Exploring the balance between staying genuine and leveraging AI tools for video content
I'm a hands-on video creator. Give me an iPhone, access to Canva and editing software, and I'm in my element. AI-generated videos? Not for me. At least not until this week. Between the questionable results I'd seen and the learning curve, I stuck to what I knew: real me, real video, human editing—every step of the way.
Catalysts for the Exploration
Then a few days ago, a phone conversation with Dan Wegner introduced me to captions.ai, the same day OpenAI announced their new text-to-video generation tool, Sora. It felt like a sign to explore these tools and see what they could offer. I had shied away from AI video tools, but with recent advancements, it felt like the right time to revisit.
As someone who's pretty much only created videos the traditional way, I wondered: Could an everyday creator like me actually make these tools work? How much time and patience would it take to get something useful?
Creating AI Twins in Captions.ai
Let me take you step-by-step through how I created an AI Twin using captions.ai. I signed up for the Pro plan at $9.99 a month for this test drive. I'm on the fence about continuing the subscription.
To set up the AI Twin, you are guided through a series of facial expressions like you're at a very strange photo booth. Plain face? Check. "Ooh" face? Got it. Show your teeth? Feeling like I'm at the dentist, but okay.
Then comes the real fun—recording a minute-long video while reading from their teleprompter. At least they make it easy to maintain eye contact since you're looking directly at the screen.
Within a few minutes, you have your AI Twin profile. Or in my case, I changed clothes and did a second one.
Testing Social Studio
Next, you set up your brand kit. You choose from your AI personalities and the overall look and feel for your videos. Then you can manually input information about your brand or let it scrape your website.
The first thing I tried was the Social Studio. It created a couple of weeks of content for me and even scheduled it. On the surface, I thought, “This is incredible.” I could even manually edit the script and regenerate each of the videos. Only one problem: there was no way to edit the captions and graphics that were auto-generated. If I wanted new captions and graphics, I had to edit the script and regenerate the video.
Can you spot all the misspellings in this video?
While the Social Studio tool might not be ready for prime time, it still shows potential as a streamlined solution for creating and scheduling content. (I did hear the issue I experienced might be fixed now. I still need to verify).
Limitations of AI Scripts
I like that you can write some of your own scripts for the AI Twin. However, I learned that you need to be careful not to write a script that requires a lot of personality to convey. Here’s my next failed attempt at an AI-generated video.
Seeking Authenticity: My Experiment with ChatGPT
Feeling awfully lukewarm about the results from captions.ai, I thought to myself, how could I better capture the real me? So many AI tools now offer ways to slice and dice long-form content. Maybe I just needed some long-form content.
So how could I come up with what to say for this long-form video?
I thought it would be fun to ask ChatGPT to play the role of a morning radio host and interview me.
With a simple laptop light and a click of the record button, I captured my conversation with ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode. This is the raw footage.
Refining Content with OpusClip
I uploaded that video into OpusClip and split it into bite-sized video clips. When it came to choosing a length, I opted for under 60 seconds.
So this is how a clip of the real me turned out from my interview with ChatGPT.
Comparing Outputs: AI Twin vs. Authentic Clips
Next up, I took the transcript from that clip above, the real authentic me, and put it into captions.ai to see how it would turn out with my AI Twin.
Key Takeaways
What’s the takeaway from all of this? I prefer the real me, but tools like ChatGPT offer opportunities for more structured and engaging interviews that can highlight authentic personality. If captions.ai has resolved its issue with misspellings, I think it will be a helpful tool for more automated social content.
Let’s Collaborate
As always, curious to get your take. Have you tried Captions.ai, Sora, OpusClip, or other AI tools? Share your experience and let’s learn together! Please share.
After watching the version that came out in '23, it makes me want to revisit the old version of this movie (it's gorgeous!)
I found my long forgotten dvd disk and thought for a long time how I could play this movie on my computer. I read more articles on this topic and realized that I need to use a converter to change the format of the movie to the one supported by the player.
I had on the disk was an exclusive version with voiceover :)