Experimental › Avatar alternatives
Avatar alternatives: Anam vs LiveAvatar by HeyGen
A side by side comparison of the two avatar services, written for the MediMergent team to decide which one fronts Carmen in Phase 1. Draft for discussion.
What this decides
Carmen needs a video avatar for Phase 1. The proposal names HeyGen or a comparable service, and Phase 2 already plans to replace whichever we choose with locally hosted technology. So this is a one year decision, not a permanent one.
One thing does not change with the choice: Carmen's answers. Everything she says is generated by our system from the trial's own documents. The avatar vendor supplies the face and the voice, nothing more. That means we can switch vendors later without rebuilding anything patients rely on.
The two options in plain words
LiveAvatar by HeyGen is what runs today. We generate Carmen's voice ourselves and LiveAvatar puts a face on it. It is reliable, its Business plan already supports 40 patients speaking with Carmen at the same time, and it costs less per minute. Its weakness: the delivery never changes. Carmen sounds and looks the same whether she is sharing good news or walking through side effects.
Anam is the alternative we built and tested. We send it Carmen's words and it performs them: the face and voice warm up when she reassures, and turn serious when the topic is difficult. Watching the two side by side, the difference is obvious within a minute, and it is exactly the quality the emotional intelligence goals of Phase 1 describe. Its weaknesses: published plans allow only 10 simultaneous conversations, it costs somewhat more per minute, and reaching the 60 user target requires a custom agreement with them that does not exist on their price list.
See it yourself
We built a side by side comparison page at /avatar-demo. Both avatars answer the same question with the identical answer, so you are comparing only the delivery.
- Press Start both and wait for the introductions.
- Type a question a patient would ask and press Send.
- Click one avatar to hear the answer, then click the other to hear the same answer its way.
- The meters under each pane show what the session costs on the plan selected there.
Try one emotional question ("I'm scared of the side effects, what could happen to me?") and one factual one ("How long will my first infusion take?"). The contrast tells you most of what this page says.
At a glance
| LiveAvatar by HeyGen | Anam | |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional delivery | Uniform | Changes with content; the visible difference |
| Patients at the same time | 40 on the Business plan; Enterprise starts at 100 | 10 on published plans; 60 needs a custom deal |
| Cost | Depends on the plan and usage; use the calculator below | |
| Reliability in our testing | Proven, runs today | Solid after setup work we have already done |
| Patient privacy | Patient's voice never leaves our AWS systems | Same, in the configuration we run; their Enterprise plan adds zero data retention |
| A branded custom avatar later | Needs a real person's consent video | Can be created from images |
Technical considerations
| LiveAvatar by HeyGen | Anam | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | No visible difference in practice | |
| Streaming and interruption | Both available | |
| Expression cues | None |
|
| End of speech signal | Sent; our conversation flow runs on it | Not sent; we estimate it with timing, an engineering risk |
| Session limits | 2 to 60 minutes by plan | 3 minutes to 2 hours by plan |
Cost calculator
Pick a plan on each side and set the usage. Usage means patient conversations per day across all sites; Phase 1 targets up to 60 simultaneous users, so the input stops at 60 conversations a day. Prices come from the LiveAvatar pricing page and the Anam pricing page. On Anam's page their assistant Sophie answers pricing questions live, including enterprise terms.
LiveAvatar by HeyGen
Anam
LiveAvatar sells credits, one credit is one streaming minute, and does not publish its pay as you go credit price; where usage exceeds the plan's credits, the extra is estimated at the plan's own effective rate and marked as an estimate. Anam's extra minute prices are published per plan.
Which to choose
The only option where Carmen's warmth is something patients can see and hear.
The capacity exists today at published prices.
It is already running in production.
Anam for the patient experience, provided two things check out: their custom agreement must cover the concurrent user target at a workable price, and the discipline of keeping Anam locked to our script must be acceptable. If either fails, LiveAvatar is a good choice and costs you little: same Carmen, same answers, a steadier face.