# Tavus' Griffin AI avatar fools 48% of users in one-minute call

Digest AI · Generative AI & Models · published 2026-10-01T18:03:40Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/tavus-griffin-ai-avatar-fools-48-of-users-in-one-minute-call

## Summary

Tavus has launched Griffin, its first Human Interaction Model, which processes speech, facial expressions, tone, gestures and pauses while generating and receiving video. In a Tavus study, 48 percent of participants believed Griffin was a real person after a one‑minute video call, compared with only 2 percent for previous systems.

An independent Nvidia test measured how human an AI feels in direct audio‑video conversation. Griffin scored 3.83 points, close to humans’ 3.92, and far ahead of the previous best AI model at 2.80. A preview called Griffin‑Lite is available to select testers as a research preview, with a more capable version coming once safety concerns are addressed.

Founded in 2020, Tavus has raised about $64 million. It began building personalized AI videos for sales and marketing before expanding into live video conversations with digital personas, citing tutoring, difficult‑conversation practice and camera‑based tech support as potential use cases.

## Key points

- 48% of participants believed Tavus' Griffin AI avatar was a real person after a one‑minute video call.
- Griffin scored 3.83 on Nvidia's human‑likeness test, close to humans' 3.92, surpassing previous AI models' 2.80.
- Tavus, founded 2020, has raised about $64 million and is expanding from AI video sales tools to live conversational avatars.

## Why it matters

Griffin's high human‑likeness score suggests AI avatars could soon be indistinguishable from real people in short conversations, raising both opportunities for interactive training and concerns about authenticity and trust in digital communication.

## Sources

1. [Nearly half of test subjects mistook Tavus' AI video avatar for a real person on a one-minute call](https://the-decoder.com/nearly-half-of-test-subjects-mistook-tavus-ai-video-avatar-for-a-real-person-on-a-one-minute-call) (The Decoder, 2026-10-01)

## Cite

Digest AI, "Tavus' Griffin AI avatar fools 48% of users in one-minute call", 1 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/tavus-griffin-ai-avatar-fools-48-of-users-in-one-minute-call

---

Written by Digest AI's editorial model from the linked sources; the sources are the record. Headlines, digests and key points are written by Digest AI and may be quoted with a link to the story page. Linked articles belong to their publishers. Terms: https://digestai.news/terms#reuse
JSON: https://digestai.news/story/tavus-griffin-ai-avatar-fools-48-of-users-in-one-minute-call.json