eSelf, a startup developing interactive, photorealistic talking AI video avatars, has introduced a new feature called Share Screen Analysis that allows its avatars to view and respond to what users display on their screens.
Powered by a combination of a large language model (LLM) from any number of third-party AI providers like OpenAI and Google, as well as a special, custom trained video language model made in house by eSelf, the tech is designed to be an "out-of-the-box" AI solution for enterprises looking to provide customer or employee IT support, guidance, skills development, upskilling, tutorials of new products and features, education, and other interactive business use cases.
In a video interview with VentureBeat, CEO Alan Bekker -- the real one, not an avatar, as best as I could tell -- described eSelf as "an interactive avatar technology," explaining that the new feature enables users to share their screens with an avatar that can then see and respond in real time.
"The specific feature we just released is a share screen feature... this opens the door for a new set of use cases from IT support and even education," he said.
For example, if your company is rolling out a new CRM for its employees, eSelf's Share Screen Analysis avatars could give hands-on tutorials to all employees at their own pace, answering their questions as they move through the CRM software in realtime.
It marks a practical advanced AI use case that combines both leading LLMs and internal advancements to build something even more useful than either on their own.
Real-World Demonstrations
During the VentureBeat interview, Bekker demonstrated an avatar guiding a user through a CRM interface on-demand.
"It's just like a Google Meet or a Zoom call, face-to-face conversation," Bekker said. "We call it a video experience between a human and an AI."
The avatar located unsold inventory, helped add new clients, and switched languages instantly between English, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.
Compare that to a human call center, where customers can spend many minutes or sometimes even hours waiting for help in their native language -- if it's supported at all.
Bekker also shared a second demonstration featuring an avatar math tutor named Kevin. The avatar analyzed a quadratic equation displayed on a shared screen and walked through the factoring process step by step.
Bekker explained that "by the fact that [the avatar] can see my screen, he can analyze what I'm seeing, and again, it can help me to solve mathematical questions with those capabilities."
Importantly, the avatar also resisted reading out or repeating personally identifiable information that appeared on the screen -- showing it is tuned to protect privacy.
And as for how long it takes for enterprise customers to set up -- it would seem to need extensive training to be able to understand and provide guidance on their particular software mix -- Bekker assured VentureBeat it was actually quite fast and simple.
Customers only need to embed "three lines of JavaScript" into their system and provide FAQs or documentation for the avatar, after which the agent is ready to use. According to Bekker, "it basically takes five minutes to integrate your own interactive IT support avatar into your CRM".
National Pilot in Israel With CET and Harvard
The educational application ties into a broader initiative announced earlier this year. According to reporting by GamesBeat, eSelf has partnered with Israel's Center for Educational Technology (CET), the country's largest K-12 textbook publisher, to pilot AI tutors at a national level. Harvard University is serving as an academic adviser.
The first phase, launched in May 2025, includes 10,000 students in Israel who are participating in A/B testing. The pilot begins with Hebrew language instruction and will expand to other subjects.
Victor Pereira, Faculty and Co-Chair of the Teaching and Teaching Leadership program at Harvard, told another outlet, CTech that "education is one of the strongest predictors of future opportunity - yet access to quality support remains deeply unequal, at a time when it's more critical than ever. This is precisely how AI should be integrated into education: not as a replacement for human educators, but as a powerful supplement that extends learning and promotes independence."
Technology Behind the Avatars
Bekker explained to VentureBeat that eSelf uses its own proprietary models for speech generation, speech recognition, and video analysis, while connecting to external large language models for conversation management.
He said the system is "LLM agnostic," so avatars can run on different backends such as Google's Gemini or OpenAI's GPT-5, depending on customer needs.
He also noted that while eSelf currently focuses on avatars that can see a user's screen, the company's research team is working on enabling avatars to take direct control of the desktop: "Instead of just having a share screen, I can let my avatars take control over my desktop and do the actions for me"
Pricing and Plans
According to eSelf's public pricing page, Share Screen Analysis is included across all subscription tiers:
* Free: $0/month, 5 video calls
* Starter: $12/month ($10/month billed annually), 10 video calls
* Pro: $105/month ($90/month billed annually), 90 video calls, 1 custom avatar, 5 dedicated phone numbers
* Growth: $222/month ($190/month billed annually), 190 video calls, 1 custom avatar, 5 dedicated phone numbers, white labeling
* Enterprise: Custom pricing, unlimited calls, tailor-made agents, custom integrations, unlimited phone numbers
In the VentureBeat interview, Bekker confirmed that eSelf follows a SaaS licensing model, charging customers "per usage" with end-to-end service that includes LLM costs in most cases.
Looking Ahead
Bekker, who previously co-founded Voca.ai (acquired by Snap for $70 million) and served as Snap's Head of Conversational AI, emphasized in his VentureBeat discussion that eSelf is not competing with other more general AI products like ChatGPT -- which he views as more consumer-focused, despite OpenAI's extensive Team, Enterprise, and developer offerings.
Instead, he said, the company focuses on providing businesses with complete, ready-to-use solutions: "Companies want to have a solution. They don't want to hire developers to build their own version of this."
Asked whether he was concerned that OpenAI, Google, Anthropic or some other AI provider would one day release a competing first-party product similar to eSelf, Bekker seemed unconcerned: "They sell APIs to developers and we provide end-to-end solutions to our customers," he noted. "I don't really have a concern of competing with OpenAI. My concern is competing with other companies that might be using OpenAI features behind the scenes."
The company maintains that its approach augments rather than replaces human workers. In classrooms, the avatars are intended to extend the reach of teachers, while in IT and customer service they serve as assistants capable of resolving problems efficiently across multiple languages.
