3 November 2026 News

Entertainment : China’s AI digital celebrities have evolved from novelty to scaled operations. After gaining viral fame with the AI short drama “The Girl Who Got Laid Off,” Fang Taozi launched an independent social media account, accumulating over 400,000 followers and 30 million likes in just over a month, with advertising rates reaching a maximum of 2.58 million yuan, and graced the cover of COSMO CRUSH digital edition under Fashion COSMO. The male lead Duan Yan from the AI manga drama “Pouring My Affection Into Your Remaining Life” was hailed as the “first AI boyfriend,” spawning derivative products such as “Duan Yan-style” four-leaf clover bracelets with merchandise sales exceeding one million yuan per link. Yuehua Entertainment launched “Asia’s first AI-driven all-real girl group” HeyDream, with all promotional materials and visual content generated by AI, and established four new AI business teams covering AI short videos, AI manga dramas, and short dramas. The company previously acquired the virtual idol group A-SOUL from ByteDance’s subsidiary Zhaoxi Guangnian (朝夕光年) for 30 million yuan, with group-wide followers exceeding 25 million. Mangguo TV (芒果TV) simultaneously launched five native AI artists—Chengdu, Fangyu, Lin Enna, Qi Xu, and Zhanyan—alongside the AI photorealistic drama “Awesome, My Friend” in which they star. Huace Yingshi (华策影视) unveiled AI idol boy group MO:V Moowu. iQIYI officially announced contracts with 11 AIGC creators and launched its first AI acting competition romance variety show “Love.exe Reboot.” Additionally, Yaoke Media previously signed AI artist Qin Lingyue and Lin Xiyan and produced the AI short drama “The Bronze Mystery Tales of Qinling,” but faced controversy after the “AI faces” showed high similarity to multiple real actors. Qi Wei (戚薇) and other celebrities have licensed their facial images to AI companies to create digital doubles. A domestic independent AI Korean girl group called “BABYQUEEN” trended after fabricating an absurd storyline in which a member announced pregnancy and retirement, only to return five days later. The creator subsequently admitted the entire girl group was merely a personal hobby project, with member images apparently blending features from multiple real celebrities.

Film and Television Industry : Hengdian Yingshicheng (横店影视城) won the bid with 23 million yuan to build the “Hengdian Film and Television AI Service Platform,” led by Dongyang Shenkong Yinqing (东阳深空引擎), a company under the Bytedance group, and jointly constructed with Beijing Volcano Engine Technology. The project will launch an Hengdian π (横店π) AI platform positioned as an industry public digital infrastructure, planning to convert Hengdian’s live-action base and data of 150,000 extras into high-quality datasets. However, after bidding details were exposed, “Hengdian and Bytedance collaborating to feed 150,000 extras to AI” sparked widespread concerns about unclear portrait rights and data authorization scope among extras. Previously, Hengdian had jointly worked with Volcano Engine and Jiahuan Keji (嘉环科技) to build the “Hengdian Film and Television Cultural Industry Brain,” which will be upgraded to Hengdian Yingshi Da Moxing (横店影视大模型) in 2025 and simultaneously launch AI Yingshi Shengtai He Fuwu Yunying Zhongxin (AI影视生态和服务运营中心). The digitalization paths of film and television cities nationwide have different emphases: Qingdao Dongfangyingdou (青岛东方影都) relies on a facial scanning array composed of 150 cameras in Qiongding Guangchang (穹顶光场), which can directly generate digital human images supporting face-swapping and age-reduction, serving major films such as the Wandering Earth series; Ningbo Xiangshan Yingshicheng (宁波象山影视城) has introduced a digital asset sharing and calling mechanism to the pre-production stage, completing over 2,500 digital assets for sci-fi creation; Chengdu Yingshicheng (成都影视城)’s intelligent studio simultaneously launched virtual studios and motion capture studios; Deqing, Zhejiang’s Moganshan AI Yingshicheng (莫干山AI影视城) has completed the world’s largest single-body LED virtual studio and computing center. Huanrui Century’s TV series Lotus Tower once had character roles built with technological support from N Shijie (N世界) to create conversational AI digital humans, marking the first attempt at using such technology for series promotion.

Short Drama Production : A Wuhan creator Zhang Zhengqian (张正谦) independently completed the story conception, scene generation, and character modeling for an AI short drama at age 35 with only junior college education. The representative work garnered nearly 80 million views across the internet, with another work achieving 80 million views and monthly revenue exceeding 10,000 yuan. He predicts that series short dramas starring digital humans will become increasingly mature, with standardized character-consistent serialized content emerging as a trend. OST Chuanmei (OST传媒) co-founder Yuan Fang (袁方) collaborated with Juxing Chuanmei (剧星传媒) and other institutions to explore celebrity AI image licensing and AI digital human marketing empowerment. The representative work “Haidi Xiehuang Bao (海底蟹黄堡)” account attracted one million followers by centering on the core narrative of Sichuan-Chongqing girls traversing Korean campus settings, demonstrating the commercial potential of brand-customized AI short dramas and digital human IP. In discussions surrounding the emotional expressiveness of AI short dramas, “Breaking Through,” “ENEMY,” and the animated series “No. 8” are recognized as capable of creating “physiological-level” crying effects through standardized micro-expression generation (pupil constriction, eyelash trembling). However, they have also been noted as having shortcomings in long-term emotional engagement and sustained aesthetic appeal due to pure digital human performances lacking the spontaneous reactions and “human imperfections” of real actors.

Customer Service : Xiamen Youlun Gang Haiguan (厦门邮轮港海关) When the “AIDAlaMediterrannea” cruise ship operated voyages for aimless ocean cruise tours, it activated the customs digital human “Lu Xiaoguan” to provide intelligent consultation services, coordinating with “frictionless clearance” software and hardware optimization to enhance the clearance experience for large passenger flows. Guowang Kefu Zhongxin (国网客服中心) Wangshang Guowang (网上国网) At the 2026 Tengxun Quanqiu Shuzi Shengtai Dahui (腾讯全球数字生态大会), it showcased two applications: the “Dian Xiaoli” intelligent assistant and digital human live streaming. “Dian Xiaoli,” based on the Guangming large model, has been launched across 27 provincial companies nationwide, while digital human live streaming conducts regular policy interpretation and guidance on power application procedures for residents, industrial and commercial customers, new energy vehicle owners and other groups. Related capabilities have been standardized and packaged for provinces to build localized scenarios. Guangzhoushi Zhuanjing Texin Zhongxiaoqiye Peiyu Zhongxin (广州市专精特新中小企业培育中心) The “Sui Xiaoxin” digital human was utilized to complete enterprise profiling, policy delivery, and full-process guidance for applications. Tengxun Jiankang (腾讯健康) Leveraging WeChat official account AI avatars and medical consultation agent capabilities, since launching on Beijingxieheyiyuan (北京协和医院) it has cumulatively served 470,000 patient visits, with recommendation accuracy reaching 95% and problem resolution rate reaching 85%; Guangzhou Yikedaxue Fushu Funvertong Yiliao Zhongxin (广州医科大学附属妇女儿童医疗中心) combined WeChat official account AI avatars and medical consultation agents to complete lightweight integration in just two weeks.

Finance : Duxiaoman (度小满) CEO Zhu Guang (朱光) proposed at the 2026 Hong Kong FinTech Week that AI digital humans can provide continuous companionship to customers and confirm authentic intent through interaction, driving financial services from “one thousand faces for one thousand people” to “one thousand faces for one person,” and jointly released with Xianggangkejidaxue (香港科技大学) and Xianggang Shengchengshi Rengongzhineng Yanfa Zhongxin (香港生成式人工智能研发中心) a Xuanyuan 4.5 (轩辕4.5) financial enhanced large model based on RSI self-evolution technology, which has already been deployed in the Mexican market with AI-native credit services. The AI-driven fintech platform Yixin Group launched China’s first automotive finance AI intelligent all-in-one machine, under the guidance of AI intelligent digital humans throughout the process in an anthropomorphic manner, enabling users to independently complete pre-approval, information collection, card binding and repayment, contract signing and other steps, compressing the traditional process of approximately 90 minutes to 15 to 20 minutes, for which it received the “New Light” product award at the 2026 World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit “Internet Light” Expo, and plans to expand to scenarios including 4S shops, second-hand car markets, and county-level outlets. Dingjie Shuzhi (鼎捷数智) released the Athena Enterprise Intelligent Operating Space (EIOSpace), in which digital commanders support automatic task decomposition and dispatch for high-frequency scenarios in manufacturing, digital twins continuously improve long-term memory management and multi-round task execution capabilities, and have currently completed commercialization verification in mainland China and Taiwan region while launching an intelligent agent marketplace.

E-commerce and Livestreaming : JD.com During the 11.11 promotional campaign, leveraging JoyAI large models, JD.com digital humans JoyAvatar have transformed into merchants’ “never-offline” sales engines within the content livestreaming ecosystem, cumulatively serving over 100,000 merchants and driving total sales exceeding 1.3 billion yuan, with broadcast hours surpassing 9 million and contributing over 2.1 million orders during late-night periods when human hosts rest; working in conjunction with JD.com Bailing digital employees, JoyInside interactions have exceeded 30 million times, and JD.com digital humans have launched the “I AI, I Home Star Host” competition to recruit digital human hosts facilitating brand partnerships. TikTok Shop The Americas region has begun gray-scale rollout of AI livestreaming functionality to select merchants, divided into four modes: AI replies, AI unmanned livestreaming, livestream picture-in-picture, and AI digital human livestreaming, with AI digital human livestreaming delivering explanations through virtual avatars and unmanned livestreaming achieving round-the-clock passive conversion. Sixiang Wuxian (思享无限) Subsidiaries including Xiuse Zhibo (秀色直播), LeHi Livestream, and HiShow Livestream showcased AI Vista, Vista Live for Enterprise and other AI interactive products at the 31st Yangtze River Delta Performance Resource Matching Conference, exploring new forms such as digital humans to expand ways of cultural content interaction with users, and extending AI capabilities to content production, distribution, and operations in the performance and cultural tourism industries.

Cultural and Education : Hosted by Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Provincial Big Data Bureau, and the Provincial Youth Federation, “Qi Wind Lu Rhyme·AI Renewal” 2026 Shandong Wenlv AIGC Shipin Chuangzuo Dasai (2026山东文旅AIGC视频创作大赛) established the “Sage New Voices·AI Renewal of History” track, encouraging creators to use digital humans and text-to-video technology to interpret stories of ancient sages and recreate historical scenes of Qi and Lu. In the thematic publicity campaign commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers and Peasants’ Red Army’s Long March, among seven original works undertaken by Zhejiang Television, the AI interactive publicity “A Wonderful Night at the Party History Museum” takes the Zunyi Conference as its background, allowing young speakers and AI digital humans to engage in dialogue on stage to guide audiences back to the historical turning point, with the entire event comprehensively employing digital humans, AI scenarios, and cross-cultural dialogue in diverse forms. Shenzhen Longgang Guoji Yishu Zhongxin (深圳龙岗国际艺术中心) D + Shuzi Yishuguan (D+数字艺术馆) integrates with the HarmonyOS full-stack system, with AI digital humans simulating ticket staff to provide services in ticket halls, coordinated with travel reminders, AR real-scene navigation, tap-to-verify ticketing, and more than 20 HarmonyOS scenarios, promoting the shift of services from “people finding services” to “services finding people.” iFLYTEK displaying “Xun Fei Tongchuang AI Heiban (讯飞同窗AI黑板)” at the 88th China Education Equipment Exhibition relies on the Spark Education large model, providing classroom teaching support through panoramic virtual human capabilities. Mianyang Keji Cheng Zhanlve Fazhan Yanjiu Zhongxin (绵阳科技城战略发展研究中心) jointly with China Industry News and China (Mianyang) Science and Technology City Enterprise Home has built “Keji Cheng Shijie (科技城视界)” a full-scenario virtual live-streaming promotion platform, configured with AI digital human functions, driving technology achievement releases into a new stage of immersive and intelligent experience.

Ethical Contexts : Following the exposure of Hengdian’s AI platform tender, “Hengdian and ByteDance collaborate to feed 150,000 extras to AI” trended, with netizens questioning how Hengdian obtained portrait rights for large-scale extras, how authorization scope and fees are defined. Although the tender document emphasized that the extras dataset comprised legally compliant results, controversy has not subsided. AI digital human technology has also been exploited for black-and-gray market activities: Douyin recently cracked down on a batch of marketing accounts, with some accounts deliberately mimicking images of public figures or their relatives using AI digital humans and AI voice synthesis technology, fabricating false personas and concocting false stories about health and wellness recovery and life experiences to gain user trust. Actor Wu Yue (吴越) once publicly posted, angrily denouncing a self-media account for using AI technology to forge their image for livestream sales, reflecting the real risks of AI virtual persons impersonating public figures for product promotion; when Fang Taozi endorsed the contact lens brand “Jianguo Force,” describing firsthand experience of “comfortable to wear all day,” because as an AI digital human it lacks genuine physiological perception and does not possess the legal subject status of traditional advertising endorsers, it sparked discussion over the compliance of AI virtual person endorsements. Previously, national-style AI idol Ling promoted lipstick with phrases like “moisturizing and not dry” and also faced similar scrutiny.