7 November 2026 News

Entertainment & Short Drama : At the Shanghai Beauty Pavilion of the China Import Expo Mei Chuangjingjie (美创静界), the AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) “Anya” jointly created by Jing’an District and “Shiting Jingjie (视听静界)” actually falls under the Cultural section and should be moved there.

E-commerce & Marketing : During this year’s “Double 11” shopping festival, AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) digital clones became the new stars of e-commerce live streaming. Tmall launched a project codenamed “AI - dol (AI-dol)” featuring the “industry’s first AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) relay live broadcast,” led by Ning Zetao (宁泽涛), with digital clones of influencers including 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) relaying broadcasts, generating combined topic views exceeding 7 billion and breaking a million viewers in live streaming rooms; Ning Zetao believes their AI clone has a 95% similarity to themselves, but emphasizes “it will be more multifaceted, I am just me.” JD.com’s Shuzi Ren (数字人) JoyAvatar has cumulatively served over 100,000 merchants, with over 9 million hours of broadcasts during the first half of “Double 11,” generating sales exceeding 1.3 billion yuan, with late-night time slots becoming an important growth driver for Shuzi Ren (数字人)’s GMV contribution. Meanwhile, “AI face theft” chaos erupted simultaneously: actor Wu Yue (吴越) faced rights protection issues after their voice and image were cloned by AI for product promotion, with videos also misappropriating the “Deng Yaping (邓亚萍)” image, which Deng Yaping’s team stated was never authorized; the images or voices of Wen Zhengrong (温峥嵘), Quan Hongchan (全红婵), Sun Yingsha (孙颖莎), Wang Chuqin (王楚钦), Zhang Wenhong (张文宏), and Liu Huan (刘欢) were all misappropriated for product promotion or false marketing. DataEye Yanjiuyuan (DataEye研究院) official Liu Zun (刘尊) pointed out that upstream image scraping, midstream facial feature extraction for model training, and downstream acquisition and resale by intermediaries have formed a gray industrial chain; Guangdong Xingchen Lvshi Shiwusuo (广东星琛律师事务所) director Shi Qi (石奇) emphasized that “labeling solves awareness, not authorization,” and using AI images without authorization cannot escape liability even with AI-generated annotations. Contrasting with face theft is the active authorization model: actor Qi Wei (戚薇) launched an AI animated series “Summer of the Apocalypse,” creating a digital character “Han Qingxia” that replicates their own facial features, stating “rather than having others take my face, I prefer to take the initiative.” iiMedia Research data shows that China’s virtual Shuzi Ren (数字人) core market size will reach 48.06 billion yuan in 2025, with expectations to reach 93.56 billion yuan by 2030. Auto finance company Yixin Group displayed its AI intelligent all-in-one machine at the 2026 World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit, with an AI intelligent Shuzi Ren (数字人) providing humanized guidance throughout the entire user journey including pre-approval, information collection, card binding, payment, and contract signing, compressing the traditional 90-minute offline process into 15 to 20 minutes; its chief technology officer Jia Zhifeng (贾志峰) introduced that the system operates based on a “human-centered long-horizon agent” paradigm and an open-source Harness governance framework. At the Hong Kong IAB HK C26 conference, AnyMind Group showcased its AI-driven live streaming e-commerce platform AnyLive, where brands can deploy multilingual Shuzi Ren (数字人) anchors supporting Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and multiple Southeast Asian languages, enabling coordinated operations between human anchors and AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) anchors, with human anchors taking the lead during peak hours and AI seamlessly taking over consultation and conversion during off-peak hours.

Entertainment & Short Drama : AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) and virtual characters are deeply embedded in China’s short-drama industry chain. Taobao Duanju (淘宝短剧) jointly with Tianmao Xiao Heihe (天猫小黑盒), Tianmao Guoji (天猫国际) launched Daisen (戴森), Zishengtang (资生堂), AMD, Quechao (雀巢), Baiqueling (百雀羚), Ziran Tang (自然堂), Lanyueliang (蓝月亮), Quanyou Jiaju (全友家居) and other brand-customized AI short dramas during the “Double 11” period; Baiqueling (百雀羚)’s custom drama “Lingyu Otherworld Records” garnered over 35 million views within 30 days of launch, driving new product first sales surpassing 10 million; Chuanwajiang (川娃酱)’s “Snow Mountain Rescue Fox” reached 5 billion in network transmission volume; in “The Grand Ming Craftsman Partnership” created jointly by Hongqi Tiangong (红旗天工) and Hujing Wenyu (虎鲸文娱), two Shuzi Ren (数字人) characters “Mingchuan” and “Songxingyao” continued to be used for subsequent marketing after the series concluded, becoming reusable brand assets; beauty brand Laose (烙色)’s “Disguised AI” and Ulike’s “Mr. Fu, Your Wife Also Has a Vest” both ranked at the top of short-drama charts; Hailan Zhimi (海蓝之谜) had the character Qi You serve as brand promotion ambassador in the AI drama “Surprise! Me and My Rival Have a Child Season 2” and extended the character setting to a live-streaming room. Director Tang Jili (唐季礼) used AI technology to restore 27-year-old Cheng Long (成龙) to star in the short film “Legend,” with Shuzi Ren (数字人) accounting for over 70% of the performance, and led the construction of a film and television platform in Shenzhen and opened an AIGC training class; the “Feng Shui Heavenly Master” Season 2 he directed had its core plot assisted by AI design. Shenzhenshi Laonian Xiehui (深圳市老年协会) jointly created with Laishang Wenhua Keji (来赏文化科技) the silver-haired themed AI live-action hybrid short drama “Old Pals,” in which elderly people with no performance experience “starred” through digital avatars, with the project initiated by Shenzhenshi Laonian Xiehui (深圳市老年协会) executive director Feng Hongbo (冯鸿波). Feiying (飞影) Shuzi Ren (数字人) video platform entered Doubao workstation, allowing users to upload 5-second videos and short audio to clone exclusive digital avatars, preserving original voice and speech habits, realizing “dialogue-based short video narration creation.” Platforms including Tengxun Shipin (腾讯视频)“Huolong Manju (火龙漫剧)”, Youku, Hongguo Duanju (红果短剧), Hema Juchang (河马剧场) continuously launched historical and cultural short dramas produced with AI hyper-realistic technology, such as “Jade Encounter with Liang Chenyu 2: The Origin of Kunqu Opera”; the boutique short drama “Building Peace” incorporated innovative AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) restoration of historical figure Ma Yin’s character. Panyu District jointly with Panyu Rongmei (番禺融媒) launched the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area’s first district-level “all-AI lineup” gala, hosted throughout by AI digital host “Ayu.” In the Xiongan Xinqu (雄安新区) “Talented Persons Cup” artificial intelligence OPC special competition, projects such as “Juyou Cai (剧有才)—AI Content Industrialization Production Platform” and “Zhixing (智形)—AI-Assisted Founder IP Lightweight Smart Manufacturing Service Provider” applied AIGC content generation and Shuzi Ren (数字人) technology, creating new paradigms for short-drama industrialized production and founder IP lightweight operations.

Media & Broadcasting : Xinhuashe (新华社) and You Bixuan (优必选) jointly released “Xinyan” and “Xinyu,” the world’s first bionic humanoid robot news anchors, at the seventh World Media Summit. Under the image creative direction of filmmaker Zhang Yimou (张艺谋), the anchors are built on an authoritative and verifiable content foundation leveraging Xinhuashe (新华社)’s AI political information intelligent agent “Xin Huayu Dian (新华语典),” combined with You Bixuan (优必选)’s emotional large language model and bionic expression driving system, achieving highly synchronized news reporting and interactive Q&A with coordinated lip-sync, facial expressions, and voice. Xinhuashe (新华社)’s new media center director Qian Tong (钱彤) described it as “a new role in the newsroom.” You Bixuan (优必选)’s founder Zhou Jian (周剑) introduced the technical architecture as a “brain-expression-control” trinity, with the anchor having planned five major application scenarios: cultural heritage interpretation, research education, overseas cultural exchange, municipal governance showcase, and deep space exploration reporting. Beijing Radio and Television Station’s information network management center director Rui Hao (芮浩) introduced that the station has built a matrix of dozens of digital hosts including “Time Xiaoni,” with the broadcast-grade photorealistic Shuzi Ren (数字人) “Time Xiaoni” trained on the image and voice of host Chun Ni (春妮), accompanied by cartoon IPs such as “Cool Tiger,” “Rui Qi,” and “Bo Bo Dragon.” The station’s AIGC work “The Long March: River Chronicles” is a Long March-themed short film created through full-process AIGC production, “Swift” is a Beijing International Film Festival promotional film, and “The People’s Leader—130 Moments of Mao Zedong” adopts AI woodcut animation style, all adhering to the creative principle that “AI is a visual restoration tool, not a narrative subject.” Honghe Keji (鸿合科技)’s chairman Yao Ruibo (姚瑞波) and Yangguang Chuanmei Jituan (央广传媒集团)’s general manager Zhang Jun (张军) reached cooperative consensus on “digital avatar” technology, with both sides planning to jointly develop computing power screens and digital avatar technology, promoting home large screens toward interactive AI multimedia terminals, and deepening cooperation around interactive streaming, digital avatar news, and cloud-based health and wellness consultation scenarios.

Healthcare : Tsinghua University The team’s Zijing AI Yiyuan (紫荆AI医院) has been reported by the international academic journal Nature as a core case of China’s AI agent application in healthcare. The AI doctor avatar was trained in a simulated AI patient environment and then deployed to physical medical institutions, where it works collaboratively with human doctors. Currently, a matrix of 54 AI doctor agents covering 27 clinical departments has been built, with testing underway at 9 hospitals across Beijing, Jiangsu, Guangxi and other regions. Zijing Zhikang (紫荆智康) Chief Product Officer Qiao Yuchen (乔宇宸) stated that the system can transfer senior expert experience to empower grassroots doctors. Ant Group launched the AI health application “Afu (阿福),” which aggregates “AI avatars” of more than 2,000 doctors nationwide led by 8 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, including Liao Wanqing (廖万清), Dong Jiahong (董家鸿), Wang Jun (王俊), Chen Zijiang (陈子江), Wang Jianan (王建安), Wang Ningli (王宁利), and Fan Jia (樊嘉), covering approximately 28 specialties and providing only health science education consultations. Hangzhoushi Diqi Renmin Yiyuan (杭州市第七人民医院) Vice President Mao Hongjing (毛洪京)’s AI avatar served 3.68 million users in a year, far exceeding the maximum 10,000 patients he personally sees annually. Qinghaidaxue Fushu Yiyuan (青海大学附属医院) Dean Fan Haining (樊海宁) stated that the AI avatar enables herders to seek consultations without long journeys. Shanghaishi Dongfang Yiyuan (上海市东方医院) Obstetrics and Gynecology Director Duan Tao (段涛)’s AI avatar has been consulted by 160,000 people, of which 24% were male users. Beijingxieheyiyuan (北京协和医院) Obstetrics and Gynecology Director Ma Liangkun (马良坤) believes the AI avatar is expected to fill service gaps in the transition from “treating existing diseases” to “preventing future diseases.” At the ninth China International Import Expo, Huada Jituan (华大集团) showcased “i Zhicang (i智舱),” which leverages virtual human voice interaction engines and multimodal imperceptible imaging acquisition technology, allowing users to interact immersively with health intelligence agent BOBO and independently complete assessments across five dimensions—skin quality, vision, hearing, cognition, and constitution. The technology foundation is Genos, the world’s first 100-billion-parameter human genome universal foundation model developed by BGI Genomics. Consumer finance platform Anyi Hua (安逸花) introduced AI sign language Shuzi Ren (数字人) customer service “Xiaoma” in its app, enabling hearing-impaired users to input sign language through their camera, which is instantly converted to text for interaction, allowing them to independently complete loan applications, bill inquiries, and contract confirmations.

Enterprise & Industrial : Zhongguo Shiyou (中国石油) Kunlun Da Moxing (昆仑大模型) has created round-the-clock online “digital mentors” for 172 experts within the system, allowing new employees to consult these digital counterparts for experience at any time. Currently, the large language model has formed 152 application scenarios covering exploration and development, production operations, engineering technology and other links. Zhongguo Shiyou (中国石油) A director of model R&D capability at the Digital Intelligence Research Institute Innovation Center Liu Huazhong (刘华中) introduced its adherence to a “pilot-first” strategy. Shenzhen Shiyou Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. has built an AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) large-screen middleware for water utilities, leveraging a self-developed Shuzi Ren (数字人) engine with 180-plus facial control points and Bota AI Shuzi Ren (波塔AI数字人) intelligent agents to provide control room large screens with intelligent explanation, tour reception and real-time Q&A capabilities through lightweight embedded methods. The company plans to upgrade from “explainer” to an “AI dispatcher” capable of retrieving production data. The company has previously deployed similar solutions in Guojiadianwang (国家电网), Beide Jituan (贝德集团) Jiangyin factory, Haikai Jituan (海开集团) Zhongguancun Dongsheng Technology Park, Zhongtie Shiyi Ju (中铁十一局) Qiangui Second Line and other scenarios. Wanlianyi Da (万联易达)’s Yidabao (易达宝) logistics platform showcased “logistics digital twin intelligent agent” on World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit, offering forward-looking functions including intelligent price comparison, return freight source scanning, and fleet operation diagnostics to cargo owners, individual drivers and logistics companies. China Mobile’s Zhongyi Wulian (中移物联)-developed “AI grid worker” intelligent agent equips community workers with 24/7 online AI digital counterparts and has been deployed across over 500 communities in Liaoning, Guizhou, Guangxi and other regions, with an average of 370 grassroots matters automatically handled monthly.

Education : At the Artificial Intelligence Modern Industry College jointly established by Huawei and Shandong Waiguoyu Zhiye Jishu Daxue (山东外国语职业技术大学) (Shanwai), the school deployed three categories of intelligent agents—AI teaching assistant, AI learning assistant, and AI training assistant—on top of its self-developed “Shanwai Large Model.” By design, in future teaching segments including lesson preparation, Q&A, practical training, and evaluation, intelligent agents will undertake 80% of the “triple teaching” integration functions, with “AI teachers providing daily tutoring through digital avatars,” while the remaining 20% of emotional support and values guidance remain with educators. The school’s students previously won a gold medal at the World Skills Competition for Vocational Colleges with a hearing-impaired communication project that can translate gestures in real time into Shuzi Ren (数字人) gesture demonstrations. At the Zhejiang Jiaxing Nanhu Qu (南湖区) exhibition area, iFLYTEK’s AI blackboard supports virtual human interaction and multimodal recording analysis. In English classes, virtual humans can conduct oral dialogue training with students and correct grammar. Research shows the virtual human question-answering rate reaches 85% and student classroom engagement reaches 72%. The product has been normalized in application across over 300 cities nationwide. China Mobile displayed Lingxi Jiating Zhineng Ti (灵犀家庭智能体) at the 2026 Mobile World Congress, which aggregates over 50 premium applications jointly developed by China Mobile and iFLYTEK. Children can dialogue with AI “Einstein” and virtual cat “Hakimi” and other characters, while seniors can interact with “elderly health care” virtual humans to discuss their situations, and supports users generating personalized customized Shuzi Ren (数字人) using photos and voice. It currently covers all 31 provinces nationwide and serves over 100 million families.

AI Companionship & Social : Natural Selection (Shenzhen) Intelligent Co., Ltd. (Nature Select), established in 2024, recently completed an A+ round financing exceeding 100 million US dollars, led by investors including Five Sources Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Sourcecode Motion, Matrix Partners China, and Huaye Tiancheng Investment, with Kingnet Network and Alibaba (阿里巴巴), Ant Group having invested previously; founder Zhang Xiaofan (张筱帆) previously founded game company Ultimate Fantasy. The company’s 3D AI companion product EVE provides chat, audio-video interaction, and long-term memory features, and attempts to extend companionship to reality through AI services such as ordering milk tea and sending flowers on behalf of users; another product Elys is positioned as an AI-native social network that creates an AI avatar for each user capable of autonomously browsing information, finding like-minded individuals, and providing connection recommendations, which previously pushed daily active users to 100,000 around Chinese New Year 2026 through the mechanic of “avatars meeting people for you.” Competing products including Xingye (星野) and Maoxiang (猫箱) exist simultaneously in China’s AI companion track, with its parent company MINIMAX - W (MINIMAX-W) experiencing significant recent valuation adjustments; the Administrative Interim Measures on Anthropomorphic Interactive AI Services took effect on July 15, clarifying that continuous emotional interaction AI services must not induce emotional dependence or damage users’ authentic interpersonal relationships. Although DeepSeek has not released an official anthropomorphic image, netizens spontaneously created two major personas: the virtual image “D Teacher” hand-drawn by artist Zi Wu (子午) and “Whale Girl” from the technology community, with disputes over hand-drawing versus AI creation pathways and gender topics continuously escalating until Zi Wu ultimately deleted artwork and withdrew, calling for cessation of the dispute. At the iRTE2026 Real-time Intelligence Conference’s social and entertainment session, Soul’s AI technology head Yao Guang (摇光) introduced that the platform is constructing a self-developed system encompassing voice synthesis, full-duplex interaction, real-time Shuzi Ren (数字人) driving, and companion large models, aiming to enable AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) to possess long-term memory and personality consistency; Miaokan Keji (秒瞰科技) CEO Zhang Yin (章寅) demonstrated real-time bidirectional interactive Shuzi Ren (数字人) technology that enables virtual avatars to perceive user speech, facial expressions, and head movements and generate natural responses in real-time, with the company’s AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) IP having completed 48-hour non-stop live streaming attracting over 310,000 views; Shengshu Technology’s video model Vidu’s real-time interaction and editing capabilities support AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) responding to user commands to change costumes and scenes in real-time and interact with live streaming rooms.

Regulatory & Ethical Contexts : Cyberspace Administration of China Recently issued a notice deploying a two-month nationwide “Clean Up: Special Campaign Against Scientific Popularization and Health-Related Online Rumors” campaign, explicitly requiring platforms to enhance detection capabilities for AI face-swapping, voice-swapping, and virtual character imagery, as well as their deep synthesis authentication abilities, and to achieve automated identification of content impersonating professionals in specialized fields. Hubeisheng Xiaofeizhe Weiyuanhui (湖北省消费者委员会) and Hubeisheng Dianzishangwu Hangyexiehui (湖北省电子商务行业协会) jointly released “Double Eleven” online shopping consumer tips, reminding consumers to be vigilant against AI virtual personas and AI face-swapping impersonations of experts and celebrities in livestreams, and to pay attention to whether livestream rooms display prominent AI-generated content labels. Zhejiangsheng Xiaobaowei (浙江省消保委) jointly with Quanguo Dianzishangwu Zhiliang Guanli Biaozhunhua Jishu Weiyuanhui (全国电子商务质量管理标准化技术委员会) launched the compilation of two national standards: “Guidelines for Electronic Commerce Product Quality Monitoring Based on Artificial Intelligence Technology” and “Guidelines for Ethical Review of Electronic Commerce Artificial Intelligence Generative Artificial Intelligence,” and released an initiative co-signed by institutions including Pin Duoduo (拼多多), Taotian Group, and Wuyou Chuanmei (无忧传媒), pledging to continuously and prominently label AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) hosts and virtual scenarios, strictly prohibiting AI face-swapping impersonations of celebrities for product promotion, and retaining genuine human service access in scenarios involving significant consumer interests. Several AI virtual companion apps were previously exposed to contain serious irregularities, with some platforms’ character libraries filled with vulgar and provocative as well as violent storylines, and secondhand trading platforms even having merchants customizing sexually explicit virtual personas for users at prices as low as a dozen yuan, with related issues further regulated following the implementation of the “Interim Measures for the Management of Anthropomorphic Interactive Services for Artificial Intelligence.”

Cultural & Tourism : Taiwan media reported that the public paid respects to a Mazu AI avatar through a pink eight-person formation dance ritual, calling it “responsive to all requests.” Tianshui Museum landed the VR digital cinema project “One Stroke Opens Heaven: Progenitor Fuxi,” launching 18 episodes of AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) explanation videos to help Fuxi Temple achieve consecutive year-over-year visitor volumes exceeding one million for three consecutive years; Maijishan Da Jingqu (麦积山大景区) simultaneously launched AI intelligent explanation services. At the Ninth China International Import Expo, Jing’an District’s “Mei Chuangjingjie (美创静界)” exhibition hall launched AI Shuzi Ren (数字人) “Anya” as a digital curator, jointly created by “Mei Chuangjingjie (美创静界)” and “Shiting Jingjie (视听静界),” helping connect global beauty resources across time zones. In the Yangtze River Delta China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair Aomen Chuangyi Guan (澳门创意馆) (Shanghai Station) exhibition area, Feng Dianzi 2LIVE STUDIO (蜂电子2LIVE STUDIO) brought popular virtual anchors Bailu Zai, Xuetao MOMO, and Chef Bai from Macau’s first virtual live streaming studio to the event, showcasing its proprietary CVILIS mobile virtual human system, with Bailu Zai having previously collaborated with Macau World Cultural Heritage Dasanba Nazhamiao (大三巴哪咤庙) and taken the stage at the “Second Life Plan Concert 2026.” At the Eighth World Zhejiang Entrepreneur Conference Zhejiang Business Culture Forum jointly hosted by Zhejiang Gongshangdaxue (浙江工商大学) and the Zhejiang Province Zhejiang Merchants Research Center, typical cases of “culture+AI” application innovations were released, including Wanshili (万事利) AI digital culture museum, NetEase full-chain intelligent three-dimensional Shuzi Ren (数字人) production platform, Ant Group “Shuzi Mulan (数字木兰)” women’s support program, and Zhejiang Zhongnan Animation ZolandAI one-stop comic and drama creation platform, with Every Interactive’s Chairman Fang Yi (方毅) presenting AI technology implementation results on-site through Shuzi Ren (数字人) demonstration.

Capital Markets : Multiple companies in the A-share market have garnered capital attention due to virtual Shuzi Ren (数字人) concepts: Beijing Stock Exchange-listed “Shuzi Ren (数字人)” (920670) is primarily engaged in software in the digital medicine field, with Shuzi Ren (数字人) body visualization technology as its core, conducting Shuzi Ren (数字人) body technology research and development and application promotion; iFLYTEK has long been layout in virtual human interaction platforms, featuring multi-modal perception and multi-dimensional expression technology with emotional continuity; Alibaba ( Zhongguo ) (阿里巴巴(中国)有限公司) recently obtained patent authorization for “method and apparatus for generating three-dimensional virtual human faces and electronic devices”; Puyuan Cailiao (璞源材料)’s inaugural children’s clothing brand “broadcute” launched virtual character “BO Lingyi” (BO); China Television Media’s controlling subsidiary Zhongshi Beifang previously used three-dimensional animation technology to produce CCTV virtual character “Xiaoba”; Jing Beifang (京北方), Cloudwalk Technology, PCI Technology Group, Shengtian Network, Fengshang Culture Group Co., Ltd., Simei Chuanmei (思美传媒) and other companies’ stocks have all been labeled with “virtual Shuzi Ren (数字人)” concepts. Henansheng Renminzhengfu Bangongting (河南省人民政府办公厅) issued the “Certain Policy Measures for Henan Province to Further Stimulate Consumption,” explicitly clarifying active exploration of the deep application of virtual reality, embodied intelligence and other technologies in tourism and culture, retail, education, medical and other fields, and encouraging the development of Shuzi Ren (数字人) livestreaming, virtual experience and other immersive consumption scenarios.

Technology & Platforms : At the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) (WAIC), Baidu showcased Shuzi Ren (数字人) agents Baidu, integrating Shuzi Ren (数字人) live streaming, video and real-time interaction, with two Shuzi Ren (数字人) engaging in natural conversation on-site around the topic of “post-90s generation taking over China’s AI”; Baidu founder Li Yanhong (李彦宏) previously proposed that “Shuzi Ren (数字人) is a brand new universal interaction interface in the AI era”, and previewed sharing the industrial value of AI applications including agents and Shuzi Ren (数字人) in the Baidu World 2026 speech. After the release of China’s open-source video model MiniMax H3, it has been adopted by multiple overseas companies: Silicon Valley star video company Pika developed a new model based on it, Shuzi Ren (数字人) platform HeyGen Video 1 conducted post-training and productization using H3 as the underlying foundation, and Ying Weida (英伟达) and MiniMax established separate licensing relationships regarding related research. At the ninth China International Import Expo, reporters used Xiaolong (骁龙) chip-side recognition and edge-cloud collaborative generation technology to generate exclusive 3D digital avatars with a single photo and experience an AI cyber town. The 2026 World Internet Conference – Wuzhen Summit Wuzhen Summit set up a 6G technology demonstration session for the first time, with related introductions pointing out that after 6G deployment in the future, scenarios such as digital avatar virtual interaction will become everyday occurrences.

Industry Reflection : In October 2026, Alibaba Cloud announced on its official website that its virtual Shuzi Ren (数字人) product had formally initiated delisting procedures, with complete service discontinuation scheduled for November 2027. Tracing back five years, after virtual makeup influencer Liu Yexi went viral on Douyin, her team’s retrospective analysis attributed fifty percent of the growth to metaverse concept hype, with merely twenty percent derived from the creative narrative of the content itself, thereby foreshadowing the industry’s fate early on. The industry experienced three deaths: The first occurred as hyper-realistic technology spectacle depreciated with the popularization of AIGC, with brand virtual endorsers such as AYAYI and Jiaolan (娇兰) collaborations gradually replaced by generative tools with marginal costs trending toward zero; The second transpired as capital ceased believing in the narrative that “virtual humans are the gateway to the metaverse,” with major technology companies successively withdrawing from or shutting down related business lines; The third took place as unattended Shuzi Ren (数字人) livestreaming was exploited speculatively in widespread abuse that eroded industry credibility, ultimately terminated by regulatory and platform rule tightening. In the era of large language models, virtual Shuzi Ren (数字人) technology has reentered procurement lists in the form of AI anchors, digital employees, and corporate digital avatars, but no longer promises to “never collapse,” instead existing quietly as a tool in its genuinely fitting position.