Chinese AI humans have proven that they are better influencers

Beijing – Artificial intelligence-generated avatars can now be sold more than real people, according to collaborations between Chinese high-tech companies Baidu And a popular live streamer.

Luo Yonghao, one of China's fastest and most popular live streamers, and his co-host Xiao MU, both used the digital version to interact with viewers in real time on Baidu's e-commerce live streaming platform Youxuan on Sundays. The session was raked for 55 million yuan ($7.65 million).

In comparison, last month's attempt at Luo's first livestream on Youxuan lasted more than four hours, with fewer orders for appliances, food and other major products, Baidu said.

Luo said it was the first time he has sold his product through LiveStreaming using Virtual Human Technology.

“The effects of digital humans scared me… I'm a bit silly,” he told 1.7 million followers on social media platform Weibo, according to a CNBC translation.

Luo began live streaming in April 2020 on Bytedance's short video app Douyin. His “Be Friends” Douyin Livestream account has nearly 24.7 million followers.

Luo and his co-host avatar were constructed using Baidu's generative AI model. This is what I learned from five years' worth of videos by imitating Jokes and Styles, Wu Jialu, the research director of Luo's other companies. Become a friend you havetold CNBC on Wednesday.

“This is a deep moment for China's live streaming and digital human industry as a whole,” Wu said in the Mandarin translated by CNBC. Deepseek, a Chinese version of Openai, rattled Global Investors in January, using an open source approach with claims that ChatGpt was much lower.

AI avatars can significantly reduce costs as companies do not have to hire large production teams or studios for livestreams. Digital avatars can also stream non-stop with no need for breaks.

“We were always skeptical of digital people live streaming,” Wu said.

But he said he offers the best digital human products available today, compared to the early days of live streaming e-commerce five or six years ago.

Livestream shopping took off in China after the pandemic forced businesses to find alternative sales channels. More people are turning to live streaming to make money from committees and virtual gifts amid slow economic growth.

LiveStreaming generated so much sales on Douyin last year, the app surpassed traditional e-commerce companies jd.com Became China's second largest e-commerce platform, eating market share of lead players AlibabaAccording to a report from WorldPanel and Bain & Company last week. JD.com and Alibaba's Taobao also offer live streaming sales portals.

Meanwhile, other Chinese companies, including Tech Giant Tencent, have developed tools to create digital people that can be used as news anchors. In late 2023, several companies began experimenting with virtual human live streamers on singles day shopping holidays.

However, analysts warn that products sold via livestreams tend to have a higher rate of return, as they are often impulsive purchases.

The biggest challenge of using virtual humans for livestreaming is no longer technology, but compliance and platform requirements, Wu said. While digital humans need to be trained to comply with product advertising regulations, he said major live streaming platforms may have different rules about allowing virtual people to host sessions.

For example, Douyin is rolling out restrictions on the use of technology, especially when virtual people don't interact with their audience.

Luo's next virtual human appearance has not been set yet, but Wu said he expects it will be possible soon. He said in the future that digital humans can easily live stream in multiple languages ​​and contact non-China users.