15 October 2026 News

Cultural Policy And Activities : At the “New Art China · Digital Art Boundless” Cultural and Technological Fusion New Quality Productive Forces Conference held in Changsha, Hunan, an experience exhibition area for cultural and technological fusion achievements was set up on-site, where participants could wear motion capture equipment and use gestures to drive virtual digital humans on the screen in real time to replicate poses. Hunan Guangbo Yingshi Jituan (湖南广播影视集团) showcased “Mangguo Da Moxing (芒果大模型)” which has passed Cyberspace Administration of China registration, as well as the AIGC platform “Mangguo Lingchuang (芒果灵创)”, and leveraging this platform has launched works including the pure AI documentary “Taiwan Island Chronicle” and AI quality series “Eternal: A Life of Xin Zhui”. Meitu founder Wu Xinhong (吴欣鸿) introduced the company’s “Kaipai (开拍)” application on-site, where users can create personalized AI digital humans in addition to appearing as real people, for use in producing spokesperson videos and marketing content. Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology Co., Ltd. vice general manager Song Xiaodong (宋晓东) shared cases of empowering physical spaces with digital content and creating immersive experience halls. Yuewen Jituan (阅文集团) chief executive officer Hou Xiaonan (侯晓楠) introduced that leveraging tools such as “Comic Drama Assistant”, the company’s AI comic drama revenue scale tripled this year, with dozens of hit series emerging that have surpassed 100 million views with characters generated by AI. During the same period, a youth networking activity held by Zhangzhou Kaifaqu (漳州开发区) also featured an AI digital human real-scene interaction session, allowing participants to interact with virtual avatars in an immersive script experience.

AI Entertainment Industry Artists : Mangguo TV (芒果TV) joined forces with Lize Yingye (丽泽影业), leveraging its AIGC innovative content center to launch “Mangguo Lingchuang Juchang (芒果灵创剧场)”, officially introducing five natively AI-generated artists—Chengdu, Fangyu, Lin Enna, Qixu, and Zhanyan—with independent character settings. All five have opened verified social media accounts, regularly posting updates and engaging with fans, backed by real screenwriters and agents managing their operations. The first AI live-action drama “Pretty Impressive, Friends” premiered on October 14, telling the story of a former judo champion youth who returns to the ring to raise surgery funds for his younger brother, with all performances executed by AI artists. Previously, virtual characters Fang Taozi and Duan Yan from the AI short drama “The Girl Who Got Laid Off” accumulated substantial fan bases through continuous social media operations and secured commercial endorsements, with merchandise and advertising rates once exceeding millions of yuan, rivaling real-person internet influencers. Meanwhile, iQIYI launched its “Nadou Pro (纳逗Pro)” artist database, claiming over one hundred artists have authorized their digital avatars to join; Yaoke Media and Yu Xiao Chuanmei (聿潇传媒) successively signed AI digital artists; Qi Wei (戚薇) also announced the personal digital avatar “Han Qingxia”, with virtual actor matrices industry-wide accelerating their expansion.

AI Short-Form Drama Industry Ecosystem : ByteDance’s overseas short-drama application PineDrama launched approximately nine months ago and has achieved over 100 million cumulative downloads globally, with around 7 million daily active users, becoming one of the fastest-growing products in the overseas short-drama sector; domestically, Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) has surpassed 300 million monthly active users, with penetration rates continuing to rise rapidly. Hong Kong-listed AI short-drama company Dui Ba (兑吧) disclosed that its AI short-drama business has achieved net profitability for three consecutive months, with Q3 new playback volume across all platforms exceeding 45.8 billion, more than nine times the total of the first half of the year; the company has deeply embedded its workflow platform and proprietary screenwriting Agent into the entire production process, significantly reducing marginal costs. COL Group Co., Ltd. has produced and launched over 1,200 premium AI short dramas leveraging its proprietary “Xiaoyao AI” engine, and achieved profitability through overseas platform FlareFlow; Wondershare launched “Wanxing Juchang (万兴剧厂),” a one-stop AI film and television creation platform supporting script localization and lip-sync subtitle adaptation; Kunlun Tech established a one-stop AI short-drama industrialized production system serving overseas short-drama expansion; Zhangyue Keji (掌阅科技) is advancing short-drama adaptations leveraging web-novel IP resources. Mango Excellent Media’s “Post-Journey to the West,” China’s first primetime satellite TV full-AI long-form drama, significantly compressed production cycles and costs through virtual shooting, digital humans, and visual effects, and topped provincial satellite TV ratings in its time slot upon premiere; Bona Yingye (博纳影业)’s “Sanxingdui: Tales from the Future,” the nation’s first AI hyperrealistic theatrical film, is scheduled for release on October 23, marking AI-generated content’s formal entry into theatrical commercial delivery. Ying Yuzhou (映宇宙) is channeling most of the funds obtained from divesting non-core assets toward underlying AI computing infrastructure to support the scaled expansion of short-drama expansion overseas and digital human-related businesses.

E-Commerce Live Streaming : Tianmao (天猫) Alibaba’s Double Eleven shopping festival will launch the internet’s first AI digital human relay livestream, with Ning Zetao (宁泽涛), Liu Runming (刘润铭), Qi Kexingxing (七颗猩猩), Dian Dilahai (垫底辣孩), Chen Tudou (陈土豆), and Xiao Guanduizhang (晓观队长) six celebrity influencers authorizing their personal AI images for the first time and making a collective appearance as AI hosts in Tianmao (天猫)’s official livestream channel, among which sports champion Ning Zetao is the first sports star to pilot AI digital human livestreaming. Simultaneously, OiiOii, a platform targeting e-commerce advertising scenarios, has a built-in library of 188 specially optimized virtual actors that can be directly invoked without credit points to generate digital human voiceovers and product showcase videos, helping merchants batch-produce ad materials compatible with platforms including Douyin, Kuaishou, Little Red Book, and Amazon, while supporting one-click generation of multi-language dubbed versions for overseas merchants.

Ethical Controversy Scenarios : Virtual AI girl group BABYQUEEN BABYPVSSY Yule (BABYPVSSY娱乐), which has not yet officially debuted domestically, announced through an official statement that member Mity was “confirmed to be pregnant” and would pause all group, variety show, and stage activities to enter prenatal rest. Subsequently, a nearly five-hundred-word apology letter was released in Mity’s first-person voice. Just one hour after the announcement, the team released a new song preview, prompting numerous netizens to question whether this was deliberate hype-mongering using reproductive issues. The IP’s creators are students who enjoy K-pop. They later admitted that they chose the inappropriate justification of “pregnancy” to retire the character due to personal inability to manage the operational pressure of multiple AI personas simultaneously, while emphasizing that the project was purely a hobby creation with no profit motive. Following the incident’s escalation, the creative team faced sustained body-shaming and personal attacks. Public opinion generally holds that virtual idols can possess anthropomorphic narratives that transcend reality, but packaging reproductive issues—a serious matter—as a marketing gimmick has undermined public trust and empathy that should be extended to virtual idols.

Legal and Ethics : Domestic AI short drama “Peach Blossom Hairpin” has triggered a personality rights dispute lawsuit after using character images highly similar to the facial features of ordinary people Qi Hai (七海) and Bai Cai (白菜) to portray a villain in the series. The case in which Qi Hai sued producer Hangzhou Yingqu Ge Duanju Gongsi (杭州映趣阁短剧公司), operator Chengdu Weima Weila Wenhua Chuanbo (成都微麻微辣文化传播有限公司), and platform Beijing Bimo Liuxiang Keji (北京笔墨留香科技有限公司) of Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) for infringing on portrait rights and reputation rights has been heard in Hangzhou Xihu District People’s Court without an in-court verdict being announced; another plaintiff Bai Cai has reached a pre-trial settlement with the three relevant parties and obtained a formal apology statement. The case has exposed legal gaps in AI-generated content regarding material authorization verification, portrait identifiability determination, and platform joint liability allocation.

Healthcare : Shanghaijiaotongdaxue Yixueyuan Fushu Ruijinyiyuan (上海交通大学医学院附属瑞金医院) Dean Ning Guang (宁光) proposed the concept of an “AI-native hospital,” advocating for the construction of a vibrant “digital human” for each patient across seven dimensions—biology, physiological function, psychological cognition, spatiotemporal transformation, social function, behavioral lifestyle, and environment—and establishing corresponding mirror-image intelligent agents for doctors and nurses that work in coordination with patients’ digital counterparts and twin data on health and disease progression, thereby allowing AI to be deeply embedded throughout the entire diagnostic and therapeutic workflow.

Cultural Heritage Communication : Shandong’s Liaocheng has utilized real-scene 3D technology to establish millimeter-level digital archives for the Guangyue Tower and the ancient canal district, and has created immersive scenarios including VR tours and a digital companion guide “Yun Xiaolu,” helping tourists explore canal history in the cloud. Jiahu Yizhi Bowuguan (贾湖遗址博物馆) A virtual digital human named “Kun” has been placed in the exhibition hall to interact with visitors at any time and answer questions about the daily life of the Jiahu ancestors, coordinated with VR and AR technologies to present scenes such as prehistoric brewing and the origins of writing. Huaqiaodaxue (华侨大学) Scholars have written that from Datong, Shanxi’s “Mulan 3D ultra-realistic digital human” to Douyin’s intangible cultural heritage digital human “Feifei,” virtual digital humans are transforming static intangible cultural heritage knowledge into visual, sensory, and participatory immersive experiences through dynamic interpretation and virtual interaction, becoming an important new vehicle for the overseas dissemination of China’s intangible cultural heritage.

Marketing And Consumer Scenarios : CCTV has exposed chaos on certain platforms where AI digital humans impersonate doctors to conduct “firsthand testing” product promotions, reminding consumers to be vigilant against exaggerated marketing by virtual personas. Previously, Guizhou Tianyou Dejiu (天佑德酒) launched a digital virtual character “Li Linger,” integrating the regional culture of highland barley wine with the digital human image for brand marketing and communications. Additionally, some financial information videos employ “Huiboxing Shuzi Ren (慧播星数字人)” to report market conditions, used for commentary on price fluctuations of commodities such as egg prices.

Capital Markets : On October 14, the virtual digital human theme ranked fourth in the intraday net capital inflow rankings on the A-share market, with net inflows reaching 1.124 billion yuan, and the largest net inflow individual stock within the related theme being Yinli Media. Yinli Media touched the daily limit on that day, with its affiliated concepts of short-form drama interactive entertainment, virtual digital humans and others collectively strengthening; Aotuo Dianzi (奥拓电子) fell more than 5% on that day, having reached a 60-day high in the previous trading day due to concepts such as virtual digital humans and the metaverse; * ST Kaiyuan (*ST开元) touched the daily limit multiple times due to concepts including its subsidiary Tianhu Education’s layout of virtual digital human laboratories; Huanrui Century, having previously attempted to launch an interactive AI digital human character for the drama series “Lotus House” and collaborating with Agentic Minds to explore AI short-form dramas and manga drama products, was included in the observation scope of virtual digital human concept stocks.