6 October 2026 News

Cultural : Beijing Chengshi Tushuguan (北京城市图书馆) has deeply integrated AI technology into national reading scenarios, creating a leading domestic digital human service system: “Tuyue Reading,” the first AI smart librarian in China’s library industry to integrate large language models, provides information queries, book navigation, reading guidance, and personalized recommendations across multiple online and offline scenarios; in the metaverse experience hall, readers can converse with three digital humans—“Lu Xun,” “Tutu,” and “2122,” where “AI Lu Xun” was created by a team led by Professor Fei Jun from Zhongyangmeishuxueyuan (中央美术学院) Design Academy, serving as a special librarian to guide readers, recommend collections, and introduce Beijing cultural tourism attractions and food, while “Tutu” and “2122” respectively mimic the styles of “children” and “the future” to interact with readers, generating over 2 million voice conversations cumulatively since opening in late 2023. Meanwhile, the large-scale cultural program China Media Group《Classics in China》 renewed season has introduced AI-native technology enterprise Yu Ai Wei Wu (与爱为舞) to provide full-chain AI technology support, using AIGC technology to restore the historical scene of “flooding Jinyang” from 《Records of the Grand Historian》, with its technical stack upgraded further following the appearance of General Zuo Quan’s digital human at Yangshi (央视)’s stage at 《The First Lesson of 2025》, achieving a complete chain from “reading ancient texts” to “scene restoration” to “immersive experience,” and has showcased “time-traveling” experiences of ancient paintings such as 《Qingming Scroll》 and 《A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains》 at 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC). At the Chengdu International Digital Light and Shadow Art Festival, artist Wei Jiu’s creation 《City Illusion Plan》 implanted giant virtual digital humans into real city landmarks, merging and coexisting with buildings and light and shadow, becoming the core check-in content that drove a 74% year-on-year increase in foot traffic to Dongjiao Jiyi (东郊记忆) parks during the National Day period.

Public Services : Xian Gongan Jiaojing (西安公安交警) launched a “Yong’an Jun” digital human 24-hour Q&A service during the National Day holiday, coordinating with vehicle and driving management windows operating around the clock to provide traffic consultation for tourists; Hebei Feixiang Qu Dianshang Chanyeyuan (肥乡区电商产业园)’s OPC Shequ (OPC社区) positioned digital human live streaming, AI short dramas, and AIGC creation as key investment attractions for county-level digital economy, providing shared workspaces, professional live streaming studios, and a 50% subsidy on computing consumption to encourage returning youth, retired military personnel, and other groups to participate in digital human-related entrepreneurship.

News Media : Among a large number of social news short videos, including documentation of the capture of cybercriminal leaders in northern Myanmar, snooker event coverage, Portugal national team controversy, Dubai flight hijacking incidents and multiple other Yangshi (央视) and local media videos, many are labeled “This video uses Huiboxing Shuzi Ren (慧播星数字人)”, indicating that this domestically-produced digital human product has been widely adopted as a virtual broadcast medium for news content, fulfilling the role of news reporting and content production.

Marketing and Content Creation : On the automotive information platform You Jia (有驾), a large volume of automotive review and vehicle usage knowledge videos are published by AI digital avatar accounts such as “Fat Car God Nuannuan_AI Avatar,” “Crazy Car Enthusiasts_AI Avatar,” “EV Intelligence Bureau_AI Avatar,” “Driving Vision Lulu AI Avatar,” and “Li Yu’er Talks Cars_AI Avatar.” These virtual content creators have become regular content production entities on the platform, covering multiple vehicle usage scenarios including vehicle model knowledge Q&A and maintenance and upkeep.

Celebrity Digital Licensing : In July 2026, Wangyi Youxi (网易游戏)’s “Tianxia” reached a cooperation agreement with Maggie Cheung, exclusively licensing her portrait from her peak years aged 20 to 30 for producing an AI-generated narrative short film titled “Phantom Shadow,” recreating classic screen images such as Nie Xiaoqian and Bai Suzhen, with her digital counterpart simultaneously embedded as an NPC in the game. Cheung herself appeared at the Guangzhou Game Conference on August 15 to publicly respond, emphasizing “we use AI, we are not used by AI,” with authorization strictly limited to gaming scenarios and prohibited from use in advertising, livestreaming, or new films, with all final products requiring review by her team. This collaboration also sparked controversy among her longtime fans over a “double standard” between real photos being reported and taken down versus her AI peak-year image being commercialized for profit, leading one core super-fan who had engaged for five years to announce their departure from fandom. Simultaneously, 62-year-old Wu Qihua licensed his 20-year-old portrait to an AI film, while 93-year-old You Benzhang authorized his likeness and voice to recreate his younger self as Ji Gong for shooting a micro-drama series, indicating that actors’ “digital avatars” commercialization is becoming an industry trend. Actress Qi Wei unveiled her personal AI digital avatar “Han Qingxia,” starring in an apocalyptic-themed AI manhua series “Summer of the Apocalypse,” where she emphasized her review rights and final veto power over scripts and finished content, with her facial features and expressions manually calibrated by herself and voice based on her original recordings.

Enterprise/Technology Patents : Beijing Baige Feichi Technology has applied for a patent on “a method and apparatus for generating personalized emotional style digital humans driven by voice,” achieving high-fidelity, emotion-controllable digital human generation driven by a single image, with generalization to unknown individuals requiring only half an hour of fine-tuning; Yunjia (Zhejiang) Technology has applied for a patent on “an intelligent interactive method for digital humans based on artificial intelligence,” enhancing the consistency of digital human interaction processes through constructing multi-layer interaction graphs and causal masking mechanisms; Tianfu (Beijing) Technology has applied for a patent on “a method and apparatus for multi-agent collaboration,” coordinating multiple specialized agents to complete tasks and output final results by invoking digital avatars of target objects; Shenzhen Mo Xin Keji (魔芯科技) has, on the basis of domestic 4D world model technology, achieved the generation of pet 4D digital avatars with spatial structure, supporting interaction and temporal dynamic changes in HarmonyOS mobile applications using only a few photographs, marking a breakthrough for domestic 4D world model technology from laboratory prototypes to consumer applications.

AI Short Dramas : China’s domestic AI short-drama market has exposed a homogenization problem with “AI faces” even as production capacity surges. Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) In the first half of the year, 98.7% of the 221,900 newly added AI short dramas were in a loss-making state, with hit rates below 1%, with numerous works sharing standardized “average face” digital human templates and identical lines such as “the rules mustn’t break” and “won’t cause heartburn after eating.” Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) has issued an announcement launching specialized governance of “high-frequency AI faces,” while Douyin (抖音) has launched a pre-check tool to screen for face-collision risks before finished films go online. Industry consensus is shifting from “competing on volume production” to “competing on humanity,” emphasizing the establishment of differentiated character libraries and emotional memory points for roles. China’s first AI hyperrealistic theatrical film “Sanxingdui: Tales from the Future” is produced by Bona Yingye (博纳影业) and is scheduled for release on October 23rd in theaters nationwide. It is China’s first theatrical film produced using AI technology to obtain a public screening license from the State Film Administration. The production process extensively applied digital human modeling and virtual shooting technology to compress costs to approximately one-tenth of traditional head short dramas.

Workplace/Ethics : In the autumn 2026 recruitment season, a large number of enterprises activated AI digital human interviewers to conduct initial resume screening. Job seekers widely reported that their “stiff expressions” and “vacant eyes” triggered an “uncanny valley effect.” The system tracks pupil dynamics and facial muscle tension in real time and converts them into scores. Although AI interview invitation rates have reached 70.4% and over 34% of Chinese enterprises with 500 or more employees have already deployed digital humans in campus recruitment scenarios, approximately 38% of candidates proactively withdrew from the recruitment process due to the AI interview stage, reflecting the capability limitations of digital humans in high emotional judgment scenarios. Other commentators pointed out that AI digital humans impersonated “medical professionals” and “veteran users” in scenarios such as colored contact lens evaluation and health supplement promotion, misleading consumers. As digital humans lack legal entity status, responsibility for related false advertising must pierce the virtual appearance and fall upon the real operators behind them. Cyberspace Administration of China The measures approved through deliberation explicitly stipulate that providers of anthropomorphic interactive services must not provide virtual relatives, virtual companions, and other services to minors, must set usage time limits and conduct regular reality reminders, and those in violation will face penalties including service suspension and fines, aimed at preventing adolescents from becoming excessively immersed in and dependent on AI virtual relationships.

Ceremonial : Hangzhou Yayunhui (杭州亚运会) At the closing ceremony, the digital human “Trendsetter,” created from the digital torch relay participated in by over 100 million people, made another appearance, using a “heart gesture” interactive motion to witness the extinguishing of the main torch together with the on-site audience, before transforming into a sky full of stars. General director Sha Xiaolan said this echoes the “digital ignition” at the opening ceremony to the “digital extinguishing” at the closing ceremony, telling China’s story of inclusivity and openness.

Smart Cockpit : By 2026, intelligent cabin AI voice assistants have upgraded from single-voice interaction to multimodal systems integrating gestures, gaze, expressions, and environmental awareness. Some vehicle models support user-customized virtual avatars, enabling visualized interaction through central control screens to enhance emotional connection. The systems can proactively sense driver fatigue states and provide reminders in personalized tones. Industry standards released during the Beijing Auto Show require automakers to avoid exaggerated marketing language and mandate that AI-generated content be clearly labeled with an “AI-generated” tag to prevent the anthropomorphic responses of virtual avatars from misleading users.

Industry Platform : kaiyuan Caipiao Pingtai Xiazai (kaiyuan彩票平台下载) Annual Conference opened in Beijing, with China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Vice Minister Zhang Ming attending the opening ceremony. Huawei President of the Digital Human Business Unit Zhao Gang stated that industrial implementation needs to focus on low-threshold application scenarios and promote large-scale deployment of technology enabling symbiosis between virtual and physical worlds.

Acting Industry Disruption : Facing the impact of AI digital technology on the film and television industry, a large number of background actors and functional supporting roles have been replaced by digitally synthesized images. Production crews can now generate digital background characters in bulk by collecting motion samples from a small number of actors, significantly reducing labor costs. Beijingrenyi (北京人艺) Dean Feng Yuanzheng publicly pointed out at the Two Sessions that the core of the acting profession lies in understanding human nature and the accumulation of life experience, and that technology should serve as an auxiliary tool rather than replace the essence of performance itself. This viewpoint is regarded as a response to the trend of excessive reliance on digital doubles replacing live-action performances in the film and television industry.