People communicate with more than words. A raised hand, a change in posture or a facial expression can help convey meaning and emotion. Now, researchers have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can translate speech into coordinated movements of the body, hands and face, potentially making digital characters and virtual presenters more expressive and lifelike.

Developed by researchers at Tohoku University and the University of Hong Kong, DynaConTalk generates three-dimensional (3D) human movements that correspond to spoken content.

Unlike approaches that generate only individual gestures, the system coordinates different parts of the body while maintaining smooth movement over longer speeches. Users can also guide the generated motion by specifying poses or providing reference examples.