16 September 2026 News

Cultural Heritage : Gansu’s Qingyang Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, together with Fengniao Yuntu ( Qingyang ) Zhineng Keji (蜂鸟云图(庆阳)智能科技) and Nanliang Geming Jinianguan (南梁革命纪念馆), jointly developed a digital human tour guide and navigation AI agent for Nanliang Red Culture, transforming scattered paper and physical historical materials into retrievable and callable data assets. Honeycomb Cloud Map has formed a cultural and historical digital human IP matrix in Qingyang, covering local cultural resources such as Zhou Ancestor Qiyhuang Culture and grotto art. Tianshui Fuximiao (天水伏羲庙) Scenic Area launched an AI real-scene navigation mini-program and digital human interpretation services, and in the Ming and Qing stele digital exhibition hall, uses multimedia and VR technology to provide visitors with immersive virtual stele-carving experiences. In Shanxi Datong’s “Fourteenth Five-Year Plan” cultural and tourism digitalization construction achievements, the Huamulan 3D Shuzi Ren (花木兰3D数字人) project was selected as a typical case of provincial cultural-technology integration. Hubei Daye’s Tonglv Shan Guojia Kaogu Yizhi Gongyuan (铜绿山国家考古遗址公园) introduced a digital avatar of Zhuge Liang to narrate the legend of Chinese bronze civilization, reported by the Guangmingribao (光明日报) “Vibrant China Research Tour” media delegation. Jiangxi Lushan Scenic Area connects the “Yijiyou Lushan (一机游庐山)” mini-program to DeepSeek large language model and AI digital virtual person “Lu Youyou,” providing visitors with ticketing, accommodation reservations, and personalized travel guides. In Beijing’s Haidian District Xueyuan Road Subdistrict “Voices of the Party Reach Every Household” publicity campaign, the “Shang Di Qingnian Xinzhi Shuo (上地青年新质说)” speakers team youth representatives performed alongside digital humans, using AI digital people and biomimetic bird-repelling robots and other local sci-tech innovation cases to tell youth struggle stories.

Financial Services : Shanxi Jinrong Jianguanju (陕西金融监管局) jointly with Shaanxi Provincial Committee Financial Office, Renminyinhang Shanxisheng Fenhang (人民银行陕西省分行), Shanxi Zhengjianju (陕西证监局) and other departments launched a “Qinxiaobao (秦消保)” Chinese-style digital human IP matrix at the 2026 Shaanxi Financial Education Publicity Week, creating six digital human characters including Terracotta Warrior guardians, Tang dynasty court ladies, and Qinqiang female martial artists, undertaking tasks in financial literacy education and on-site interactive guidance, with subsequent continuous production of risk warning short videos and long-form graphics to be integrated into the Shaanxi Financial Consumer Rights Protection Education Publicity Cloud Platform; institutions such as Yingda Caixian Shanxi Fengongsi (英大财险陕西分公司) and Zhaoshangyinhang Kunming Fenhang (招商银行昆明分行) simultaneously introduced AI digital humans in publicity week activities across various regions to conduct street interviews and scenario performances, with “Yunnan Financial Consumer Protection AI Digital Human” participating in three-chapter scenario enactments to popularize content including financial support for the real economy; Huaxiayinhang (华夏银行) had “digital humans” explain business to visitors in the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) exhibition area in 2026, and equipped audit personnel with “digital counterparts” leveraging its self-developed “Tianjing (天镜)” large model to achieve full-process automation of corporate credit audit; “Peipei,” a smart elderly care emotional companion digital human developed under the leadership of Mashang Consumer Finance’s incoming general manager Jiang Ning, was selected for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s 2025 metaverse typical cases list, with the company simultaneously leveraging the “Tianjing (天镜)” large model to build virtual digital humans and intelligent human-machine collaboration platforms applied to customer service interaction, financial education and public convenience service scenarios.

Entertainment : China’s AI short-drama market continued to boom in the first half of 2026, with celebrity “digital doubles” authorization becoming an industry new trend. Actors including Wang Zuxian, Qi Wei, Wu Qihua, and You Benzhang authorized others to use their likenesses through official compliant channels. Qi Wei launched an independent digital double “Han Qingxia” for producing AI comic drama “The Last Glorious Summer,” and discussed AI creative experiences at the Venice International Film Festival in her capacity as a “Chinese-language cinema AI exploration ambassador.” Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) and Yuewen Jituan (阅文集团), among leading platforms, simultaneously established standardized likeness authorization and IP confirmation mechanisms to regulate copyright boundaries in AI content creation. Meanwhile, “face-stealing” infringement chaos frequently occurs in the industry: hanfu blogger “Baicai Hanfu Makeup”’s photo shoots were stolen by AI short dramas to generate vulgar supporting characters, and commercial model “Nanami’s” image was caricatured as a villain and allegedly fed into AI model training. miHoYo launched an AI companion product BSide : Olivia Lin (BSide: Olivia Lin) that shaped digital character “Lin Li,” allowing players to interact through letter correspondence. The product shut down just 29 days after launch, prompting a batch of players to spontaneously launch Linli Fuhuo Sai (林离复活赛), attempting to sustain the digital personality using third-party large models. On September 11, China’s first AI-native artist offline concert was held in Shanghai, where creator Zhao Hanqing’s AI-native virtual girl idol Yuri took the stage with nearly hundred-meter giant screen imagery, performing “I Am Not Human” and “Shanghai at Night” alongside real singers and robots. Beijing Jingkaiqu (北京经开区) has issued virtual idol identity certification for Yuri and incorporated digital human commercial performances into a “sandbox approval” pilot program.

Ethical Contexts : Chengdu AI facial recognition authorization trading platforms Xinzhao (新爪) Yuanxiang Xinsheng (元相新生) Huimeng · Xingxiang (绘梦·星相) have successively launched, allowing ordinary people to sign agreements and complete multi-angle facial photography before listing their digital faces for trading, with single authorization prices ranging from 50 yuan to over ten thousand yuan, with authorizers receiving approximately 75% of revenues; reporter investigations discovered that the Yuanxiang Xinsheng (元相新生) platform’s authorized list contains minors, with some platforms’ agreements containing excessively broad authorization scope, arbitrary re-authorization capabilities, and severely unequal breach liability provisions, with lawyers pointing out that related standard terms excluding authorizers’ claims to portrait rights and other personality rights may be invalid; a food delivery sealing company in Changsha previously used Huiboxing Shuzi Ren (慧播星数字人) to stage and shoot false videos of “delivery drivers spitting” for marketing purposes, with those involved ultimately arrested for disturbing public order; platforms Qiyuan ai (启元ai) and Lingjing ai (玲镜ai), operating under the guise of “AI clone” financial schemes and using “AI intelligent novel writing automatic dividends” as a gimmick to conduct fraud, have recently shut down and absconded, with numerous members reporting and seeking compensation; Douyin (抖音) in its September 2026 specialized remediation action targeted violations including hype using minor labels, AI-generated false tragic images, and impersonating minors in livestreaming, disposing of 200,000 violations involving minors, 2,044 violating livestream rooms, and 8,132 violating accounts within a month, with key crackdowns on new violation forms such as virtual image abuse; during the 2026 National Cybersecurity Publicity Week, activity sites in Fujian, Chengdu, and Jinan set up interactive experience projects including “AI health digital humans,” “AI replica digital humans,” and “AI face-swap recognition,” popularizing network security knowledge in the intelligent age to the public through virtual human opening remarks and deepfake detection devices.

Enterprise : In 2026 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), Baidu launched an all-scenario digital human platform “Baidu Yijing (百度一镜)” built on Wenxin Da Moxing (文心大模型), integrating digital human livestreaming, digital human video, and real-time interactive digital humans, covering over 30 industry scenarios including e-commerce sales and brand marketing. It has helped over 80 overseas enterprises establish standardized international livestreaming systems, with platform merchants’ GMV increasing by an average of 62% and operational costs declining by 80%; the JD.com subsidiary’s JoyAI App combines digital human interaction with lifestyle services, with the digital human “Omniscient Doctor” helping users shop while chatting, allowing users to customize digital human avatars and initiate purchases through conversation; Huaxi Da (华曦达) showcased Cedar digital human interactive experiences at the IBC 2026 exhibition, integrating multimodal AI models and Cedar Agents into AI Home family interaction scenarios, enabling home digital humans to upgrade from “being able to converse” to “being able to collaborate” through cloud-edge collaboration; Mayi Jituan (蚂蚁集团) released the enterprise intelligent agent development platform Agentar, helping pet medical enterprise Chongyu Keji (宠语科技) create a digital twin of a pet doctor, enabling 24-hour online consultations and diagnostic data accumulation; Shenyan Zhineng (深演智能) launched the enterprise-level “digital twin” research system “AI Xiaofeizhe (AI消费者)”, which generates digital twin samples with complete user profiles by integrating first-party data and psychological modeling, helping enterprises complete thousand-person-scale AB testing before formal production; Caixun Technology Co., Ltd. disclosed that the company has achieved practical applications in the 3D digital human field, leveraging multimodal large models to launch a 3D hyperhumanoid intelligent video generation platform and AI Zhiwu (AI智舞), building a dynamic digital human system with related technologies already commercialized in 5G new calling, video ringtones, digital human livestreaming, and video customer service scenarios; Guangzhou Shiyuan Dianzikeji (广州视源电子科技) obtained an invention patent for “expression generation methods for virtual avatars”; Beijing Yuechuang Sanpin Wenhua Keji (北京跃创三品文化科技) applied for a patent on “API key authentication-based digital twin cross-platform Agent interoperability systems”, aimed at maintaining consistent personality, memory, and speaking style for user digital twins across multiple external Agent platforms; Beijing Duoyuan Shidai Keji (北京多元时代科技) independently developed VeriWeb, an omnichannel interconnected multimodal large model, building an “AI digital brain” enterprise-level digital foundation, deploying silicon-based humans and digital twin technology to lay out celebrity IP co-branded digital peripherals and AI smart collectibles; Jiangsu Nantong’s Dieshipeng home textile industry cluster has spawned new professions such as digital human livestreaming operations manager under AI empowerment, with a Nantong Guiji Jingwei (南通硅基经纬) company having only 11 full-time employees yet managing 932 “digital employees” operating cross-border e-commerce stores.

Education : Chongqing Shapingbaqu Zonggonghui (重庆沙坪坝区总工会) has launched a public welfare training program for AI artificial intelligence trainers, with courses covering digital human creation, AI avatar production, and personal IP short video creation, offered free of charge to employed individuals, the unemployed, and self-employed persons; Fuzhoushi Zonggonghui (福州市总工会) has jointly organized a makers’ entrepreneurship salon with the overseas returnees association, bringing together returning Chinese professionals and enterprise employees for practical training in AI digital avatar videos and related applications.

Healthcare : Hangzhou Zhizhen Keji (杭州智诊科技) completed a 53 million yuan Pre-A round of financing and continues to upgrade its health AI product for individuals and families Haoban AI (好伴AI), which has aggregated over 2,000 expert AI avatars, cumulatively served 20 million user sessions, and covers over 300 top-tier hospitals; Taiwan’s Hualian Ciji Yiyuan (花莲慈济医院) introduced an AI virtual physician consultation system for the first time in its autumn standardized patient training, assisting standardized patients played by Tzu Chi volunteers in practicing consultation response techniques and helping medical students improve their communication abilities with patients before entering clinical practice.