Tavus: The AI Human Platform

Tavus is building real-time AI humans — systems that can see you, hear you, and respond with natural expression, emotion, and context. What began as personalized video has grown into a full platform used by companies from startups to the Fortune 10. The team recently raised a $40M Series B to advance this vision, introducing PALs: agentic AI humans that can perceive, reason, and act on their own. In this conversation with YC’s Diana Hu, founders Hassaan Raza and Quinn Favret share how they made the leap from generative video to real-time AI humans, the foundational models behind rendering and perception, and why they believe AI humans will become the next major interface for work and communication. Learn more about Tavus at https://www.tavus.io. Chapters: 00:24 – From Personalized Video to AI Humans 01:18 – Why Real-Time Matters 02:36 – How AI Humans See, Hear, and Respond 04:05 – Introducing PALs: Agentic AI Humans 05:42 – The Foundational Models Behind Tavus 07:28 – Building Emotion, Expression, and Context 09:10 – Use Cases From Startups to the Fortune 10 11:00 – Raising the $40M Series B 12:52 – The Future: AI Humans as the Next Interface

Diana HuhostHassaan RazaguestQuinn Favretguest

Nov 14, 202515mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: November 14, 2025
Duration: 15m
Channel: YC Root Access
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Tavus is building real-time AI humans — systems that can see you, hear you, and respond with natural expression, emotion, and context. What began as personalized video has grown into a full platform used by companies from startups to the Fortune 10. The team recently raised a $40M Series B to advance this vision, introducing PALs: agentic AI humans that can perceive, reason, and act on their own. In this conversation with YC’s Diana Hu, founders Hassaan Raza and Quinn Favret share how they made the leap from generative video to real-time AI humans, the foundational models behind rendering and perception, and why they believe AI humans will become the next major interface for work and communication. Learn more about Tavus at https://www.tavus.io. Chapters: 00:24 – From Personalized Video to AI Humans 01:18 – Why Real-Time Matters 02:36 – How AI Humans See, Hear, and Respond 04:05 – Introducing PALs: Agentic AI Humans 05:42 – The Foundational Models Behind Tavus 07:28 – Building Emotion, Expression, and Context 09:10 – Use Cases From Startups to the Fortune 10 11:00 – Raising the $40M Series B 12:52 – The Future: AI Humans as the Next Interface

SPEAKERS

Diana Hu
host
Host at Y Combinator’s YC Root Access.
Hassaan Raza
guest
Co-founder of Tavus (AI human platform).
Quinn Favret
guest
Co-founder of Tavus (AI human platform).

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Diana Hu and Hassaan Raza, Tavus: The AI Human Platform explores tavus builds real-time AI humans as next computing interface platform Tavus builds real-time “AI humans” that can see, hear, and respond with humanlike expression across video, audio, and text.

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