11 September 2026 News

Entertainment : China’s AI short drama and virtual performer entertainment industry experienced explosive growth in 2026, spawning a complete “AI facial authorization” industrial chain: a Gansu-based 90s entrepreneur Wang Lei drove 900 kilometers to Chengdu to record a digital persona at Xinzhao (新爪) company, with 63-year-old retired aunt Shuang Jie, actor Wang Yuankai,皇甫摩西 and other ordinary people as well as authentic short drama actors successively authorizing their facial images to AI short drama companies, while intermediaries including Liu Bairak and Xiong Shihao engaged in facial image brokerage and AIGC digital asset management services, with facial authorization prices ranging from several hundred yuan to 6,000 yuan. The virtual female protagonist Fang Taozi from the AI short drama “The Laid-Off Girl” thus became a sensation, leveraging a virtual character matrix built on 124 copyrighted artworks under Guangzhou Wo De Yingshiwenhua Chuanmei (广州我的影视文化传媒有限公司) (legal representative Fang Fei), she graced the cover of COSMO CRUSH e-magazine under Fashion COSMO, becoming the first AI actress to unlock China’s five major women’s magazine system, with Juliang Xingtu (巨量星图) showing her advertising rates for 60 seconds or above reaching 258,000 yuan, but the contact lens advertisement she endorsed was ordered off the market by regulatory authorities for fabricating “wearing experience,” while her image was questioned for blending facial features of multiple celebrity stars including Nana Komatsu. Actress Qi Wei launched her personal official digital avatar “Han Qingxia,” starring in the end-times zombie-themed AI manhua series “Summer of the Last Days,” appearing at the 83rd Weinisi Dianyingjie (威尼斯电影节) with the title of “Chinese Cinema AI Exploration Ambassador” and participating in an international roundtable discussion on AI imaging, with the soundtrack jointly refined by her and her husband Lee Seung-hyun, adopting a limited authorization model that does not buy out likeness rights; previously Hong Kong actor Wu Qihua had authorized his 20-year-old likeness rights to an AI film and television production company, and Maggie Cheung also authorized her likeness rights during her peak period to game IP “Tian Xia,” with veteran actors including You Benzhang also participating in similar authorizations. In contrast, Youku (优酷) president Wu Qian publicly stated that AI cannot replace human actors, using the word-of-mouth effect of authentic drama series “Nine Gates” as an example to promote an “human-machine collaboration” AI film and television direction; the country’s first full-AI-process long drama “After Journey to the West” directed by director Li Dongshen achieved over 260 million plays on Mango Excellent Media’s Mangguo TV (芒果TV), driving Mango Excellent Media’s stock price to consecutive limit-ups. Guilin Tourism’s subsidiary Guilin Lügu Cultural Tourism Industry Limited Company partnered with Nanning Fengzhi Wenhua Chuanbo (南宁峰值文化传播有限公司) to create cultural tourism AI short dramas “Three-Yuan Achieving First Place, Do Not Ask the Future” and “Silver Cave, Silver Bone Town Umbrella,” launching them on iQIYI and Red Fruit Short Drama platforms. Wondershare’s Wanxing Juchang (万兴剧厂) has empowered blockbuster AI manhua projects such as “Qi Yun Triangle” and “Genius Mecha Master,” while collaborating with Cha Yanyuese (茶颜悦色) to create branded commercial video advertisements and launching AI video livestream selling tool Virbo AI to serve e-commerce digital persona content production.

Marketing : Digital humans are becoming an important new carrier for brand marketing and live-streaming e-commerce. Baidu’s “Baidu Yijing (百度一镜)” omnichannel digital human platform, leveraging the Ernie large model and proprietary digital human technology, has jointly launched with Kekoukele (可口可乐) the real-time interactive digital human “AI Fan Zhiyi” during the 2026 World Cup in North America, supporting users to engage in real-time ball commentary interactions. The platform has covered more than 30 industries including e-commerce, education, and cultural tourism, serving over 100,000 users and facilitating cross-border live-streaming business for over 80 enterprises. Jingdong Shuzi Ren JoyAvatar (京东数字人JoyAvatar) launched the “I AI My Home·Star Streamer” competition at JD.com’s Global Technology Explorer Conference (JDD), jointly initiated with JD.com’s home appliances and home furnishings business group and brands including Xiaomi (小米) and Hengjie (恒洁). Top ten finalists and special award winners can obtain official virtual idol identity authentication matching the renowned IP Yuri and digital artist performance qualifications. Previously, JD.com digital humans coordinated with Lenovo, Haixin (海信), Mengniu (蒙牛), and Wuliangye (五粮液) to conduct brand live-streaming during the World Cup period, and collaborated with MCM and Rongyao (荣耀) on content, launching innovative live-streaming personas such as the Twelve Princesses and Capybara. Hong Kong-listed company Quzhi Jituan (趣致集团) debuted its proprietary Q - Gen (Q-Gen) generative spatial narrative engine and Q - Sense (Q-Sense) full-sensation multimodal interactive engine to C-end consumer scenarios for the first time at the “99 Qu Na Festival,” enabling consumers to generate personalized 3D digital avatars in seconds from a single photograph, along with customized short videos and runway presentations. Real-time interaction technology for digital humans continues to advance: Shujing Keji (数镜科技) achieves digital human clothing changes in 4 seconds based on open-source frameworks; iFLYTEK released super-realistic digital human real-time generation technology that requires only one photograph to instantly generate digital humans capable of performing complex actions such as object retrieval, drinking, singing, and dancing; Huya released its proprietary real-time multimodal digital human foundation model VAM 1.0 at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC)Tencent AI Application Innovation Forum, achieving frame-level online generation.

Finance : Financial institutions are rolling out digital humans at scale as service windows and marketing touchpoints. Taibao Chanxian (太保产险) launched an AI digital human called “Explorer” providing “agriculture, rural areas, and farmers” insurance services in Guangdong, offering 24/7 “digital agricultural technician” online services; Zhaoshangyinhang Xinyongka (招商银行信用卡) unveiled an AI digital human “Smart Live Streaming Room” in the “Thousands of Stores in Shanghai” consumer protection campaign, breaking through spatial and temporal constraints to expand financial knowledge reach; Huaxiayinhang (华夏银行) set up digital human explanation and interactive experiences in the 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) exhibition area; Nongyeyinhang (农业银行) displayed a proprietary AI digital human “Nongyun” on China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), providing real-time exhibition content explanations to visitors, and partnered with the Yue Zhi Anmian kimi (月之暗面kimi) large language model to launch a co-branded credit card; Shanghaiyinhang (上海银行) Vice President Hu Debin introduced that the bank has launched over 200 digital employees, emphasizing that digital humans are the interface for digital employees to interact with customers, with machines providing scale and people providing warmth; Zhongguo Shiyou (中国石油) in smart gas station construction, intelligent digital human “Xiaokun” provides voice services to customers, enabling queries about fuel products, convenience store merchandise, cultural tourism guides and weather, driving gas stations from display screens toward interactive smart services.

Education : Digital human applications in education and healthcare scenarios continue to deepen. Anhuiyikedaxue Diyi Fushu Yiyuan (安徽医科大学第一附属医院) has created a consultation digital human “Xiao’an” that provides patients in outpatient halls with comprehensive accompanying consultation services across scenarios including department navigation, report interpretation, medication guidance, and post-diagnosis follow-up, while the AI diagnosis assistance agent “Xiao Yi” supports doctors in completing medical record generation. Hailiang Keji (海亮科技) won an Application Scenario Innovation Award at the Hangzhou International Artificial Intelligence Application and Robotics Innovation Expo with its “Haoliang AI Creative Thinking Classroom,” with its highly anthropomorphic digital human “Xingyue Read” innovatively deployed in early reading scenarios, achieving recognition accuracy exceeding 99%, with monthly usage of 250 sessions at Xinchang Nanrui Shiyanxuexiao (新昌南瑞实验学校), helping teachers free themselves from repetitive reading guidance. Cixi (慈溪) City Education Bureau and City Women’s Federation jointly created the digital human IP “Mu Ba Xi Ma” with the “Xi Xin Upward” master teacher studio, launching 50 family education short video micro-courses of approximately three minutes each. Shunde (顺德) in Guangdong, in an artificial intelligence-empowered manufacturing supply-demand connection activity, leverages Saiyi Xinxi (赛意信息) AI agent to generate digital human presentation videos on Foshan’s small and medium enterprises digitalization transformation pilot policies, enhancing policy dissemination efficiency through digitalized and visualized formats.

Cultural : Digital humans are being widely introduced into cultural heritage preservation and exhibition spaces. The 10th Zhongguoxiqu Wenhuazhou (中国戏曲文化周) will set up interactive terminals featuring AI digital humans conducting engaging opera knowledge popularization at the Beijing Garden Expo Park, and will collaborate with Zhongguoxiquxueyuan (中国戏曲学院) to create the “Ximai (戏脉)” opera AI intelligent agent, promoting digital inheritance of opera culture resources. Gansu Province leverages digital technology to bring the “Four Treasuries of All Knowledge” out of obscurity as digital counterparts, opening them to the public. The 26th Zhongguo Guoji Touzi Maoyi Qiatanhui (中国国际投资贸易洽谈会) has established a new quality productive forces exhibition area with an AI Manhua Comic Alliance exhibition group composed of 12 enterprises including Xiamendaxue Weilai Shiting · Rengongzhineng Shiyanshi (厦门大学未来视听·人工智能实验室), Heitong Shuzi Keji (黑瞳数字科技), and AINext Jilai Zhi (AINext继来之), collectively demonstrating the full workflow of AI short dramas, digital humans, and AIGC video generation. The 9th Guoji Qianshui Jiulao Yu Haiyanggongcheng Zhuangbei Zhanlanhui (国际潜水救捞与海洋工程装备展览会) will innovatively launch immersive interactive experience projects featuring AI digital human interactions in Qingdao, popularizing marine science and technology knowledge to the public.

Public Service : Digital humans are also playing a role in public service scenarios such as government affairs, energy, and news dissemination. During the 2026 Global Industrial Internet Conference held in Shenyang, the intelligent digital human “Xiaokun” in the Zhongguo Shiyou (中国石油) exhibition area provided visitors with a voice service experience at gas stations. In the “National Online Legal Popularization Campaign” legal publicity series activities jointly conducted with the Ministry of Justice, Cyberspace Administration of China the Beijing region provided legal consultation services through intelligent virtual humans to 1.2 million people, while Jingxiao e (京小e), Xiezhi (獬豸) and other legal popularization large models were successively launched, enhancing the activation and utilization efficiency of legal popularization resources. Some news video reports used the “Huiboxing Shuzi Ren (慧播星数字人)” technology to generate broadcast footage for auxiliary presentation of current affairs news.

Technology Platforms : JD.com showcased its latest achievements in building an operations center for the physical world at the JDDiscovery-2026 Global Technology Explorer Conference, open-sourcing a real-time interactive world model JoyAI - Echo WM (JoyAI-Echo WM). The model can continuously generate scenes according to changes in user perspective and synchronously produce video, ambient sound, and speech, providing technological support for interactive content such as gaming and digital human livestreaming, as well as embodied AI simulation training. JD.com Research Institute simultaneously released an ultra-long audio-video generation model JoyAI - Echo 1.5 (JoyAI-Echo 1.5) and an open-source interactive audiovisual world model EchoWM.

Ethical and Legal Contexts : Legal and compliance issues related to virtual humans are accelerating in China. Zuigaorenminfayuan (最高人民法院) released “Opinions on Lawfully Adjudicating Artificial Intelligence-Related Dispute Cases,” which for the first time systematically clarifies liability standards for infringement involving the use of artificial intelligence for “AI face-swapping and voice cloning,” generating recognizable virtual digital images of natural persons without consent, manipulating virtual images to publish false statements, and “AI resurrection of the deceased,” and clarifies that “AI impersonation of celebrities for product promotion” constitutes fraud and supports punitive damages. The Legal Daily published an article discussing AI drama compliance management challenges following the broadcast of “Records of Peach Blossom Pool,” Anhui Weishi (安徽卫视)’s domestic first entirely AI-workflow-produced non-heritage drama, interviewing Wang Jun, chief partner of Beijing Tao’an Law Firm, and Zhang Zizhong, researcher at Zhejiang University’s School of Media and International Culture, calling for refined categorical review standards and construction of digital asset confirmation and authorization systems. Regarding Qi Wei’s authorization of her personal image to AI, Li Zhenwu, director of Shanghai Lizhen Law Firm, points out that portrait rights as personality rights may lawfully be licensed but cannot be “sold outright,” and recommends that actors in their career prime should not easily “sell their faces” to AI companies, while authorization by veteran retired actors like Wu Qihua carries relatively lower risk. In coverage of Chengdu AI face authorization platform “Xinzhao (新爪),” Du Simin, lawyer at Dacheng (Chengdu) Law Firm, emphasizes that facial features belong to biometric information, processing requires separate consent and can be withdrawn at any time, and the authorizing party should retain a “veto right” over digital portrait usage scenarios. The Hohhot Daily published an article titled “Vigilance Against ‘Digital Doubles’ Overstepping Bounds,” in which author Wei Jian cautions that introducing AI digital doubles in education should guard against value interpretation bias and deviation of educational subjects, emphasizing that digital doubles are tools rather than educational subjects.