Did That Website Just Wink At Me? Introducing Your Next Generation AI Avatar

Susan Hogan
5 days ago
10 min read

Four contenders. One award. And a question nobody has quite answered yet.

Picture this.....

It’s 9pm on a Sunday. You’ve just landed on a website - a local specialist, a consultant, someone whose services you’ve been meaning to look into. You’re not expecting much. Maybe a contact form. Maybe a ‘we’ll get back to you in 3-5 working days.’

Instead, an AI avatar appears on screen.

A real-looking, human face. It makes eye contact. It says: “Hello - what are you looking for today?” You ask your question. It answers - specifically, warmly, knowledgeably. It offers to book you in. It thanks you and wishes you a good evening.

The office is empty. Nobody is working late. And yet you just had a genuinely useful conversation with this business.

So. Is there a world where you can imagine artificial intelligence sitting right up there with your best people in the employee awards stakes?

Hold those certificates. Because some virtual employees have already been quietly working 24/7 for quite some time (some right in our eyeline and some doing a lot of talking) - and they’re rather good at it.

Ladies and gentlemen. The shortlist for our Employee of the Month.

Meet Your AI Avatar Receptionist

Let’s start with the one that’s furthest along - and probably the most quietly extraordinary.

Platforms like Beyond Presence, D-ID, and HeyGen’s Interactive Avatar have built what they call conversational video agents. Real-time digital humans - realistic faces, natural speech, full facial expressions - that respond to website visitors live. Not pre-recorded. Not scripted. Live. Sub-second response time. In 37 languages. Looking straight at the camera like a Zoom call that rang itself.

You find an interesting website and decide to browse...A face appears. It greets you. It answers your question. It books your appointment and wishes you a good evening.

The face belongs to nobody. And yet the conversation was completely real.

If that doesn’t make you stop and stare at your screen for a moment, we’re not sure what will.

The One Who Takes Your Order (And Upsells the Chips)

This is where things get gloriously specific. Because this particular development isn’t theoretical - it’s been operating at scale for a while now, and most people have no idea.

EVA is a virtual assistant already working across Marriott hotels. She answers guest calls, takes room service orders, makes restaurant reservations, sends directions by text, and collects feedback at the end of every interaction. She speaks five languages. She never takes a day off. As of early 2025, she was deployed across at least 11 properties. Guests call. EVA answers. And most of them, unless they already know, have no idea.

Over at Wendy’s in the US, FreshAI handles drive-through orders using voice AI built with Google Cloud. It processes the order, suggests sides, offers deals. It was rolling out to 500-600 locations by 2025. Domino’s has had their voice AI ‘Dom’ taking app orders for years. You say “large pepperoni, extra cheese” and Dom handles the rest without a human in sight.

Now scale that down to your local restaurant. Your small hotel. The café getting hammered with calls on a Friday night when every single member of staff is flat out and the phone is just ringing and ringing.

Tools like HeyRosie read your website or Google Business Profile, build their knowledge from your own content, and answer your calls for you. The voice is natural. The background noise sounds like a real call centre. You can ring it yourself and test it before it goes live.

We did say it was uncanny. We meant it as a compliment.

The Sales Rep Who Actually Knows What They’re Talking About

You know that moment in a physical shop when someone appears at your elbow, says “can I help?” and actually can? The perfectly timed intervention. The one that knows the stock, understands the options, asks the right questions.

That moment has arrived on websites. And it’s wearing a face!

Platforms like DaveAI place interactive AI sales avatars directly on product pages. The avatar appears. It asks what you’re looking for. It walks you through options. It makes personalised recommendations based on what you’ve told it. Not a form. Not a chatbot window. A presence on screen that behaves, for all practical purposes, like a knowledgeable shop assistant who’s been briefed on everything you sell.

In retail this already makes obvious sense - particularly for anything considered, complex, or high-value. Electronics. Furniture. Specialist equipment. The kind of purchase where a good human conversation in a shop would genuinely move things forward.

Where it gets philosophically interesting is services. Would you trust an AI avatar to help you choose a solicitor? A financial product? A private medical consultation? The technology can absolutely do it. Whether the trust travels with it into those more sensitive spaces is a separate, and rather fascinating, question. One we are very much watching.

The Zoom Call That Nobody Booked

This is the one that stopped me mid-scroll. And I’ve been scrolling through a lot of extraordinary things lately.

Imagine clicking “Talk to Us” on a website - an accountant, a consultant, a specialist of any kind - and instead of a contact form, a face appears. A human-looking face. It greets you warmly. It asks what you’re dealing with. It answers with genuine, specific knowledge of the business and its services. It offers to book you in with someone.

You close the window. You’re not entirely sure whether you just spoke to a person.

Beyond Presence’s avatars operate with sub-second response times, full natural facial expressions, and the kind of conversational flow that makes your brain do a small, quiet double-take. This is the third wave of conversational AI: after text, after voice, video. A live interaction that looks, sounds, and feels like a Zoom call. With nobody on the other end.

And at the more theatrical end of proceedings? RAVATAR built a live holographic AI of a CEO who delivered a full keynote and answered audience questions at a conference in 2024. AMD had a digital twin of their regional GM holding real-time conversations with C-suite visitors at GITEX 2025 in Dubai. Leonardo da Vinci - yes, that one - appeared live, holographic, and conversational at VivaTech in Paris, courtesy of Capgemini. Read more here →

That last one is either the most extraordinary thing you’ve read all week or the most unsettling. We maintain that both is the correct response, and that holding both reactions at once is actually the right place to be.

But Will People Actually Want It?

Consider this - All of the above is real. All of it is already deployed somewhere. Some of it is already available to small businesses right now, today, at prices that would surprise you.

And yet......

There is a genuine and important question sitting in the middle of all this wonder, and it deserves an honest answer rather than a wave of the hand.

Will people embrace it? Or will they bounce off it like a cat discovering a cucumber?

The evidence is genuinely mixed - and that’s not a cop-out, it’s the truth. Customers who encounter well-implemented AI avatars, virtual assistants, and personalised experiences tend to rate them highly. The experience is often better than its human equivalent - faster, more consistent, more patient, available at 11pm when the human alternative was never an option anyway.

But novelty has a curve. Some people lean in immediately. Others need time. And some will always prefer a human, full stop, for certain kinds of interaction - and that preference deserves respect, not a workaround.

The businesses doing this well are the ones being transparent about it. The avatar has a name. The website says “meet Aria, she’ll help you get started.” Nobody is pretending it’s something it isn’t. And increasingly, customers don’t need it to be human. They need it to be helpful.

We adapted to self-service checkouts - we queue for them now by choice. We adapted to online banking, contactless payments, automated phone systems (well, most of us). The adaptation curve on virtual human experiences is likely to be faster still, because the experience is considerably more pleasant than pressing 1 for billing.

The question for every small business isn’t “should I panic?” or “should I adopt this immediately?”

It’s: where in my business would a consistently excellent, always-available, never-having-a-bad-day presence add the most value for my customers? And where is a human touch not just preferred but genuinely irreplaceable?

Those two questions, answered honestly, will tell you everything you need to know about where to start.

And the Award Goes To…

We’ve met the candidates. Now it’s over to you.

Four genuinely remarkable developments. Four ways the website you thought you knew is quietly becoming something rather more interesting. Which one would you give this month's certificate to?

The Receptionist - The Virtual Human Greeter

Realistic face, real-time conversation, 37 languages, available all hours. Doesn’t need a desk or a pension.

One Last Thing

Truth be told, I’ve already been working with the older brothers and sisters of this family for a while - earlier generations of virtual experience that have taught me a great deal about where the opportunities are and, just as usefully, where the edges are.

The newer recruits on this shortlist? I’m genuinely looking forward to putting them through their paces - starting with my own site, which seems only fair. If I’m going to recommend any of this to small businesses, I should know what it actually feels like from the other side of the screen. I’ll report back honestly.

The websites of the future are arriving in pieces. Some are already here, sitting quietly inside tools and platforms most small businesses haven’t looked twice at yet.

Web Wise is watching. And articles just like Did That Website Just Wink At Me? is where we’ll keep the conversation going.

First issue down. Many more to come. Watch out for 'The Future of Small Business Websites'. You might like to subscribe here to be first in line!

Headphones, notebook, laptop and phone - traditional customer service tools now reimagined for next generation AI avatars

TL;DR Speed Read

Next generation avatars are already working on websites - greeting visitors, taking orders, answering questions, and booking appointments around the clock. Four extraordinary real-world examples, a vote for Employee of the Month, and an honest look at whether customers will actually embrace it. Spoiler: they already are.

FAQs

What is a virtual human or digital human on a website?

A realistic AI-generated face that holds real-time conversations with visitors - answering questions, guiding decisions, booking appointments. Think Zoom call, but the person on the other end is entirely artificial.

Is this technology only for big businesses?

Not any more. Several platforms are pricing these tools within reach of smaller businesses, particularly for customer service, booking, and sales support. The gap between enterprise capability and small business access is closing fast.

Would customers trust an AI avatar on a website?

Evidence suggests yes, particularly when businesses are upfront about it. Customers care more about the quality of the experience than whether the face is human - provided the interaction is genuinely useful.

What’s the difference between a chatbot and a virtual human?

A chatbot is text-based and often feels mechanical. A virtual human uses a realistic face, natural speech, and real-time responses. It’s conversational in a way that feels considerably closer to talking to an actual person.

Are AI voice ordering systems already being used by small businesses?

Yes. Tools now exist that read your website or menu and handle calls on your behalf - taking orders, making bookings, sending confirmations. The same technology operating in Marriott hotels and Wendy’s drive-throughs is filtering down to independent businesses.

How do I know if my business is ready for any of this?

Ask yourself: where would a consistent, always-available, knowledgeable presence add the most value for my customers? That’s where to look first. Not every part of your service needs it - and some parts absolutely shouldn’t have it.

Terms we used

Conversational video agent A real-time AI that combines a realistic human face with natural language to hold live spoken conversations via video. Nobody is on the other end. The conversation is entirely real.

Digital human An AI-generated representation of a person - face, voice, expression - capable of speaking and responding in real time. Also called a virtual human or AI avatar.

Digital twin A virtual replica of a specific person, trained on their likeness, voice, and knowledge. Can represent them in digital interactions, presentations, or customer-facing contexts.

Hyper-personalisation AI-powered website adaptation that responds to individual visitor behaviour, location, and history in real time - showing each person a version of your site tailored specifically to them.

Voice AI ordering A system that takes customer orders by voice using natural language processing - understanding requests and processing them without human involvement.

Stylised illustration of a woman with a futuristic design working on a laptop, used as a playful visual to accompany the author biography

About the Writer

Susi is the creative brain behind Web Wise and the small business web designer at Kingstown Web Studio. A career spanning corporate, consultancy, and running her own businesses means she writes from experience - not theory. Her blogs are practical, honest and a little bit cheeky: the kind she wishes someone had given her earlier. When she's not building websites, she's sharing the ideas, insights and lightbulb moments that help small businesses show up with confidence.

Read more about Susi →

Footnotes

Links and platform references were accurate at the time of publication. The digital landscape moves quickly so if you spot anything that's changed, do let us know. All platforms mentioned are referenced for editorial and informational purposes only. No content, imagery or intellectual property belonging to any named platform has been reproduced. We'd recommend visiting each directly to explore their current offer.

The Future of Small Business Websites

I’ll be honest - not every piece I write is about the practical, the structural, or the strategically sensible. Some of it is just because technology genuinely excites me. And I think it should excite you too.

The Future of Small Business Websites is a series I’ve added to the Web Wise library for exactly that reason. It’s where we look at what’s coming - and what’s already quietly arrived - at the wilder, more wonderful edges of the web. No scaremongering. No hype. Just the stuff that makes me stop mid-scroll and immediately want to tell someone.

You’ll find all the issues in the Web Wise library. More coming soon.