Vitalii Romanchenko, is the CEO & Co-founder of Elai, an ai video generator platform that empowers individuals to provide top-notch videos without the necessity for microphones, cameras, actors, or studios.

You’re a serial entrepreneur having founded several start-ups, what were a few of these earlier firms?

I even have spent 15 years within the tech industry, working for some big firms in addition to starting a few my very own startups. In 2018, my friend Alex and I began Progressify, a mobile-first e-commerce storefront. This was an progressive approach where every e-commerce website owner could connect with our storefront and significantly increase the performance and conversion rate of their stores. At the moment, the sort of solution was very recent, and we lacked early adopters and customers. After a yr, we decided to shut the corporate as a consequence of the incontrovertible fact that the market was not ready. It was the best decision, because the market indeed was not ready, and the sort of solution began to rise only in 2021, around 2 years after Progressify.

What are a few of your key takeaways from this experience?

During this experience, we had the chance to develop our skills in conducting customer development interviews and assessing market potential. We spoke with greater than 200 e-commerce store owners to know their needs and determine if our solution may very well be helpful to them. Although we were unable to realize PMF at the moment, I’m grateful for the teachings learned. It is crucial for founders to conduct an intensive evaluation before starting an organization to make sure market viability and profitability.

Could you share the genesis story behind Elai?

Alex and I had a brand new idea after our experience with Progressify. We desired to revolutionize video creation by making personalized videos. At the moment, I used to be planning to create a product management training course and realized how complicated and expensive the method will be. You would like a studio setup, video software, and if something goes flawed, you will have to reshoot all the course. Alex proposed that we use generative AI algorithms to create a digital clone of myself and seamlessly generate video content without the necessity for a camera, studio, or video editing. I used to be amazed by this concept, and we reached out to L&D experts to see in the event that they needed this type of solution. After conducting 80 customer development interviews, we received clear confirmation that there’s a strong demand and marketplace for training video generation. Nonetheless, we lacked deep ML expertise to create high-quality avatars, so we teamed up with Alexey, an experienced ML lead and lecturer. This was the start of our R&D department, and two years later, we now have over 30+ people and one of the crucial advanced AI video generation solutions available in the marketplace.

Could you discuss the differing types of machine learning used to show a prompt into video?

Definitely, first, we’d like to show the text into an audio file. For this, we use a text-to-speech engine that transforms text in lots of languages right into a high-quality audio track. Next, we’d like to synchronize this audio file with the lips of the digital avatar and render the video. Creating such an answer is a highly complicated process overall, and we spent 2 years in R&D research in training and creating the models to realize fine quality. For lipsync and video rendering, we use our own in-house models.

What are a few of the differing types of videos that will be generated?

Elai means that you can generate any variety of video content, starting from L&D videos to product explainers and personalized sales videos at scale via API. Our principal use case is training videos, so the Elai video editor is built to offer the most effective possible experience for creating the sort of content. Nevertheless, we now have a complicated API as well, which many brands use to generate hundreds of personalized sales or marketing videos with their custom avatars at scale to succeed in their customers.

What’s your vision for the longer term of Generative AI?

Generative AI has a vibrant future because it tremendously increases human productivity. Regarding video generation, I consider that in 2 years, you will not have the opportunity to differentiate between real video and AI-generated content. This technology is rapidly evolving, allowing real-time conversations with digital photorealistic avatars quite soon.

You are also a Startup Mentor for Startup Clever Guys; what are a few of the most interesting kinds of startups that you just are seeing within the AI space?

I see lots of recent firms which might be calling themselves AI, but in point of fact, they are only using the OpenAI API under the hood as their principal AI component, which is high-quality so long as they’ve a superb product overall. I personally prefer deep tech firms which have their very own research and development team. These teams tackle complex problems, particularly those related to autonomous AI agents or advanced AI video dubbing.

What are some common traits that you just see in successful startup founders?

I’d say these three: curiosity, resilience, and the flexibility to deliver quickly. Through the early stages of a startup, it’s essential to discover the best product and market, learn from negative feedback, and implement improvements rapidly. Possessing these qualities will increase your probabilities of success, no matter your initial idea or plan.

What do you suspect will likely be the following big breakthrough in AI?

I actually consider within the potential of autonomous AI agents to remodel our every day lives and work. Imagine having multiple intelligent AI assistants that work 24/7, empowering you to create exceptional products and possibly even guide humanity toward prosperity and success for future generations.