9 October 2026 News

Cultural Tourism : During the 10th China Peking Opera Culture Week at Beijing Expo Garden, Shiyou Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. integrated its self-developed Bota (波塔) AI digital human agent into the proprietary digital human “Opera Treasure,” implementing explanation and tour guidance, theatrical science popularization and interactive Q&A functions through Android integrated machines, becoming an intelligent bridge connecting traditional opera with young audiences; Shiyou Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. similar solutions have also been deployed in the 3D moose digital human explainer at Khamnern National Nature Reserve, the “Ili General” digital human at Xinjiang Ili General’s Mansion (combining MR mixed reality) and the large-screen 3D cartoon digital human host transitions at Sichuan Ya’an “Guangan Wonderful Night.” Taierzhuang Ancient Town launched the “Why Taierzhuang” digital immersive performance project, where visitors generate personalized digital human avatars, then don VR devices to interact with “Brick Spirit Aqing” to find memory fragments, and sing Liuqin opera duets with holographic digital humans at the top level for photos. Taishan Scenic Area launched the “Taishan Banyou (泰山伴游)” mini program, creating over 40 historical and cultural digital human IPs, allowing visitors at locations such as Hongmen, Zhongtianmen and Yuhuang Peak to trigger AI digital humans providing active explanations of imperial seal-conferring culture and stone carving history. Harbin Polar Park created the world’s first AI interactive digital media “giant sphere,” designing digital explainer “Tao Tao” based on the park’s IP “Tao Learning Penguin,” which went viral through real-time semantic understanding and audience interaction; Heilongjiang’s “One Phone to Tour Yichun” APP also integrated the travel companion AI agent “You and Yi” combining large models like DeepSeek and Qianwen, while Heihe’s “Zhongetong (中俄通)” APP provides intelligent travel companion services. During Guangzhou’s National Day period, cultural and museum venues including the Nanyue King Museum and Guangzhou Library attracted visitors through digital art exhibitions, with Guangzhou Tower’s “Future Dance Show” and Chen Clan Ancestral Hall’s AI glasses smart navigation and Guangzhou Cultural Center’s intelligent services jointly forming a sci-tech cultural tourism scenario. During Chengdu’s “2026 Chengdu International Digital Cultural and Creative Season,” the East Suburbs Memory Digital Light and Shadow Art Festival and IP Planet Trendy Street attracted over one million visitors, with Sichuan Shike Hudong Keji (四川时刻互动科技) and Chengdu Yu Zhi Lingdong Keji (成都雨之灵动科技) jointly launching the collaborative AI bionic plush pet “Chronicles of Seven Heroes.” At Sichuan Nongyedaxue (四川农业大学)’s 120th anniversary gala, the school’s digital human “Ye Zi” performed an original rap program with robot “Nian Nian” and student representatives. Chengdu’s “Village Sugar Fair” Dujiangyan main venue premiered the “Li Bing Strolling Village Sugar” digital human IP, converting scenic area traffic into consumption. Xi’an traffic police launched digital human “Yong’an Jun” providing 24-hour holiday driving exam consultation services, while the East Airport Group deployed AI mobile inquiry digital humans for the first time during the National Day golden week to provide consultation and guidance to passengers. Behind the Qingyuan Museum’s “Virtuous Keeper, Clear Breeze—Liu Yuxi and Qingyuan” exhibition, Qingyuan is advancing digital human IP development in Liu Yuxi cultural IP development.

Sports and Events : Lenovo ThinkPad has officially become a platinum sponsor of the 2026 China Open Tennis, developing two major solutions comprising a digital human intelligent customer service system and a volunteer intelligent memory system. The digital human customer service is built on a hybrid edge-cloud architecture, leveraging a double-sided transparent screen to provide spectators with multimodal immersive consultation services including match schedules, venue guides, and ticketing guidance, making its debut at the Diamond Court of the National Tennis Center. Fenyu Xingqiu (粉鱼星球) is deeply engaging in China Open activities through the “Starlight Co-creation Plan”: on July 29, Fenyu Xingqiu (粉鱼星球) held the global premiere of singer Dai Yanni’s AI personality hardware LUMIFlora, with 933 units sold on the day; on September 30, Fenyu Xingqiu (粉鱼星球) held the “Pinyu Star Family Fun Tennis Challenge” at the red clay court of the National Tennis Center, with Dai Yanni, Wang Bowen, and Wu Tianqi, three starlight partners, participating alongside opera performance artist Jin Man and professional tennis player Zhou Yi in interactive activities. The on-site AI interactive experience zone showcased starlight partner AI avatar humanoid standees and LUMI products, realizing a closed loop of AI personality products transitioning from online to real offline event scenarios.

Entertainment : China’s first AIGC long-form drama to air on mainstream television, “Post-Journey to the West,” directed by director Li Dongxuan, drove Mango Excellent Media share prices to consecutive daily limits following its broadcast on Hunan Satellite Television and Mango TV, while AI film and television concept stocks including Zhong Guang Tianze (中广天择), Huanrui Century, and COL Group Co., Ltd. rallied in tandem. With a per-episode production cost of approximately 900,000 yuan and a production cycle of just over three months, the series validated the industrialization pathway for AI long-form dramas transitioning from short-film experiments to mainstream satellite television channels. On the Honguo short-drama platform, multiple AI short-drama virtual characters have settled into community accounts, including “Jiang Yuechu” from “Ten Thousand Demons Records,” “Yan Xu” from “Inkstone Plum Blossoms,” “Lu Chuan” from “Everyone’s Reborn, Who’s Still Pretending to Be a Rich Second Generation,” “Gu Lin” from “He Came in a Helicopter to Marry Me on Our Wedding Day,” and “Su Han” from “Everyone’s Surviving, My Skills are Quite Abundant.” These characters continuously release plot snippets and interactive videos, appear in Honguo live streams for real-time interaction with fans, and sell products, forming a personalized operation and commercialization closed loop “from drama to beyond drama,” with brands like Tmall also leveraging characters such as “Lu Chuan” and “Gu Lin” to customize spin-off theatrical content with product placement. Hong Kong director Stephen Chow announced that “Kung Fu 2” is scheduled for the 2027 Spring Festival slot, with the AI digital image of late actor Ng Man-tat in the film sparking controversy. AI content community Zaomengci Yuan (造梦次元) collaborated with Shengshu Technology, launching a 48-hour live broadcast challenge through its AI host “Zi Ying” with 100,000 followers, leveraging Shengshu Technology’s newly released Vidu S2 real-time interactive model to enable instant generation of digital character voice, facial expressions, and movements for audience interaction. The account was reopened 24 times over 48 hours with total revenue reaching 42,000 yuan, validating the real-time tipping monetization capability of AI hosts.

AI Companions : Tencent has been revealed to be quietly beta-testing an AI companion gaming product called “Eci Yuan (鹅次元)”, positioning it as “heavy on companionship, light on skill-boosting”. The product offers real-time voice companionship and post-match reviews while users play mainstream online games such as Valorant, CS2, and League of Legends, and has recruited digital avatars of top Bilibili content creators Lao Fanqie and Yingyueyue to participate, with payments based on usage. Previously, miHoYo launched an AI desktop companion software called “BSide: Olivia Lin”, creating a virtual character named “Lin Li” who plays piano. The product shut down on August 11 less than a month after launch due to operational and user retention issues.

Education : Shanghaishi Jiaoyu Weiyuanhui (上海市教育委员会) guided and Shanghaishi Zhongxiaoxue " Kepu Xiaoyuanxing " Huodong Zuweihui (上海市中小学"科普校园行"活动组委会) organized, jointly with Shanghai Jiaoyu Baokan Zongshe Rengongzhineng Jiaoyu Zhongxin (上海教育报刊总社人工智能教育中心) and Haoqi Xing ( Shanghai ) Keji Fazhan (好奇猩(上海)科技发展有限公司), launched the “Exploring AI Digital Companions” science popularization activity for primary and secondary schools, guiding students to understand AI speech recognition principles and create personalized AI digital companion images through engaging experiments. Guiyang Xinxi Keji Xueyuan (贵阳信息科技学院) Digital Media College was selected for the list of co-constructing universities in the “AIGC Industry-Education Integration Joint Laboratory” initiated jointly by Guojia Guangbodianshi Zongju Guangbo Yingshi Rencaijiaoliu Zhongxin (国家广播电视总局广播影视人才交流中心) and Zhongyang Guangbodianshi Zongtai Yang Shipin Gongsi (中央广播电视总台央视频公司), with plans to expand application scenarios such as AI digital person live streaming and AI intelligent video editing before 2027 and cultivate over 120 professional talents. Shandong Dianzi Zhiye Jishu Xueyuan (山东电子职业技术学院) independently developed “Shandian Jiaoyu Da Moxing (山电教育大模型)” based on domestically-sourced computing power, automatically segmenting digital person teaching videos and matching them with knowledge graph nodes to improve the efficiency of teaching resource production. Beijing Gongye Zhiye Jishu Xueyuan (北京工业职业技术学院) organized ideological and political education teachers to lead students to visit industrial sites such as Jingxi Smart Valley, providing immersive experience of AI digital person interaction and other sci-tech innovation scenarios, integrating new productive forces into the practice of “macro ideological and political education courses.”

Enterprise and Technology : Lansu Keji (蓝速科技) (larxu) has launched an audio-visual interactive hardware solution targeting digital human deployment scenarios. Through dual-lens wide dynamic range cameras, 4-unit far-field microphone arrays, and hardware-level ISP image processing engines, the solution addresses interaction experience issues faced by digital human terminals in face recognition distance, audio capture in noisy environments, and backlighting scenarios, adapting to multiple deployment environments such as halls, retail stores, and window-side locations. Leyard Optoelectronic Co., Ltd.’s OptiTrack optical motion capture business is equipped with self-developed Lydia Dongzuo Da Moxing (Lydia动作大模型), providing motion training data to robot manufacturers while also serving film and television, gaming, and virtual digital human production, with related technology applied to projects such as “Black Myth.” In news video production, the “Huiboxing Shuzi Ren (慧播星数字人)” tool is widely used to generate AI anchor reporting-style short videos, covering automated broadcasting of multiple news items including Jackie Chan’s meeting with Kazakhstan’s Vice President, Hong Kong Lingnan University conferring honorary fellowship on Guo Jingjing, and table tennis player Matsushima Teraki’s response to drinking soybean milk.

Ethical Contexts : Beijingshi Shichang Jiandu Guanliju (北京市市场监督管理局) issued a reminder that as digital human anchors and related technologies become more widespread, some merchants are using AI technology for false advertising, with virtual images not equivalent to real person endorsements, and livestream sales content without “AI-generated” or “digital human” labels suspected of violating regulations. Some illegal actors also unlawfully scrape selfies and lifestyle videos from social media platforms to generate virtual images and replicate personal voices for commercial profit. Nan Dou N Shipin (南都N视频) has previously published ongoing reports including “Investigation into Virtual Artist Gray Industry,” “Copyright Infringement Chaos in Virtual Character Asset Libraries,” and “Investigation into AI Voice Cloning Chaos,” exposing gray industry chains such as generating virtual person “experience” videos based solely on product images, virtual artists selling prescription drugs through livestream, and character asset libraries selling netizens’ “face-stealing” and “face-swapping” materials at low prices. According to regulatory cases, Beijing Shuangtaiyuan Maoyi (北京双泰元贸易有限公司) used AI virtual persons in a livestream to promote ordinary food “某全安粉” claiming health benefits, which was determined by the Changping District Market Supervision and Management Bureau to constitute false advertising and was penalized, becoming Beijing’s first AI virtual person livestream sales false advertising case following implementation of the “Live Streaming E-commerce Supervision and Management Measures”; Foshanshi Xinyu Keji (佛山市新娱科技有限公司) was also previously penalized for using AI to synthesize expert Wen Tiejun’s image and voice into promotional videos, determined to be false advertising. CCTV’s “Weekly Quality Report” exposed an industry chain where AI digital persons impersonate “medical workers” for sales, with related apps requiring only one photo to generate a digital person sales video in one click, and celebrity images such as “Zhang Wenhong” and “Zhang Boli” have also been batch “modified” for sales purposes.