10 October 2026 News

Policy and Regulation : According to Aodaliyaguangbogongsi (澳大利亚广播公司), Zhongguo (中国) is establishing an official identity authentication system for AI digital humans, with virtual idol Hanqing Studio (Yuri) becoming Zhongguo (中国)’s first digital human to receive government identity certification. Her credentials specify name, date of birth, address, and facial features. This identity has enabled her operations team to open a digital currency wallet for her and establish commercial partnerships across industries including fashion, gaming, and automobiles. She has consequently become Zhongguo (中国)’s first licensed AI artist. According to a report by Communication University of China, Zhongguo (中国) has at least 1.32 million enterprises related to the digital human sector. Beijing has released new practice guidelines for broadcast television and online video services that encourage enterprises to register digital humans. Multiple government agencies have previously introduced regulatory plans for virtual images, and local government institutions have been deploying digital human officials to respond to public inquiries. Zhongguo (中国)’s government website previously deployed two AI digital humans to discuss the government work report. Meanwhile, Beijingshi Guangbodianshiju (北京市广播电视局) has issued the “Several Measures on Supporting High-Quality Development of Ultra-High-Definition Audio-Visual Industry in Beijing,” which explicitly proposes supporting the integration and innovation of ultra-high-definition audio-visual technology with new technologies including digital humans, virtual reality, and the metaverse, while encouraging “artificial intelligence plus hotels” to implement digital humans in consumer scenarios such as shopping guides and virtual try-ons. Hubei Province’s released “Artificial Intelligence Plus” Three-Year Action Plan (2026-2028)" has also incorporated digital human shopping guides and virtual try-ons into commodity and service consumption scenario development, promoted the creation of “digital renowned physicians” in healthcare, and promoted “digital human technology” in education to build intelligent learning center complexes.

Companion and Ethical Concerns : Official media disclosures of multiple cautionary cases reveal that Zhongguo (中国) society holds complex attitudes toward AI virtual companion applications: ByteDance subsidiary Doubao (豆包) once provided users with a “customized virtual companion” feature, after which a full-time mother in Hangzhou installed Doubao (豆包) for her five-year-old daughter, the child gradually became immersed in it and exhibited “extreme self-centeredness” in interaction patterns, prompting regulatory authorities to recently introduce restrictive measures requiring platforms to intervene when users show signs of pathological dependency or self-harm, and prohibiting chatbots from establishing virtual emotional relationships with minors, ByteDance subsequently shut down the “customized virtual companion” feature of Doubao (豆包). Moerbendaxue Rengongzhineng Yu Shuzi Lunli Zhongxin (墨尔本大学人工智能与数字伦理中心) Scholars point out that since digital persons cannot be prosecuted or imprisoned, enterprises providing digital person services should be required to assume corresponding responsibilities, with digital identity identification being an important tracking mechanism for tracing improper conduct back to enterprises.

Retail and Tourism Marketing : Multiple cultural tourism and commercial venues are adopting digital humans as a new means to attract customer traffic. During the National Day holiday, Wuhan’s Jiang’an Commercial District introduced Huashi Shanbao (华视闪宝)’s self-developed AI digital human product, featuring ultra-realistic IP image customization, AIGC video generation, and real-time interaction supporting over 60 dialects and foreign languages. Consumers can experience on-site “creating a digital human avatar in one minute” and “generating AI photos from a photo in 5 seconds.” The product appeared alongside Zhiyuan Jiqiren (智元机器人)’s “Lingxi” at Wuhan Wanxiang Cheng (武汉万象城) and Xiananfang (咸安坊), attracting large numbers of visitors to check in. Haerbin Jidi Gongyuan (哈尔滨极地公园) created the world’s first AI interactive digital media “giant sphere,” deeply integrating AI large models with high-precision digital human driving technology. Using the park’s original IP “Tao Learning Penguin” as the prototype, it created the AI digital image “Taotao,” which became a popular “digital docent” and drove sustained growth in National Day holiday traffic. Chengdu Gaoxinqu (成都高新区) launched the “Li Bai AI Avatar” NPC on Jiaozi Avenue, reciting poetry and gifting fans to visitors, becoming a highlight of cultural tourism and technology integration. In Shenzhen, Huaqiangbei (华强北) positioned 3D digital humans on street corners during the National Day holiday to explain products to pedestrians, forming a “technology product traffic-driving” consumer scenario alongside robot patrols and AI glasses try-ons. Shenzhen’s Xinan Jiedao (新安街道) “New’an Eight Scenic Spots Life Cultural Tourism Festival” created an “AI Technology Corridor” where citizens can interact with and take photos with digital humans. Tai’an Cultural Tourism Group’s Taishan Wenlv Jituan (泰山文旅集团) upgraded the “Taishan Companion” AI agent, launching an “historical figures explain Taishan” interactive mode that leverages digital human interaction and stone inscription recognition to optimize visitors’ mountain-climbing experience; Dawenkou Yizhi Bowuguan (大汶口遗址博物馆) also launched an “AI encounters prehistoric civilization” activity. Xianningshi Gonganju (咸宁市公安局)’s “Ninghaoma” WeChat mini-program, equipped with AI digital human “Xiaoxian,” provides 24-hour online answers to over a hundred categories of common police inquiries, with registered users exceeding 880,000 since its pilot launch.

Entertainment and Short Dramas : The AIGC long-form series “Post-Journey to the West” was Malan Shan Shipin Wenchuang Chanyeyuan (马栏山视频文创产业园) incubated, featuring no real actors with all visuals and characters generated by AI. After airing in the Hunanweishi (湖南卫视) prime time slot, its premiere viewership ranked first among provincial satellite TV stations in the same time period. Within one week of launch, it accumulated nearly 3 billion views across the internet, with per-episode production costs less than one-tenth of comparable live-action dramas, driving Mango Excellent Media stock prices to surge 45% within three days. The hybrid mode combining live-action and AI production is also accelerating: Qi Wei launched a digital avatar debut work and the post-apocalyptic themed AI short drama “Final Summer”; the “Soul Ferry: Floating Life Dream” series AIGC online story films “Butterfly Dream” and “Goddess Dream” extended digital avatars of Wang祖贤 and Wu Qihua in classic IP; Huanyu Yingshi (欢娱影视) and Xiao Yunque AI (小云雀AI)’s collaborative works “The Beauty’s Strategy: Xi Shi,” “Forbidden City Strategy: Inverted Dreams,” and “Bad Blood,” as well as Tengxun Shipin (腾讯视频)’s “Escort” all adopt production methods using licensed images of real actors with AI-generated final films, among which newcomer Chen He’s AI digital avatar in “Not Envying Mandarin Ducks, Only Immortals” garnered attention. Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) platform rolled out batches of AI virtual actors who not only perform in dramas but also have customized personas for each AI character, enabling interaction with fans upon launch. The platform simultaneously released an “Announcement on Regulating AI Drama Character Creation,” requiring main characters to have distinctive differentiating features and prohibiting reuse of virtual images across dramas, while establishing an AI creation whitelist system to address audience confusion caused by “high-frequency AI faces”; Red Fruit AI actors have begun taking on commercial collaborations including brand endorsements, advertising shoots, and livestream commerce. Actress Li Yitong clarified that online reports of her likeness being included in iQIYI’s AI artist database are entirely false information, and she has never authorized any official AI-generated short dramas or digital avatar images. COL Group Co., Ltd. disclosed in its first-half 2026 financial report that AI short dramas going overseas achieved break-even ahead of schedule, with related production costs declining over 75%, and short drama and IP business revenue doubling year-on-year, becoming the company’s largest revenue source.

Livestreaming and E-commerce : Taobao Zhibo (淘宝直播) team proposed Harness-Aware Training (HAT) methodology to address the challenge of live-streaming e-commerce digital human agents adapting to frequently changing business rules under strict low-latency requirements. Through a three-stage training approach that explicitly incorporates dynamic execution environment states into the training distribution, the lightweight model based on Qwen3.6 - 35B - A3B (Qwen3.6-35B-A3B) achieved 94.8 points on live-streaming Q&A tasks, surpassing general large models with hundreds of billions of parameters, while maintaining end-to-end latency of only P50 3.407 seconds. The methodology has been successfully deployed in Taobao Zhibo (淘宝直播) digital human business. Hong Kong-listed company Tianji Konggu (天机控股) and Australian AI enterprise OZBeat AI signed a strategic cooperation letter of intent, with both parties planning to collaborate in areas including AI digital employee systems, AI content identity, and digital copyright infrastructure. They will explore establishing a service chain covering creation, identification, display, transaction, and commercialization around AI music, short videos, digital humans, and creator tools, and will explore applying the ISRC-AAM-CID artificial intelligence music recognition and disclosure framework to the group’s digital content ecosystem.

Government and Enterprise Services : Guowang Sichuansheng Dianligongsi Chengdu Gongdian Gongsi (国网四川省电力公司成都供电公司) The independently developed intelligent AI customer service robot “Rong Dian Xiaobao” serves as a “digital twin” for power services, having entered over 24,000 neighborhood WeChat groups, achieving intelligent demand capture and point-to-point push delivery, with cumulative responses to over 5.9 million user interactions, and has set up early warning label functions for special groups such as elderly people living alone. Nuwaai Its NuwaAI intelligent agent digital human cloud service platform launched the digital human “Li Bai” debut activity in Ganping Ancient Town, Longgang, Shenzhen, enabling real-time interactive recitation of Tang poetry through ultra-high-definition large screens and cross-genre performances of rock music and stand-up comedy. Hengfeng Xinxi (恒锋信息) The AI digital human “Xiaofeng” possesses multimodal perception and intelligent interaction capabilities, applied in smart city and government service scenarios. Zhiyuan Hulian (致远互联) jointly released “Zhiyuan Zhizhi Moxing (致远致知模型)” with Caizhi Keji (彩智科技) targeting organizational collaboration scenarios, with its agent platform CoMi planned to combine Skills, MCP, and memory management to build digital twins and business experts.

Corporate Branding : At the Polaiya (珀莱雅) PSTC2026 Innovation Technology Conference held in Shanghai, digital human Hou Yameng took the stage to deliver a speech, while Polaiya (珀莱雅) General Manager Hou Yameng himself sat in the audience. He expressed that technology cannot replace a person in making judgments and cannot substitute for enterprises bearing responsibility, and that digital humans themselves are not equivalent to an enterprise’s technological strength. This move aimed to emphasize Polaiya (珀莱雅) the technological expression concept of “shortening three distances.”

Technology and Patents : A Weita Keji (阿维塔科技)(Chongqing) Co., Ltd. has obtained a patent titled “A Method, Device, Terminal Equipment and Storage Medium for Generating Virtual Images,” with authorization announcement number CN117078816B and an application date of August 2023.

Capital Markets : On October 9, the A-share virtual digital human sector rose 3.95%, with COL Group Co., Ltd. leading gains and net main capital inflows reaching 1.345 billion yuan; among AI applications, AIGC concepts, short-drama interactive games, virtual digital humans and other themes that day, COL Group Co., Ltd. became the largest net inflow stock across multiple themes, reflecting market’s sustained attention to the AI digital human industry chain. COL Group Co., Ltd. hit the daily limit that day, primarily driven by news of AI short-drama overseas reaching break-even and short-drama and IP business accounting for over 70% of revenue; Mango Excellent Media, Huace Yingshi (华策影视), Lanse Guangbiao (蓝色光标), Tianlong Jituan (天龙集团), Beijing Jetsen Technology Co., Ltd., Yinli Chuanmei (引力传媒), Zhewen Internet and other media stocks involving virtual digital humans and AIGC concepts all showed significant gains that day, with institutional and fund holding data indicating relevant concept stocks are receiving capital attention.