Tech Tips: Descript Eye Contact AI

For the past few months, I have been playing around with Descript as a video/audio software that does transcription, sound, video, etc. Overall, I am pretty impressed as it has allowed me to edit my podcasts a little faster. The transcription process is pretty good (see below), and the caption feature is excellent (see second video).

Today I am trying the new AI Eye Contact feature. Here we go.

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Transcript by Descript

Hey all. As you know, I've been trying to do a little bit more video on Reels and TikTok, and now I have this kind of over the top setup in my office as well with the digital camera that is filming me right now. One of the things that I've always tried to figure out though is how to keep eye contact.

You can use a teleprompter or there are other ways to do it, but if you're reading a script with a piece of paper or you're reading your screen or you're looking over here, oftentimes that's easier than doing a teleprompter and I want to still make eye contact. Well The script now has this artificial intelligence eye corrector thing, which I'm trying out with this video.

And so right now I'm taking this whole thing, looking at my screen. The next one we'll see after it's fixed. So let's see what it looks like.

With captions and AI Eye Contact enabled, the same video from above.

Okay, that’s a wee bit creepy, especially that one part where Discript gives me lizard eyes, but overall, it's pretty good. I think I have to adjust my head tilt a bit, but even with a teleprompter, I suspect most folks won’t even notice.

So the big question is, does it matter? Is there something about the unproduced vibe that can be endearing or is the non-eye-contact distracting from the words being spoken? Personally, I think two issues create a less-than-ideal video experience when watching a talking head: sound and eye contact. Descript studio sound already works well with my Rode Podcaster mic to give a little tweak so I think the AI Eye Contact will be able to do the same.

If you want to check out Descript, consider using my referral link.

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