10 September 2026 News

Public Sector and Financial Education : Shanxi Jinrong Jianguanju (陕西金融监管局) coordinated with Renminyinhang Shanxisheng Fenhang (人民银行陕西省分行), Shanxi Zhengjianju (陕西证监局), and other departments to launch the 2026 Shaanxi Financial Education Promotion Week at the Mingde Gate Ruins Park in Xi’an, releasing six national-style digital human IP characters—“Qin Xiaojiang,” “Tang Xiaomei,” “Qin Xiaobaǒ,” “Tang Xiaoman,” “Qin Xiaoǎn,” and “Tang Xiaoning”—that incorporate cultural elements such as the Terracotta Army, Qinqiang opera, and Tang Dynasty court ladies. These serve as new carriers for financial consumer protection promotion, with plans to produce a series of short videos and long-form graphics and integrate them into the Shaanxi Financial Consumer Rights Protection Education Promotion Cloud Platform for use in community, school, and rural activities. At the Qingdao Financial Education Promotion Week event, Pingan Chanxian Qingdao Fengongsi (平安产险青岛分公司) set up an interactive booth at the West Coast New Area Kaikai Container Center in Qingdao, continuously playing consumer protection science videos produced using digital human technology that expose the fraud schemes of “proxy rights protection” gray-market activities. According to Beijing Shangbao (北京商报) reporting, some insurance companies have bridged the “last mile” of financial education and promotion, launching the digital human IP “Azhong” to conduct accessible and engaging scientific outreach. In Guangdong’s Shunde district, at an artificial intelligence-empowered manufacturing supply-demand matching event, Saiyi Xinxi (赛意信息) AI intelligent agents generated digital human lecture videos on Foshan’s small and medium enterprise digitalization transformation pilot policies, using digital and visual forms to break down barriers of traditional policy briefings.

Entertainment and Celebrity Digital Doubles : Actress Qi Wei has authorized the creation of a personal AI digital avatar “Han Qingxia,” starring in the AI anime series “End of Days Midsummer,” which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The trailer incorporates popular elements such as apocalypse, rebirth, hoarding, system, and zombies. Qi Wei herself stated on Weibo “Please rest assured with suggestions and bold criticism,” though a previously released short teaser had sparked online controversy over styling and camera angles. The pure AI virtual character “Fang Taozi,” lead actress in the AI short drama “The Girl Who Got Laid Off,” gained over 540,000 followers within just one month of debut and appeared on the cover of Shishang COSMO (时尚COSMO)’s subsidiary COSMO CRUSH e-magazine, becoming the first AI actor to unlock a cover slot in this publication’s system. However, her “zero compensation” collaboration and a previous advertisement for contact lenses priced at 258,000 yuan (claiming in the first person “I felt comfortable wearing them all day”) sparked controversy over alleged violations of advertising regulations regarding medical device endorsements; the advertisement has been removed and market regulatory departments have launched an investigation. Zhongguo Guanggao Xiehui (中国广告协会) stated it is accelerating forward-looking research on new virtual artist sectors. AI short drama male lead Duan Yan has also begun collaborations with e-commerce platforms. The Zhongguo Rengongzhineng Chanye Fazhan Lianmeng (中国人工智能产业发展联盟) (AIIA) Smart Entertainment Committee was established in Beijing, where Lehua Yule Jituan (乐华娱乐集团) founder Du Hua shared applications of digital humans in artist operations, virtual idols, and content production, and Yinghuang Yule (英皇娱乐) CEO Huo Wenxi proposed that commercialization of artist digital avatars requires establishing scenario-based authorization mechanisms. Tengxun Shipin (腾讯视频)’s AI head Zhang Daoxu, iQIYI Vice President Qiu Jing and others also discussed professional film and television production requirements including light and shadow control and performance control of AI-generated content. bilibili’s virtual singer “Luo Tianyi” received China’s first intellectual property registration certificate for a completely virtual person’s audio dataset, with bilibili’s senior legal director Zhu Yao sharing rights confirmation experience and planning to apply for registration at finer granularity for “voice corpus unit libraries.” Deng Lijun’s third brother Deng Changfu currently serves as chairman of Taiwan Denglijun Wenjiao Jijinhui (台湾邓丽君文教基金会), long promoting “virtual person concerts” using holographic projection and computer technology to “bring back” Deng Lijun to the stage to attract young fans, while leading Handan Denglijun Yishu Zhongxin (邯郸邓丽君艺术中心) construction and cross-strait cultural exchanges.

Face Licensing Industry : A startup called Xinzhao (新爪) in Chengdu’s Wuhou District established China’s first AI facial authorization platform in April this year and has already expanded to Chongqing, Chengdu, Hengdian, Wuhan, and other locations, with over a dozen people visiting Chengdu stores daily over the past two weeks to “record their faces.” Gansu-based “post-90s” self-media entrepreneur Wang Lei drove 900 kilometers to Chengdu to record his face, in preparation for authorizing his digital likeness for use on short-drama platforms. A 63-year-old retired Chengdu woman known as “Shuang Sister” had her face recorded with her husband’s accompaniment, hoping to showcase her “blessed face” through AI dramas. The platform’s style options span nearly 40 categories including ancient, contemporary, domineering queen, and tyrannical CEO, with subject matter covering nearly 20 genres including costume and sci-fi, priced no lower than 500 yuan, having already attracted over 200 real-person avatars. The platform collaborates with Teng Ruiyun (腾瑞云) to provide evidence preservation, monitoring, and evidence collection services. Simultaneously, a “face-selling” business targeting the silver-haired demographic has emerged, with facial authorization prices ranging from 100 yuan to 6,000 yuan. Actor Wu Qihua authorized his likeness from age 20 for use in AI film production, and actress Brigitte Lin’s silver-screen image from ages 20 to 30 was also restored in the AIGC advertising short film “Shadow,” while You Benchang authorized his image for the digital-person micro short-drama “Fake Jiigong Subduing the Dragon” and elderly care product advertisements. Data from DataEye shows that in the first five months of this year, the AI short-drama market scale has exceeded 22 billion yuan, with AI micro short-dramas accounting for over 95% of micro short-dramas launched in the first quarter, spawning numerous agent companies that batch-purchase faces and resell them to production companies. Li Ziqiang, head of Ciwen Chuanmei (慈文传媒股份有限公司)’s AI business, introduced that AI digital-image authorization has already been divided into two pricing systems for ordinary people and professional actors, with the industry pushing to establish a full-process compliance system for portrait rights and authorization verification.

Retail and E-commerce Digital Humans : Jingdong JoyAI App (京东JoyAI App) launched its first “real-time video shopping” AI digital human “Dr. Omnipotent,” which allows users to point their camera at products during video calls, enabling the AI to parse the video in real-time and directly retrieve JD.com identical items for purchase without switching apps; the platform also supports users uploading photos to customize the digital human’s appearance, persona, voice, and interaction scenarios. The product was showcased at the 2026 JD.com Global Tech Explorer Conference (JDD), with dialogue user growth exceeding 15x this year. Jingdong Shuzi Ren JoyAvatar (京东数字人JoyAvatar) has served over 80,000 merchants, with daily livestream merchant numbers during the 618 period growing 5x year-over-year and GMV for goods sales growing 100% year-over-year; JoyAvatar partnered with JD.com Home Appliances and Home Furnishings Business Group as well as brands including Xiaomi and Hengjie to launch the “I AI My Home·Star Anchor” nationwide digital human recruitment campaign, with both real-person and original digital human tracks open for registration. Excellent participants can obtain official virtual idol identity certification and digital artist performance eligibility, with the campaign receiving guidance from Beijing Jingkaiqu Xinxijishu Chanye Ju (北京经开区信息技术产业局).

Legal and Regulatory Frameworks : Zuigaorenminfayuan (最高人民法院) released the “Opinion on Lawfully Adjudicating Disputes Involving Artificial Intelligence,” which for the first time clarifies that utilizing AI to generate virtual digital images recognizable as specific natural persons and using or disclosing such images without consent constitutes infringement of the right to name and right to image; that using another person’s voice without consent as training data to generate synthetic speech constitutes infringement of voice rights; and that manipulating virtual images and synthetic voices to publish false statements constitutes infringement of the right to reputation. The opinion also specifically provides that “AI resurrection of the deceased” must protect the personality interests of the deceased’s close relatives, and for the first time clarifies the injunction system for personality right infringement. Qinghuadaxue Zhineng Fazhi Yanjiuyuan (清华大学智能法治研究院) Dean Shen Weixing provided an interpretation of this. Zhejiangsheng Hangzhoushizhongjirenminfayuan (浙江省杭州市中级人民法院) concluded a case involving labor disputes related to a virtual streamer, determining that a “person behind the character” (a worker providing voice and motion-capture services for virtual digital persons) forms a de facto labor relationship with the operating company rather than a purely cooperative relationship. The case pierced through the hybrid signing mode of “employment contract plus cooperation agreement” and refined the rules for identifying employment relationships in new forms of employment.

Cultural and Tourism Applications : Yunnanribao Baoye Jituan (云南日报报业集团) led the “Yunnan Multi-ethnic Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Inheritance Digitalization Innovation Application Based on China Mobile AI4S Intelligent Computing Services + 5G Computing Power Network” project won first prize in the Yunnan division of the ninth “Blooming Cup” 5G Application Collection Competition, incubating multi-language digital guide applications and VR immersive exhibition hall scenarios based on multimodal large models. Zhejiang Wenchengxian (文成县) leveraged the Liu Bowen cultural IP and jointly held the AI Liu Bowen Competition with Wenzhoushi Xinwen Chuanmei Zhongxin (温州市新闻传媒中心), focusing on three competition tracks of AI short videos, digital humans, and cultural creative design, collecting nearly 400 high-quality works, and plans to deepen innovative scenarios such as AI short dramas, digital humans, intelligent tour companions, and virtual cultural museums. During 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) (China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS)), the Beijingshi Guangdianju (北京市广电局) “Beijing Da Shiting (北京大视听)” exhibition features AI Peking Opera digital character photo interaction; the Haidianqu (海淀区) exhibition area takes “AI Haidian·Cultural Vein Renaissance” as its theme, empowering new cultural tourism scenarios through artificial intelligence full-stack industry advantages; digital virtual humans, naked-eye 3D and other installations in provincial, regional, municipal, and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan exhibition areas are ready. Jiangsu Yancheng Yannan Gaoxinqu (盐城盐南高新区) Zhangsanjiao ( Yancheng ) Shuzi Shiting Chanyejidi (长三角(盐城)数字视听产业基地) can customize exclusive digital human images for citizens. At Beijing Daxingqu (大兴区)’s 26th Caiyu Grape Season and inaugural Fashion Carnival, traditional Chinese style dancers performed on stage alongside virtual digital humans.

Enterprise and Digital Human Infrastructure : Xiamen Yinhang (厦门银行) Wu Xinhao, president of the bank, stated at the 2026 mid-year earnings briefing that the bank is advancing the integration of AI with business operations and management around the themes of “one position, one assistant” and “one person, one digital twin,” including the construction of a digital employee Xiao Hailuo (小海螺) for corporate customer managers. AI applications have covered customer service, operational management, risk compliance, software development, and daily office work. The bank’s AI layout began as early as the 2020 annual report. China Unicom At the 2026 China Unicom Partner Conference exhibition, smart life assistant services featuring cloud-smart phones and cloud-smart computers based on digital human interaction were showcased; Beijingshirenminzhengfu (北京市人民政府) issued the “Beijing Fifteenth Five-Year Digital Economy Development Plan,” which explicitly proposed advancing research and development of metaverse key technologies such as spatial computing, digital humans, and immersive rendering, and building virtual-physical fusion consumption scenarios. Guangming Shiyanshi (光明实验室) (Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Guangdong Provincial Laboratory) independently developed GMTalker 3D interactive digital humans supporting full offline private deployment, with the open-source project gaining thousands of stars on GitHub. The laboratory has also launched a spatial digital human platform for domestic solutions in urban surveying, industrial safety monitoring, and virtual interaction. ByteDance Based on Seedance models combined with Shiyou Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd.’s digital human character-driving technology and Jiecheng Lingxi AI (捷成灵犀AI)’s script storyboarding capabilities, a complete pipeline has been formed for AI short dramas to extend from flat video to VR three-dimensional interactive formats. In emergency management, Professor Yingji Guanli Daxue (应急管理大学), academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences Liu Dequan, unveiled Lingque Shishi Shuzhiren (灵雀实时数智人) developed independently by Zhiliao Keji (知料科技) at the 2026 China International Emergency Management Exhibition. This digital-intelligent person integrates multimodal interaction algorithms with industry knowledge bases, achieving synchronized audio-lip rendering and microexpression generation, capable of providing 24/7 online emergency science popularization and question-answering services. Zhang Shiguang, an artificial intelligence expert at UNESCO’s International Centre for Engineering Education and a core developer of the system, is its primary architect.

Capital Markets and Digital Human Concept Stocks : On the A-share market, * ST Kaiyuan (*ST开元) subsidiary Tianhu Jiaoyu (天琥教育) is constructing a virtual digital human laboratory for producing, synthesizing, and shooting digital human teaching and business content; Xinchen Keji (新晨科技) mentioned in Interactive Easy replies that it will actively layout cooperative ecosystems in metaverse digital humans, VR/AR wearable devices and other fields; Perfect World concept sectors include virtual digital humans, AI applications (intelligent agents), etc.; Wondershare concept sectors include virtual digital humans, Sora concept (text-to-video) and others; Yue Chuanmei (粤传媒) core themes involve short-form drama games and virtual digital humans; Tangmu Mao (汤姆猫)’s AI+ virtual avatar and virtual scene targets were previously closely followed by Xin Da Zhengquan (信达证券) researcher Feng Cuiting.