AI with a human touch

Crossing a boundary

Apart from creating virtual celebrities, AI technology has continued to generate new uses and applications in different areas, including providing emotional support.

For example, Caryn Marjorie, a Snapchat influencer with 1.8 million followers, launched an AI clone of herself — an AI-powered, voice-based chatbot. It is described on its website as a "virtual girlfriend", which Marjorie hopes will "cure loneliness". The Washington Post also reported in April that many Americans have turned to chatbots for "emotional support and companionship".

Back in 2021, Baidu created a digital replica of Chinese actor Gong Jun, whose digital duties are not limited to singing and dancing. Instead, powered by advanced AI technology, the virtual Gong Jun can appear in advertisements and participate in livestreaming events, just like the real celebrity does.

"Currently, we can create a digital human within minutes after you upload a photo to our platform. With our advanced algorithms and AI models, a digital human can mimic human behaviors and have natural conversations with users," Liu explained.

However, as this trend grows with the technology's accessibility, an ethical issue emerges — digital eternity.

When Wu Wuliu, a Gen Z visual designer based in Shanghai, recently used AI technology to "resurrect" his late grandmother and have conversations with "her", he stirred significant controversy online. Wu came up with the idea to "bring her back" by mimicking his late grandmother's appearance, voice, personality and memories through AI applications.

Wu posted a video on Bilibili, a Chinese video-sharing platform, and quickly gained over 670,000 views, receiving thousands of likes from netizens. However, the comments section was filled with heated debate. Some said that they were deeply moved by the video, as it reminded them of their own deceased loved ones, while others argued that technology like this should be banned, as it may lead to an "existential crisis".

"How to improve digital human-related regulations has now become one of the key concerns for policymakers, as the so-called 'AI clone' involves matters of privacy, copyright and even scientific ethics," Shen said.

But what we can be sure about is that AI technologies will keep on developing.

The total size of China's virtual human market is expected to reach 270 billion yuan ($37.67 billion) by 2030, according to an industry report released by Qbit-AI, an industry service platform focusing on AI and cutting-edge technology.

During a seminar for industry professionals on AIGC in June, Baidu insiders said that they believe the fast-growing AIGC will upgrade modern modes of production, lowering the threshold of professional-generated content (PGC) and user-generated content (UGC). In essence, the changes AIGC has brought are not only lower costs and higher efficiency, but also more innovation.

Take virtual idols as an example. "AI-powered virtual idols can make good use of AIGC to increase efficiency and create more novel content, which could fulfill many people's emotional needs, including companionship and motivation," said Liu.

"In short, we humans ought to guide digital humans through healthy and diversified development," concluded Shen.