Youku
- Registered name
- 优酷信息技术（北京）有限公司
- Unified Social Credit Code
91110108786197705Eregistered in Beijing 北京
Consumer platforms as venues · Hyperreal and film-grade studios
Youku (优酷信息技术（北京）有限公司), registered in Beijing in February 2006 and formerly named 合一信息技术（北京）有限公司, operates Youku (优酷), the long-form video streaming platform of the Alibaba Group entertainment business, 阿里大文娱.
In August 2023 Leah (厘里), a hyper-realistic digital human built by the 阿里大文娱 technology team, played a mystery character in the Youku-exclusive drama 异人之下 (Heretic Realm), presented through a human body double and light-field post-production; it was the first time a digital actor took part in a live-action Chinese drama series. Youku exhibits Leah at industry fairs, including a holographic interactive installation of her, and she has served as a spokesperson for Youku, the ticketing platform Taopiaopiao (淘票票) and the AI portrait service Miaoya Camera (妙鸭相机).
Youku has also run virtual livestreaming, including an early project with the virtual character Qiu Yuehua (秋月华) for which Shenluo Technology (深锁科技) handled secondary modelling and real-time motion driving. The company’s generative-synthesis algorithm entered the fifth national batch of filed deep-synthesis algorithms in April 2024, and its virtual-production algorithm work was named one of the broadcasting regulator’s demonstration projects for virtual-reality production.