Val Jones joined Storyfile as CTO in January 2021 after a leadership role at Raxium and 16 years at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. The institute has been at the forefront of synthetic media research and innovation for more than a decade.  Storyfile has products that might be thought of by some as virtual humans or digital twins, but the company characterizes its solution as conversational video. After capturing robust video recordings of people discussing a particular set of topics, Storyfile creates an interactive lifelike avatar that you can talk to through a website, app, or kiosk. The most famous Storyfile user is the actor William Shatner though the project first gained widespread attention by capturing the experiences of holocaust survivors.  Today, the technology is used for everything from entertainment, training, and answering product questions to preserving the memories of loved ones before they pass away. Jones discusses the use cases, technology evolution, and trade-offs in this rapidly growing market segment.  Jones earned PhD, master's, and undergraduate degrees in computer science from USC.