Real-Time AI Avatar Voice Agent with LiveKit and Runway Characters

See a real-time, lip-synced AI avatar speaking through a LiveKit voice agent, powered by the Runway Characters plugin and LiveKit Inference for STT, LLM, and TTS. Sign up for LiveKit Cloud: https://cloud.livekit.io/signup?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_content=ef5mRMdlS_o The Runway Characters plugin renders a real-time intelligent avatar from a single reference image, with lip sync, eye movement, expressions, and gestures. The LiveKit Agents framework handles the conversational pipeline, so the only third-party credential involved is a Runway API secret. The avatar joins the LiveKit room as a secondary participant, and the React `useVoiceAssistant()` hook handles rendering on the frontend with no extra work. Adding a Runway avatar to a LiveKit voice agent takes three lines of agent code, a `runway` plugin extra, and a Runway character (preset or custom). This video walks through what Runway Characters does, how the plugin slots into a LiveKit AgentSession, and the small code change that puts a face on a voice agent. 📚 Resources 📚 LiveKit Runway plugin guide → https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/avatar/plugins/runway/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_content=ef5mRMdlS_o LiveKit avatar pattern → https://docs.livekit.io/agents/models/avatar/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_content=ef5mRMdlS_o Agent docs → https://docs.livekit.io/agents/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_content=ef5mRMdlS_o 🤝 Join the Community: https://community.livekit.io/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_content=ef5mRMdlS_o #livekit #ai #voiceai