TL;DR
- Customer: Tutore Group (eTutor self-service language learning platform)
- Industry: Language learning, ed-tech, AI for education
- Use case: Real-time AI avatars for AI speaking practice, AI roleplay, and scenario-based conversation simulation across A1 to C1 levels
- Beyond Presence powers: Teacher (Nelly), an AI tutor learners speak with after each lesson; Beyond Presence avatars are also used in Quest, eTutor's scenario-based AI roleplay exercise
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian (Beyond Presence supports any language available through connected voice AI providers)
- Premium tier launched: December 2025
- Status as of April 2026: 3,000+ Premium subscribers across web, iOS, and Android; 95% positive feedback on the avatar exercise; Teacher rated one of the most-valued Premium features
Meet Tutore Group
Tutore Group is one of Europe's most established language education groups, uniting a portfolio of language and learning brands across Poland and Spain. Its brands include ProfiLingua, eTutor, Lang, Vaughan, and Tutore, alongside ESL Brains for English teacher materials globally. Together, they reach learners through digital platforms, in-person language schools, certified exam centres, and tutoring services.
The brand at the centre of this case study is eTutor, Tutore Group's flagship self-service language learning platform. eTutor delivers structured courses across English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian, from A1 to C1, with tens of exercise formats, thousands of exercises, and hundreds of lessons.
The gap between learning a language and speaking one
Over the years, Tutore's eTutor platform has built a strong foundation for structured, end-to-end language learning. Learners can progress through thousands of exercises across vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension, moving from beginner to advanced levels across multiple languages.
The system works well for building knowledge. But one challenge remained clear.
Speaking
While learners could complete structured exercises and understand patterns, many struggled when conversations moved beyond what they had practised. The moment an interaction became less predictable, confidence dropped. What worked in controlled exercises did not translate into real, real-time communication.
At the same time, traditional human-led conversations introduced a different kind of barrier. For many learners, speaking with another person can feel stressful. The fear of making mistakes or being judged often limits participation, especially for those still building speaking confidence.
This created a gap in the learning journey. Learners needed a way to move from structured learning to real conversation in a way that felt natural, scalable, and low-pressure, the same gap that L&D, coaching, and training teams across industries are now trying to close with AI conversation practice.
Why Beyond Presence
Tutore tested other AI avatar providers before deciding. Three factors made Beyond Presence the choice for embedding conversational AI avatars inside eTutor:
Quality-to-price ratio. Among the AI avatar platforms Tutore evaluated, Beyond Presence delivered the most lifelike, hyper-realistic conversational avatars for the price point. For a paid subscription product, that economic balance was decisive.
Stability in production. After several months of live use, Beyond Presence's real-time avatar streaming proved more stable than other providers Tutore had tested. For a learning product where dropped sessions break trust, reliability was non-negotiable.
LiveKit integration, not a black box. Beyond Presence's native LiveKit support let Tutore combine its real-time AI avatars with ElevenLabs voices inside eTutor. The avatar layer integrates with the course itself, not alongside it.
"Most AI tools that help you learn are decoupled. You have a chatbot, and you can speak with it. Here, the avatar is inside the course, with the flow of the course, integrated wherever it's required."
Tomasz Kostrząb, Head of AI, Tutore Group
Behind the integration sits Beyond Presence's Genesis foundation model, a proprietary real-time AI avatar model built for hyper-realism: 1080p facial rendering, frame-accurate lip sync, natural head motion, and sub-100ms latency. The result is a conversational avatar that feels closer to a real teacher than a video chatbot, which is what makes the difference between a learner trying once and a learner coming back every day.
How AI Avatars power two exercises inside eTutor
Teacher (Nelly): real-time AI tutor after every lesson
After each eTutor lesson, learners speak with Nelly, a Beyond Presence AI avatar acting as an AI tutor. Nelly reviews what was just studied, answers follow-up questions, and reinforces the material conversationally. The exercise turns passive study into active AI speaking practice, every lesson, in real time.
For learners practising English, Spanish, French, German, or Italian, Nelly is an always-available AI conversation partner: an AI English tutor, AI Spanish tutor, AI French tutor, AI German tutor, or AI Italian tutor depending on the course, ready to talk whenever the learner is. It is the kind of repeated, low-stakes practice that builds genuine speaking fluency over time, not just pronunciation, but the ability to hold a conversation that does not follow a script.
Quest: scenario-based AI roleplay with multiple personas
Quest is where the avatar leaves the teacher role and becomes a scene partner. Learners are given a real-world goal: ordering a meal in a restaurant, returning a faulty product, filing a claim with a call-centre agent, asking for directions. The avatar plays the other party, in character, and the learner has to navigate the conversation in their target language.
Quest uses different conversational AI avatars for different scenarios. A gym trainer for fitness conversations. A nutritionist for food and diet topics. A customer service rep for retail. This kind of scenario-based AI roleplay is exactly what L&D, coaching, and customer service training teams use AI avatars for in corporate contexts, applied here to language fluency.
Tutore is actively expanding this avatar library and working with our team at Beyond Presence for more out-of-the-box personas to match the growing scenario set (See more conversational AI avatar use cases →).
Results
eTutor Premium launched in December 2025, with currently:
- 3,000+ Premium subscribers across web, iOS, and Android
- 5 languages live: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian
- A1 to C1 CEFR levels covered
- 95% positive feedback on the AI avatar exercise (survey of 114 Premium learners)
- Teacher rated one of the most-valued Premium features in user surveys
Across the open-ended survey responses, the themes that came up most often without being prompted: low stress and no fear of being judged, real-time feedback and correction, the freedom to practise unstructured off-script conversation, and the experience of breaking the speaking barrier and building real speaking confidence.
What learners are saying
"The possibility of developing speech fluency with the awareness of not being judged by a live person, which is very stressful for me in life."
"It is a live conversation in which you are forced to enter into a fairly quick interaction, much like with another human being. No other form can replace conversation, except, of course, for a conversation with a real teacher."
"I can finally speak."
What this means for the future of language learning, coaching, and training
What Tutore is building reflects a broader shift across language learning, coaching, and corporate training. The focus is moving from static content to interactive, real-time experiences. From memorisation to communication. From completing exercises to participating in conversations.
Real-time AI avatars are emerging as the interface that makes this shift work, because conversation needs a face, a voice, and a sense of presence that text and audio-only tools cannot replicate. The same technology that lets a language learner practise speaking with Nelly is what powers AI coaching for sales reps rehearsing difficult customer calls, AI for L&D teams running soft skills and leadership development at scale, and AI agents simulating patient conversations for healthcare training, all in a safe, judgment-free environment with immediate feedback, available on demand.
For Tutore specifically, what comes next is geographic, not technical. The partnership with Beyond Presence will scale alongside their European geographic expansion, and as Beyond Presence's Genesis model and avatar library grow (with Genesis 2.0 coming next), Tutore plans to consolidate more of its Quest experience on Beyond Presence.
About Beyond Presence
Beyond Presence is the real-time AI avatar platform powering live, face-to-face conversational AI experiences across language learning, coaching, customer support, sales, and L&D training. Built on the proprietary Genesis foundation model, Beyond Presence delivers hyper-realistic AI avatars with sub-100ms latency, frame-accurate lip sync, native LiveKit integration, and support for industry-leading voice AI providers includingElevenLabs. Learn more about how AI avatars are transforming education in our AI avatars in e-learning guide, or read the API documentation to start building.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are AI avatars for language learning?
AI avatars for language learning are conversational digital tutors that allow learners to practise speaking in real time. Unlike traditional exercises, AI avatars can listen, respond, provide feedback, and simulate realistic conversations to help learners build confidence and fluency.
How do AI avatars help improve speaking skills?
AI avatars create a low-pressure environment where learners can practise conversations without fear of judgment. They provide immediate responses, encourage spontaneous communication, and help bridge the gap between studying a language and speaking it confidently in real-world situations.
Can AI avatars replace language teachers?
AI avatars are not designed to replace teachers. Instead, they provide unlimited conversation practice between lessons and outside classroom hours. They complement human instruction by giving learners more opportunities to speak and apply what they have learned.
What languages do Beyond Presence AI avatars support?
Beyond Presence supports any language available through connected voice AI providers. In eTutor, learners currently practise English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian using Beyond Presence-powered AI tutors and roleplay experiences.
What is AI roleplay in language learning?
AI roleplay allows learners to practise real-world scenarios such as ordering food, attending job interviews, speaking with customer support, or asking for directions. The AI avatar takes on different personas and adapts its responses in real time, creating realistic conversation practice.
Why are real-time AI avatars better than text chatbots for language learning?
Language learning is fundamentally conversational. Real-time AI avatars provide facial expressions, lip sync, voice interaction, and visual presence, creating a more natural experience than text-only chatbots and helping learners develop real speaking confidence.
How are companies using AI avatars beyond language learning?
Organizations use AI avatars for sales coaching, customer service training, leadership development, onboarding, healthcare simulations, compliance training, and employee learning programs. The same conversational technology can be adapted across education and enterprise use cases.
