26 October 2026 News

Healthcare : Ant Group, Ali Jiankang (阿里健康), and JD Health are deeply integrating AI digital humans with physicians’ medical practice, promoting “doctor avatars” as a new type of productivity tool. Duan Tao (段涛), director of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Shanghai East Hospital, is among the earliest doctors to own an AI avatar on Ant Yikang. The team trained the avatar using his ten years of science popularization articles and short videos, enabling it to provide preliminary suggestions within three rounds of dialogue. Xu Hongjun (徐宏俊), associate chief physician of the dermatology department at Beijing Friendship Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University, has an AI avatar that can organize patient descriptions into structured medical records. Huo Jian (霍键), head of Ant Health, introduced that over 2,000 doctors have set up AI avatars on the Ant Yikang doctor version, including eight academicians. Related follow-up and pre-consultation features have covered family doctors and village doctors in over 40 cities nationwide as well as rural areas including Pu’an in Guizhou and Meixian in Guangdong. Meanwhile, Zhuoshi Keji (卓世科技) in Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City in Sanya, Hainan, has launched an “AI + wellness and health” solution that loads traditional Chinese medicine knowledge bases into virtual digital humans, achieving seamless integration between AI consultations and prescriptions with robotic massage execution. Elderly users can enjoy massage and cupping services without complex operations. Liaoningsheng Yibao Xitong (辽宁省医保系统) has also built a “Liao Xiaobao (辽小宝)” AI digital human service platform providing round-the-clock medical insurance consultation, already reducing the need for residents to make multiple trips for services.

Entertainment : China’s first AI hyperrealistic theatrical film to obtain a distribution license, “Sanxingdui: Tales from the Future,” was produced by Bona Yingye (博纳影业) over two years with investments reaching tens of millions of yuan, with all 100 minutes of footage generated by AI and characters rendered as original digital avatars. Producers Qu Jixiaojiang (曲吉小江) and chief producer Jiang Defu (蒋德富) revealed that the film underwent over a hundred iterations and five major revisions. A sequel, “Unplanned: Lunar Operations,” has been greenlit, directed by Li Tianang (李天昂), with Shengshu Technology providing directional model fine-tuning for oriental cultural narratives. Despite significant technical breakthroughs, box office performance fell short of expectations following release, with Maoyan projecting total box office revenue of approximately 2.169 million yuan and opening day earnings of only 105,000 yuan. A private screening in Beijing drew merely four viewers. Producer Qu Jixiaojiang candidly acknowledged that “AI naturally makes people feel it’s not worth their time.” Concurrently, Hunan Changsha’s Mangguo Lingchuang (芒果灵创) platform aggregates over 40 large language models, including Seedance, to build a 4D virtual soundstage. The pure AI series “Post-Journey to the West” has landed on a satellite TV prime-time slot, with Li Dongshen (李东珅) as general director overseeing a production team of a hundred people, with ninety percent directly invested in content creation. Mango AIGC Innovation Content Center general manager Ren Xu (任旭) believes digital human economy and AI film possess further commercial ecosystem closure potential. In the short-drama sector, Hengdian (横店) experienced a sharp 75 percent decline in production launches due to AI short-drama competition, prompting the film studio to introduce tourist short-drama experience packages starting at 218 yuan to attract casual visitors. ByteDance’s Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧) announced phased elimination of coin reward mechanisms while launching rest reminder features to address addiction concerns from AI-generated content. Regarding celebrity digital personas, TVB Best Actor Ma Dezhong (马德钟) was reported to be in negotiations with multiple tech companies regarding Ma Dezhong AI portrait licensing while exploring mainland drama collaborations with AI assistance. Singer Yuan Yawei (袁娅维) envisions using AI digital avatars to replace personal stage performances in the future. Artist Qi Wei (戚薇) has officially announced a personal digital avatar through social platforms with limited authorization mechanisms to maintain content quality standards. Musician Wang Kunzhe (王琨喆) (Zhe FILM) created the AI rap MV “Lessons Learned,” featuring virtual avatars of ten historical figures including Du Fu, Su Shi, and Liu Bang on a rap stage, with Douyin playback exceeding 75 million views. He emphasized that AI is an auxiliary tool rather than the creative subject, having previously launched AI shorts like “Millennium Return” exploring new formats combining historical figures with cities.

Marketing/Advertising : Zhongguo Biaozhunhua Yanjiuyuan (中国标准化研究院) and Ocean Engine jointly compiled the “Internet Advertising Governance White Paper in the AIGC Era,” which shows that AIGC is driving large-scale application of AI-generated content in the internet advertising industry, with digital human livestreaming accelerating in popularity. China’s AI digital human market scale grew from 1.02 billion yuan in 2021 to 5.24 billion yuan in 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of 52%. Suzhou-based Taihu Xue (太湖雪) has introduced AI technology into livestream e-commerce to enhance product selection and user analysis, and innovatively deployed AI digital humans to enable round-the-clock livestreaming, effectively filling nighttime traffic gaps, with online channel revenue in the first three quarters of 2026 growing 34.62% year-over-year. Tencent showcased a dedicated digital human display at its 2026 Content Creator Carnival in an AI creation experience zone and released a support plan targeting content creators; students at Nanningshi Diliu Zhiye Jishuxuexiao (南宁市第六职业技术学校) in Guangxi are learning to conduct product introduction livestream sales using AI digital humans, and Tencent Academy experts are teaching rural youth to build digital humans using AI tools as part of Guangdong’s “Hundred Thousand Million Program” youth rural revitalization cultivation initiative.

Gaming/Virtual Social : Social VR platform VRChat has introduced native facial tracking support at the SDK level in its latest open beta and Avatars SDK beta, with the new system called “high-fidelity facial tracking,” enabling creators to set facial expressions for virtual avatars through the AvatarDeor component and map them to blend shapes and animator parameters, while maintaining compatibility with VRCFT’s UnifiedExpressions standard and VRChat’s existing audio-driven lip-sync and eye-gaze functions, supporting network synchronization without consuming the virtual avatar’s synchronization parameter budget, and enabling richer avatar facial expression interactions without relying on community plugins.

Enterprise/Productivity : Alibaba’s AI agent Qianwen Go ! (千问Go!) has launched a “My Applications” feature, integrating Alibaba Cloud AI application production platform Meoo (Miaowu), enabling users to build applications for life, work and learning without coding. By combining cloud Pro capabilities, users can call personal data from Taobao, Amap, Damai, and Quark Drive to generate personalized tools. The service is currently in closed beta. Chongqing Tongyong Rengongzhineng Yanjiuyuan (重庆通用人工智能研究院) released Mingjing (明镜) platform at the General Artificial Intelligence Conference, creating the world’s first value-driven, socially-enabled general embodied agent “Tongtong,” which can understand environments, weigh trade-offs, and proactively take action. Behind it lies the unified mathematical framework of “Cognition-Capability-Value (CUV)” proposed by the founding director’s Zhu Songchun (朱松纯) team. Mingjing (明镜) platform has been deployed in five major domains: geological disaster prevention, public safety initiatives, human resources services, new drug development, and intelligent cabins. Liangjiang Xinqu Guanyinqiao Jiedao (两江新区观音桥街道) Grid officers using AI digital twins have increased citizen request coverage from 35 percent to 82 percent, and single grid officers can now serve over 500 people compared to 50 people previously. Chongqing Tongyong Rengongzhineng Yanjiuyuan (重庆通用人工智能研究院) also launched the “Mingjing (明镜) Partner Building and Promotion Initiative” in collaboration with 14 leading AI enterprises including iFLYTEK, advancing AGI technology commercialization.

Cultural/Heritage : In the protection of ancient city cultural heritage in Weifang, Shandong, Zhengbanqiao Jinianguan (郑板桥纪念馆) leverages AI digital human technology to enable visitors to engage in simulated “dialogue across time periods” with a Qing Dynasty county magistrate, with the museum presenting historical figures through a combination of scene restoration, narrative exhibitions, and digital interaction. Shenzhen Luohu Tushuguan (深圳罗湖图书馆) serves as the nation’s first Hongmeng technology library, equipped with digital human librarian “Luo Xiaotu” and intelligent book sorting robots, achieving efficient and orderly management of book circulation while further applying technology to public cultural service scenarios.

Education/Training : Shanghai Zhihuiwuyu Zhineng Keji (上海智惠无隅智能科技有限公司) and Shanghaishifandaxue (上海师范大学) School of Psychology jointly developed “Yuxin Shengren Li AI Xinli Renxing Shixun Pingtai (育心胜任力AI心理韧性实训平台),” which was officially launched at Shanghaishifandaxue (上海师范大学). This is the nation’s first AI training platform focused on cultivating teachers’ psychological counseling capabilities, utilizing AI digital human simulation technology to provide teacher trainees and in-service teachers with typical scenario training in student psychological guidance and problem type identification, covering 18 categories of issues including academic stress and campus bullying. During the launch event demonstration, an AI digital human simulating a troubled seventh-grade boy engaged in more than ten rounds of dialogue with a psychology teacher. The platform established its first pilot site and AI training classroom at Wuqiao Xuexiao (邬桥学校) in Fengxian District, Shanghai on September 29.

Ethical Contexts/Governance : Official media outlets including Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television have intensively exposed chaos surrounding an AI digital persona named “Xiaohai” engaged in deceptive livestream selling: the virtual character is batch-generated through an AI livestream shopping app, exploits fabricated backstories such as single-parent families and trailing behind in sales contests to evoke sympathy from middle-aged and elderly users, and induces purchases of overpriced goods including soy milk powder and jade pendants, with a 79-year-old nearly traveling thousands of miles to visit this nonexistent child; meanwhile, AI digital personas are packaged as medical experts with titles such as “dean” and “director,” hawking solid drinks and probiotics claiming to provide “root cures” as well as prayer beads. Professor Li Huaisheng (李怀胜) from the Cyberspace Law Research Institute at China University of Political Science and Law points out that AI digital personas and real human videos hold no distinction in legal status, and operators remain legally liable for false information; Professor Li Huaisheng from China University of Political Science and Law and Director Liu Xiaochun (刘晓春) of the Internet Rule of Law Research Center at China Social Sciences University both emphasize that platforms bear responsibility for pre-event prevention, mid-event interception, and post-event suppression. Cyberspace Administration of China deployed a two-month special campaign starting in late September titled “Clarity: Rectifying Short-Video False Persona Chaos,” Douyin with platforms reporting that from October 1 to 22 they had disposed of over 20,000 non-compliant accounts and cleared over 47,000 non-compliant videos, listing “Xiaohai” as a typical case; Mudanjiang (牡丹江) police have subjected Zheng and Liu, a couple who self-directed and staged a “deep mountain rescue of vagrant woman” video, to administrative detention, Yunnan Lijiang Jingfang (云南丽江警方) and had previously investigated similar scripted staging cases. China Youth Daily’s commentary further warns that AI children’s short dramas feature problematic content such as “a one-year-old slapping someone,” and industry insiders point out that whether AI-generated virtual child images should be subject to the same regulatory constraints as child actors remains unclear, and regulatory bodies and platforms need to fill this gap with unified standards. Additionally, Guangdongsheng Shuzhi Keji Yanjiuhui (广东省数智科技研究会) the Professional Committee on AI Compliance and Development was established in Guangzhou, with a report from Tan Qingfeng (谭庆丰) professor at Guangzhou University mentioning that Tianyan Qingbao (天眼情报) platforms possess digital twin functions for dark web intelligence monitoring, and Chief Engineer Mo Honglin (莫虹霖) of Shenzhen Anzhen Enterprise Compliance Management Group also shared case studies on security and compliance considerations for AI intelligent agent applications.