TikTok said Monday it's broadening its foray in the world of AI by launching generative AI avatars of creators and stock actors for branded content and ads on its platform. The company is also launching an "AI Dubbing" tool to extend the reach of their ads and branded content by more creators and brands.

According to TikTok, new "Custom Avatars" are designed to be representative of either a creator or a brand spokesperson and enable creators to scale their likeness to create multilingual avatars to expand their global reach and collaborate with more brands. Brands can create avatars with their brand spokesperson or an established creator they have partnered with in order to localize their global campaigns.

There are also new "Stock Avatars" - pre-built avatars, which were created using paid actors licensed for commercial use. The idea of avatars is to give businesses the ability to add a human touch to their content. TikTok says the avatars are created with actors from a range of backgrounds, nationalities, and languages.

Some are scary, new tools that will be released. Hollywood actors were on strike last year over several issues related to AI, including worrying their faces would be used to create AI versions of themselves. With TikTok's new AI avatars, it is the creator's choice whether they would like their likeness to be used for such a purpose. Creators can also control their rates, licensing, and who can utilize their avatar.

With the new AI Dubbing tool, creators and brands can translate their content into up to 10 languages, including English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. It automatically identifies the language in a video and then transcribes and translates the content for production of the dubbed video in the preferable language. According to TikTok, the new feature lets creators and brands communicate with global audiences.

The roll-out comes as TikTok recently reported that 61% of users made a purchase either directly on TikTok or after seeing an ad.
The new features will be part of "TikTok Symphony," the company's suite of ads solutions powered by generative AI, which was rolled out in May. The suite includes tools to help marketers write scripts, produce videos and enhance current assets.

TikTok is expanding its advertising business while under pressure of being banned in the US if ByteDance, the company that owns the app, fails to sell it within one year.