A look at China's growing, Beijing-endorsed “virtual people” industry, including scandal-free influencers, performers, and customer service representatives
and perhaps shouldn't be. Instead, pseudonymous names and virtual faces... Evelyn Cheng / @chengevelyn : Lots of money is going toward the development of virtual people in China https://www.cnbc.com/...
The great thing about hiring a synthetic media “person” as your company spokesperson, rather than a human, is that they don't get involved in scandals. https://www.cnbc.com/...
Baidu said the number of virtual people projects it's worked on for clients has doubled since 2021, with a price range from $2,800 to a whopping $14,300 per year. @chengevelyn @CNBCi https://www.cnbc.com/...
Any human who becomes famous enough will eventually become the target of personal attacks. But a virtual influencer like Lil Miquela has a much reduced attack surface, particularly if their screenwriter is pseudonymous. More hit points than any human. https://www.virtualhumans.or…
As AI improves, we may see widespread replacement of human influencers with virtual ones. It'll make more clear that public figures are like actors playing roles. The full human isn't reflected online — and perhaps shouldn't be. Instead, pseudonymous names and virtual faces...