How to have a video chat with an AI

Real-time video chat with AI now feels human—and you can launch your first call in minutes.

Video chat with AI is rapidly becoming the new human interface—one where you look, speak, and get face-to-face responses in real time. Gone are the days of clunky chatbots and scripted avatars. Today’s AI humans, powered by platforms like Tavus, deliver unscripted, natural conversations without the uncanny lag or awkward pauses that have long plagued digital interactions. This shift isn’t just about novelty; it’s a fundamental change in how we connect, learn, and collaborate across screens.

In this guide, you’ll go from zero to your first call in minutes, learn how to make the conversation feel human, and see how to embed it in your product

Whether you’re an individual practicing for interviews, a team running customer support, or a product leader looking to embed real-time, humanlike conversation at scale, this guide will walk you through the essentials. You’ll discover how to launch your first AI video chat in minutes, make every interaction feel authentic, and seamlessly integrate this capability into your own workflows or applications.

You’ll learn how to:

 
• Get started quickly: Go from setup to your first AI video call in just a few steps—no advanced technical skills required.
 
• Make conversations feel human: Learn how to leverage AI models that see, listen, and respond with real presence, not just canned replies.
 
• Embed and scale: See how to add AI video chat to your product or website, unlocking new engagement and support channels without ballooning headcount.

Why it works: Tavus AI humans see and interpret context, respond with natural turn-taking, and render full-face micro-expressions in 1080p across 30+ languages

The secret behind these lifelike interactions lies in Tavus’s proprietary models. Raven-0 enables AI humans to perceive nonverbal cues—like facial expressions and body language—so they can adapt their tone and responses in real time. Sparrow-0 delivers natural turn-taking, with sub-600 ms response times that mirror the rhythm of human conversation.

Meanwhile, Phoenix-3 renders full-face micro-expressions in crisp 1080p, eliminating the “uncanny valley” and building trust with every blink and smile. This technology supports over 30 languages, making it accessible and inclusive for global teams and audiences.

Results teams are seeing include:

 
• 50% boost in engagement: Users interact longer and more meaningfully with AI humans compared to traditional chatbots.
 
• 80% higher retention: Natural, emotionally intelligent conversations keep users coming back.
 
• 2x faster response times with Sparrow-0: Conversations flow smoothly, without awkward pauses.
 
• Knowledge Base retrieval in ~30 ms: Up to 15× faster than typical retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, ensuring instant, accurate answers.

To learn more about the evolution of real-time AI video chat and its impact on user engagement, see AI Video Chat as a new paradigm for real-time communication. For a deeper dive into Tavus’s approach and capabilities, visit the Tavus Homepage for an overview of the platform’s mission and technology.

Spin up your first video chat with AI in minutes

Pick a persona (or clone your own)

Getting started with AI video chat is remarkably fast. You can choose from a range of stock personas—like the Tavus Researcher (persona_id: p48fdf065d6b), who brings a friendly, technically insightful vibe to every conversation. These stock replicas are optimized for immediate use, letting you test and iterate before personalizing with your own digital twin and custom tone as you scale.

As you grow, you can train a custom replica to reflect your brand’s voice and presence, ensuring every interaction feels uniquely yours. For more on how personas and replicas work together, explore the Replicas overview.

Create and join a conversation

To create and join your first session, follow these steps:

 
• Create a conversation by sending a POST request to https://tavusapi.com/v2/conversations with your chosen persona_id.
 
• Click the conversation_url returned in the response to join your live video chat.
 
• For no-code testing, use the Tavus Portal to spin up sessions instantly.
 
• Developers can pass document_ids to ground the AI’s answers in your own knowledge base, enabling context-aware, accurate responses.

This streamlined workflow means you can go from zero to a live, face-to-face AI conversation in minutes. For a deeper dive into the API and integration options, check out the Conversational Video Interface documentation.

Alternatively, if you're looking to dive right in, you can spin up a conversation any time in the Tavus app.

Make your video chat feel human

See what users mean, not just what they say (Raven-0)

What sets a truly human video chat apart is the ability to perceive more than just words. Tavus’s Raven-0 model brings contextual awareness to every conversation, interpreting nonverbal cues like facial expressions, body language, and even subtle environmental signals.

This means your AI counterpart can adapt its tone and approach in real time—whether you’re running a coaching session, providing customer support, or conducting an interview. By reading the room, Raven-0 enables emotionally intelligent interactions that feel natural and responsive, not robotic.

Flow like a real conversation (Sparrow-0)

Natural conversation isn’t just about what’s said—it’s about how it flows. Sparrow-0, Tavus’s turn-taking model, delivers conversational awareness with sub-600 ms response times and humanlike pacing. This results in a +50% boost in user engagement, +80% higher retention, and responses that are twice as fast as traditional systems.

These outcomes aren’t just theoretical: platforms like Final Round AI have seen users stay longer and complete more sessions thanks to the fluid, lifelike rhythm enabled by Sparrow-0. For a deeper dive into the paradigm shift of AI video chat as real-time communication, recent research highlights how multimodal models are redefining what’s possible in digital interaction.

To keep interactions smooth and productive, try these best practices:

 
• Set context up front to align expectations and goals.
 
• Ask specific questions to guide the conversation productively.
 
• Speak naturally, using brief pauses to allow for thoughtful responses.
 
• Review key takeaways at the end to reinforce understanding and next steps.

Show up with presence (Phoenix-3)

Presence is more than just being on screen—it’s about feeling real. Phoenix-3, Tavus’s rendering model, animates full-face micro-expressions and preserves identity with studio-grade fidelity. This dramatically reduces the uncanny valley effect, making AI humans trustworthy and relatable, especially in customer-facing flows.

The result is a video chat experience where every blink, smile, and subtle shift in emotion feels intentional and authentic, building trust from the very first interaction. Learn more about how Phoenix-3 achieves this in the Replicas overview.

Ground the AI in your data (Knowledge Base and Memories)

To keep conversations accurate and relevant, Tavus lets you attach your own Knowledge Base for lightning-fast retrieval—responses arrive in as little as 30 ms, up to 15× faster than typical retrieval-augmented generation. Toggle Memories for continuity across sessions, and keep your content fresh to avoid drift. This ensures every answer is grounded in your latest data, making your AI human a reliable source of truth. For more on how to build and connect your knowledge base, see the Knowledge Base documentation.

To operationalize grounding and continuity:

 
• Attach your Knowledge Base for ~30 ms retrieval—keep answers instant and accurate.
 
• Toggle Memories to maintain context and continuity across conversations.
 
• Regularly update your content to ensure responses stay relevant and avoid drift.

For a broader perspective on why emotionally intelligent, face-to-face AI is the future of digital interaction, visit the Tavus Homepage for an overview of the platform’s mission and capabilities.

Take the next step: launch your AI human and learn fast

Start free, iterate weekly

Launching your first AI human is easier than ever. With Tavus, you can get started on the Free plan, which includes 25 minutes of Conversational Video, 5 minutes of Video Generation, access to a library of stock replicas, and support for over 30 languages. This is the perfect way to validate your first use case and experience the power of real-time, face-to-face AI interaction without any upfront commitment.

To get value fast, take these steps:

 
• Pick a persona from our stock library or create your own to match your brand and use case.
 
• Create a conversation and run a HairCheck to ensure your camera and environment are ready for high-fidelity video.
 
• Attach a Knowledge Base document to ground your AI in accurate, up-to-date information—retrieval is lightning-fast, with responses in as little as 30 ms, up to 15× faster than typical RAG systems (learn more about Knowledge Base).
 
• Pilot your AI human with five real users this week to gather actionable feedback and iterate quickly.

Measure what matters

To ensure your AI human is driving real business outcomes, track key metrics that align with your goals. Session length, completion rate, CSAT/NPS, and first-contact resolution are all critical indicators of conversational quality and user satisfaction. Thanks to Tavus’s natural turn-taking and perception models, you can expect a measurable lift in engagement and retention—industry research shows a 50% boost in engagement and 80% higher retention when using advanced conversational AI (see the latest research on AI video chat).

Scale with confidence

Once you’re ready to expand, upgrading to the Growth plan unlocks 1,250 minutes of Conversational Video, conversation recordings, and higher concurrency for larger teams or customer-facing deployments. You can also configure Objectives and Guardrails to standardize outcomes and ensure every interaction is safe, compliant, and on-brand. This flexibility lets you move from pilot to production without friction, whether you’re supporting internal teams or embedding AI humans in your product.

To scale effectively:

 
• Configure Objectives to guide conversations toward clear outcomes, such as health intakes or recruiter screens.
 
• Set Guardrails to enforce tone, compliance, and brand consistency across every session.
 
• Access documentation for creating and joining conversations, embedding with the CVI guide, and leveraging Knowledge Base and Memories for persistent, context-aware AI.
 
• Explore example personas—like Researcher, AI Interviewer, or Customer Service agent—to accelerate your rollout.

Where to go next

Ready to see what’s possible? Dive deeper into the Tavus Homepage for a full overview, or explore how AI video chat is redefining real-time communication in this research on real-time AI video chat. Whether you’re piloting a new support flow, scaling customer engagement, or embedding lifelike AI into your product, Tavus gives you the tools to learn fast and scale with confidence. If you’re ready to get started with Tavus, launch your first AI human today—we hope this post was helpful.