplay Sessions. An employee logs in, picks a scenario, maybe a customer complaint or a performance review gone sideways, and talks to an AI avatar that argues back and grades the exchange against a rubric afterward. TechCrunch has learned this is the first piece of a wider "Sessions" platform Synthesia intends to push into job interviews and candidate screening.
The timing matters. Corporate buyers are done taking AI vendors' word for it on ROI, and Synthesia is leaning into research suggesting most training, video included, fails to change behavior on its own. CEO Victor Riparbelli laid out the reasoning behind the shift in blunt terms.
On Wednesday, the British startup launched Roleplay Sessions, an interactive training product where employees can practice high-stakes conversations like sales pitches, performance reviews, and customer complaints with an AI avatar that talks back, pushes back, and then scores them against a rubric.
Why this matters
Synthesia is making a bet that we should watch closely: that the future of enterprise AI isn't the cheapest content generator but the tool that can prove it changed behavior. That's a harder claim to back up than "we made a video for $50 instead of $50,000." Roleplay Sessions puts Synthesia in competition with human-led coaching and simulation vendors, not just other video-generation startups, and forces the company to show measurable outcomes rather than throughput. For founders building on top of large language models, the lesson is the same one L&D departments have known for decades: information transfer isn't skill transfer.
If Synthesia can produce data showing employees actually handle a hostile customer or a compliance conversation better after a session, that's a real product wedge. If it can't, this becomes another AI demo that looks impressive in a sales deck and evaporates on a spreadsheet. Worth tracking which enterprise buyers Synthesia signs for this specifically, and whether they publish any retention or performance numbers, not just seat counts.
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Common Questions Answered
What is Synthesia's Roleplay Sessions and how does it differ from their previous training video product?
Roleplay Sessions is an interactive training product that allows employees to practice high-stakes conversations with an AI avatar that responds, pushes back, and provides scoring feedback. Unlike Synthesia's original business of generating training videos from scripts, Roleplay Sessions functions more like a flight simulator for real conversations, enabling live coaching and behavioral practice rather than passive video consumption.
What types of scenarios can employees practice with Roleplay Sessions?
Employees can practice high-stakes conversations including sales pitches, performance reviews, and customer complaints using the AI avatar. The platform is designed to simulate awkward or challenging real-world interactions that employees commonly face in their professional roles.
How does Synthesia's shift to Roleplay Sessions change the company's competitive positioning?
By launching Roleplay Sessions, Synthesia is moving beyond competing with other video-generation startups and now competes directly with human-led coaching and simulation vendors. This strategic shift forces the company to demonstrate measurable behavioral outcomes and prove actual impact on employee performance, rather than simply focusing on cost reduction and throughput metrics.
What is Synthesia's core business claim with Roleplay Sessions according to the article?
Synthesia is betting that the future of enterprise AI lies not in being the cheapest content generator, but in tools that can prove they actually changed employee behavior and performance. This represents a significant shift from their original value proposition of replacing expensive film crews and actors with AI-generated videos.
Further Reading
- Synthesia’s AI training platform is moving beyond videos into live coaching - TechCrunch
- Synthesia Review 2026: It's Not What You Think - YouTube
- Synthesia 3.0 Review: The End Of Boring Video? - Feis World
- Create AI Training Videos in Minutes - Synthesia
- Interactive Training Videos (+ How to Create One with AI) - Synthesia
