Kaltura provides a cloud-based Video Experience Platform that allows enterprises, educational institutions, and media companies to create, manage, deliver, and monetize live and on-demand video. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Kaltura CTO Dr. Alan Bekker to learn more.
Dr. Alan Bekker’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Dr. Bekker said:
“I’ve spent my career at the intersection of AI, video, and human-computer interaction, with a consistent focus on making machines communicate in ways that feel more natural, intuitive, and empathetic. That journey has included a PhD in machine learning, leading AI-driven visual communication initiatives at Snap, pioneering lifelike conversational agents as the founder of eSelf.ai, and now bringing my expertise and mission to my new role at Kaltura. Across these roles, my core focus has always been making machines both smarter and more genuinely engaging. My vision is to bring these strands together, combining deep video infrastructure with generative AI and avatar technologies in order to create intelligent communication agents that aren’t novelty tech, but practical, safe, and scalable tools for high-stakes environments like healthcare and education, where trust, clarity, and consistency really matter.”
Bringing AI Avatars To Medicine
How did the idea of bringing AI avatars to medicine come together? Dr. Bekker shared:
“The idea grew out of a broader realization that healthcare is as much a communication challenge as it is a clinical one. Patients are often asked to absorb complex, emotional, or time-sensitive information under stress, while clinicians are under constant time pressure when dealing with sensitive situations. My work on human-centered AI and lifelike digital agents made it clear that avatars could become a new interface layer between medical systems and patients. Not to replace clinicians, but to extend their reach, improve clarity, and make care more accessible. Text-based tools have improved access to information and interact with millions of patients each day, but this hasn’t been sufficient when emotions are running high and improving the experience has to include real-time tactful and meaningful care. Medicine is exactly the kind of high-stakes environment where making machines more human in how they communicate isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s essential.”
Favorite Story
What has been your favorite story working to bring AI avatars to medical services so far? Dr. Bekker reflected:
“One of the most meaningful moments for me was seeing patients genuinely engage with an avatar in ways they never did with text-based chatbots or automated calls. That was a quiet but powerful validation that presence, tone, and clarity matter just as much as the information itself, and that when machines communicate in a more human way, they can actually reduce anxiety and improve real-world outcomes. It reinforced for me that genuine interaction for medical patients must not be overlooked in favour of static, fragmented AI tools, as each step in the patient journey directly affects comprehension, trust, and success.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the most significant milestones? Dr. Bekker cited:
“One of the most significant and exciting milestones was when an orthopedic surgeon used our technology to create a digital twin of himself. This avatar was used in meetings and consultations to engage with patients before and after orthopedic surgeries, providing personalized guidance and information in a natural and comforting way. Patients were able to interact with this avatar to better understand what to expect during their clinic experience. This milestone proved the potential for avatars to offer an accessible, caring, and highly immersive interface to bridge the gap between in-person care and digital support. It validated our vision for avatars as not just assistants, but as empathetic, interactive resources in the most sensitive environments.”
Core Features
What are the core features of the avatars that make them impactful in a medical setting? Dr. Bekker explained:
“What really matters in a medical context isn’t just visual realism, it’s trustworthiness, clarity, and adaptability. The avatars combine natural, synchronized speech and facial expression with contextual intelligence that tailors explanations to a patient’s language, health literacy level, and emotional state. They can adjust tone and level of detail based on how a patient is responding, rather than delivering one-size-fits-all explanations. Equally important are governance and safety layers, as every response must be traceable, auditable, and aligned with verified clinical guidance. In healthcare, an avatar isn’t a gimmick or a chatbot with a face; it’s a communication interface that has to behave consistently, responsibly, and appropriately, with real professionals and patients increasingly depending on it in the most sensitive situations.”
Challenges
What challenges still need to be overcome? Dr. Bekker acknowledged:
“In medicine, ‘mostly right’ isn’t good enough, so we need strong guardrails to prevent hallucinations, clear human-in-the-loop workflows, and rigorous validation against clinical standards. There’s also the operational reality that avatars must plug cleanly into existing systems, workflows, and regulatory frameworks without creating friction for care teams.”
“Equally important is earning trust and reliability from medical professionals, and for these avatars to be seen as intuitive, always-available support tools that can truly assist in any situation, rather than fragmented platforms that one has to go out of their way to use properly. None of this is about flashy AI. For us it’s about building systems that are reliable enough to be used in critical real-world healthcare environments.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Dr. Bekker highlighted:
“Because we’re still in early-stage pilots with several major hospitals and healthcare providers in the U.S., we can’t share names yet, but the early signals are encouraging. We’ve seen measurable improvements in patient comprehension and follow-up compliance, particularly around onboarding, discharge instructions, and pre-procedure preparation.”
“We are also seeing growing interest from care teams who view this as a way to extend patient support without increasing clinician workload, which is an essential way we can keep the healthcare system providing quality care far into the future.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Dr. Bekker affirmed:
“Our differentiation is that we focus on building avatars that behave in a genuinely human-like, dynamic way while still being reliable, accurate, and clinically safe because they are built on top of approved institutional knowledge. We focus on synchronized speech, expression, timing, and context-awareness so interactions feel natural rather than scripted or robotic. At the same time, we come from a background of building mission-critical video and communication infrastructure at global scale, which shapes how we design AI systems: secure by default, auditable, and built to integrate into real healthcare workflows. The combination of human-centered design and enterprise-grade reliability is what sets us apart.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Dr. Bekker concluded:
“Our vision is centered on scaling and expanding the use of AI avatars to not only enhance the patient experience but also to integrate them more deeply into everyday workflows in the healthcare sector. We aim to ensure these avatars are able to handle a wider variety of patient needs, including emotional support and real-time decision-making guidance. In the most sensitive cases, our goal is to ensure avatars can be there to support medical professionals and patients in their time of need, without compromising on the feeling of natural, empathetic care.”
