2026-10-02 / Signal #1
Half the people on the call thought the AI was human
“48% of people on the video call thought they were talking to a human. They weren’t. The model is not for sale yet — because it worked.”
The Story
On October 1, Tavus introduced Griffin, a full-duplex “Human Interaction Model” that watches, listens, and talks on a live video call at the same time. In the company’s own one-minute study, 26 of 54 people said their partner was a real person, versus about 2% for Tavus’s previous stack; Griffin is still a research preview, not a public product.
Why It Matters
The interface stops being a chatbot and starts being a face. The strange part is not “deepfakes of celebrities,” it’s a stranger on a Zoom who nods, interrupts, and waits in the right silences. Identity, media, and work all move when a 60-second call is no longer proof of a person.
Evidence
Tavus launch post + company write-up; independent write-ups noting the study is in-house and small. Tavus’s X post is the live cultural object (~13.6M views).
Sources
Daily scan: 2026-10-02