Quick Answer
A custom AI avatar makes sense when a public avatar isn’t specific enough for your brand, video series, or audience. Use a public avatar when speed matters and the presenter’s identity doesn’t. Use a generated custom avatar when you want a consistent branded presenter. Use a photo-based avatar when a real person’s likeness adds trust, familiarity, or authority, and only when you have clear permission.
Custom AI avatar vs. public avatar: What’s the difference?
A public avatar is a ready-made AI presenter from a shared library. It’s the fastest option because you don’t need to design, generate, or approve a new character.
A custom AI avatar is created for your own videos. It can give a recurring video series a consistent face, style, and voice. Depending on the tool, a custom avatar may be generated from appearance settings, a written prompt, or a real person’s photo.
| Avatar type | Best for | Main benefit | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public avatar | Fast explainers, drafts, general training, low-stakes internal videos | Fastest setup | May feel generic |
| Generated custom avatar | Branded recurring videos, training series, product explainers | Consistent presenter without using a real employee’s likeness | Needs enough visual polish to feel credible |
| Photo-based avatar | Founder updates, instructor-led training, expert explainers, familiar spokespeople | Preserves a recognizable face | Requires clear permission, usage limits, and approvals |
The main question isn’t whether custom avatars are always better. It’s whether the presenter needs to feel specific to your company, your series, or a real person.
If you’re making an AI avatar of yourself, or of anyone else at your company, you’re using a real person’s likeness. Before that avatar appears in videos, your team should know who gave permission, what the avatar can be used for, who can access it, and who approves the final scripts and videos.
When should you use a public avatar?
Use a public avatar when the presenter’s identity doesn’t matter much. That usually means the avatar is there to make the video feel guided, not to represent a specific person or brand character.
Public avatars work well for:
- Quick explainer videos
- Internal drafts
- Low-stakes training videos
- General onboarding content
- Simple product walkthroughs
- One-off updates
A public avatar is also useful when your team is testing whether avatar-led videos fit the format at all. You can create the video, review the pacing, and decide later whether the series needs a more specific presenter.
The tradeoff is that public avatars can feel generic. That may be fine for a quick internal process video. It may not be enough for a customer-facing series, a recurring training program, or a branded content format where viewers will see the presenter repeatedly.
When should you use a generated custom avatar?
Use a generated custom avatar when you want a consistent presenter without using a real employee’s likeness. This is the best middle ground for many business videos.
A generated custom avatar can work well for:
- Branded training series
- Customer education videos
- Product explainers
- Sales enablement content
- Localized versions of the same message
- Recurring internal updates
The main benefit is consistency. Your team can build a recognizable presenter for a video series, then update scripts or create new episodes without asking a real person to record every time.
For training, a generated custom avatar can introduce a lesson, explain why it matters, and guide the learner from one section to the next. When the process changes later, the team can update the script instead of filming a new take.
For product education, the avatar can set up the problem or introduce the feature, then the rest of the video can show the actual workflow. That usually makes the video more useful than keeping a presenter on screen the whole time.
A generated custom avatar is a good fit when the role matters more than the person. The avatar becomes a consistent host, narrator, or guide.
When should you use a photo-based avatar?
Use a photo-based avatar when the person’s identity adds value to the video. That might be a founder, executive, instructor, subject-matter expert, customer-facing leader, or familiar internal communicator.
This option makes sense when viewers benefit from seeing a recognizable person but repeated filming creates a production bottleneck. For example, a founder might introduce a recurring product update series. An instructor might appear across training modules. A department lead might deliver routine internal updates without recording every version from scratch.
Photo-based avatars need tighter rules than public or generated custom avatars. The person should know where the avatar may appear, who can use it, whether it can be localized into other languages, and whether it can be used after they leave the company or project.
If the person’s identity doesn’t help the viewer trust or understand the message, a public or generated custom avatar may be simpler. A photo-based avatar carries more risk because it uses a real likeness.
When is a real person still the better choice?
Use a real person when the speaker’s presence is part of the message.
That includes:
- Layoffs
- Crisis communication
- Apologies
- Sensitive HR topics
- Customer testimonials
- Personal stories
- Executive accountability moments
- Messages based on lived experience
A real customer should give a customer testimonial. A real executive should handle a difficult company update. A real instructor may be better when the lesson depends on personal authority, emotional nuance, or direct experience.
For a broader breakdown, read our guide to AI avatars vs. human presenters. This article is focused on choosing between public avatars, generated custom avatars, and photo-based avatars. The human-presenter question still matters, but it’s a separate decision.
What does the research say about avatar-led videos?
Research suggests avatar-led videos can work for structured explanation, but the quality of the video still matters. A 2025 experimental study, Comparing human-made and AI-generated teaching videos, found that participants preferred human-made videos for learning experience, but achieved similar learning outcomes after watching AI-generated teaching videos. A 2025 rapid review of AI-generated instructional videos in higher education found several studies with comparable knowledge outcomes between AI-generated and human-made videos, while also noting that good instructional design, human oversight, and responsible use still matter.
Avatar quality matters most when viewers are watching the avatar closely. A 2025 Journal of Science Communication study on AI avatar realism and trust found that more realistic avatars were rated higher on expertise, integrity, and benevolence in a science communication setting. That doesn’t prove realism solves every trust problem. It does support a practical rule: use public avatars when speed matters, use custom avatars when consistency or specificity matters, and don’t treat avatar-led learning results as proof that every avatar-led message will feel trustworthy.
How to create a custom AI avatar in Visla
In Visla, you can create a custom avatar from scratch or use a photo.
To create one from scratch:
- In the left sidebar, click Create Avatar.
- Choose Generate AI character.
- Select the avatar’s age, gender, and ethnicity.
- Describe the avatar’s appearance.
- Review the four generated options.
- Choose the avatar you like, or regenerate new options.
- Select the avatar’s default language.
- Choose an AI voice.
- Give the avatar a name.
- Describe any changes you want to make.
- Click Generate.
To create an avatar from a photo:
- In the left sidebar, click Create Avatar.
- Choose Select photo.
- Upload a high-quality 16:9 image.
- Crop the image.
- Confirm that you have permission to use the person’s likeness.
- Select the avatar’s default language.
- Choose an AI voice.
- Give the avatar a name.
- Add any change requests.
- Click Generate.
For a real person, don’t treat the permission step as a checkbox. Make sure the person knows where the avatar may appear, who can use it, whether it can be localized into other languages, and whether it can be used after they leave the company or project.
How to use an AI avatar in a Visla video
The avatar workflow fits into Visla’s AI Video Agent process.
- On the main page, click Create Video.
- Add a prompt, script, file, link, or other input.
- On the video setup screen, open Avatar in the left sidebar.
- Turn on Use avatar.
- Choose a Public Avatar, Custom Avatar, or Starred Avatar.
- Choose the avatar layout.
- Select AI Dynamic Layout if you want Visla to decide when the avatar appears full-screen and when it appears over b-roll.
- Select Avatar Full Screen if the avatar should be the main visual.
- Select Avatar Over B-Roll if the avatar should appear over supporting footage.
- Choose Basic or Advanced for each avatar mode.
- Turn off wallpaper if you want a neutral background.
- Keep wallpaper on if you want Visla to generate a full-screen background.
- Generate the video draft.
For most business videos, the default model setup makes sense: Advanced for full-screen avatar scenes, Basic for over-b-roll scenes. That uses the higher-quality model where viewers are more likely to notice presenter detail.
After the draft is generated, refine it in Visla’s Scene-Based Editor. You can switch between Basic and Advanced scene by scene, remove the avatar from scenes where it isn’t needed, move it around, make it full-screen, change its shape, or add an avatar to scenes that don’t already have one.
The editor helps you decide where the avatar improves the video and where it should get out of the way.
What should businesses consider before creating a real-person avatar?
Before you create or use a photo-based avatar, decide:
- Who gave permission
- Where the avatar can appear
- Whether it can be used for internal training, public marketing, sales videos, customer education, localized videos, or executive updates
- Who can create videos with it
- Who approves scripts
- Who approves the final video
- Whether the avatar can still be used after the person leaves the company or project
This isn’t legal advice. We’re just looking at what current laws and enforcement proposals are focusing on. The EU’s AI Act transparency obligations for AI-generated content become applicable on Aug. 2, 2026, and cover marking and labeling for certain AI-generated content. The FTC has also proposed stronger protections against AI impersonation of individuals, including synthetic likenesses and voice cloning.
The safest practical approach is to treat a real-person avatar like a controlled company asset. It should have permission, limits, owners, and an approval workflow.
Once your team is ready for a fuller governance plan, link this section to your AI avatar policy guide.
Should your business create a custom AI avatar?
Create a custom AI avatar when a public avatar is too generic for the job. Use a generated custom avatar for a recurring branded presenter, and use a photo-based avatar only when the person’s identity adds value and you have clear permission. Use a public avatar when speed matters more than specificity. Use a real person when the speaker’s presence is part of the message.
FAQ
Yes. A business can use different AI avatars for different roles, audiences, or content types. For example, one avatar might host customer education videos, while another appears in internal training. The important thing is to keep the logic clear so viewers understand who the avatar represents and why that presenter keeps appearing.
Choose the voice based on the audience, topic, and level of formality. A training video may need a calm, clear voice that is easy to follow, while a product update may work better with a warmer, more conversational delivery. If the avatar represents a real person, make sure the voice choice does not imply that person said something they did not review or approve.
Update a custom AI avatar when it starts to feel visually outdated, no longer matches your brand, or no longer fits the videos it appears in. A recurring avatar should stay consistent enough for viewers to recognize it, but not so fixed that it clashes with new branding, formats, or audience expectations. Treat it like any other branded asset: review it periodically instead of changing it every time you make a new video.
May Horiuchi
May is a Content Specialist and AI Expert for Visla. She is an in-house expert on anything Visla and loves testing out different AI tools to figure out which ones are actually helpful and useful for content creators, businesses, and organizations.