What is an AI digital human? Why did it suddenly become popular?
AI digital human (virtual human) is a virtual image constructed through computer graphics, speech synthesis, large-model dialogue and other technologies. It can speak, express and interact like a real person. Since 2023, as large models have given digital people “real conversational capabilities,” digital people have evolved from early “recording and broadcasting vases” to productivity tools that can undertake actual business.
For enterprises, the core value of digital people lies in 24/7 non-stop operation, unified image, and zero marginal cost. A digital employee can appear in the live broadcast room, large screen in the exhibition hall, customer service window, and training class at the same time, and the labor cost is almost zero.
Three technical routes for digital people
| Route | Technical features | Cost range | Applicable scenarios |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2D real-life reproduction | Live-action shooting and modeling, lip driver | Thousands to 30,000 yuan | Short video and live streaming |
| 3D virtual image | Cartoon/Hyperrealistic 3D Modeling | 30,000-200,000 yuan | Brand endorsement, exhibition hall tour |
| Photo Driver | Generate talking video from a single photo | Hundred to thousand yuan level | Lightweight marketing materials |
2D real-life reproduction is the mainstream of current enterprise-level applications: the image is realistic, the cost is controllable, and the production cycle is short (usually delivered within a week). Open source solutions such as SadTalker can achieve photo-level driving, while commercial solutions have more complete lip shape accuracy and expression control.
Five enterprise-level application scenarios of digital people
1. Live streaming and short video matrix
Digital human anchors can carousel and deliver goods 24/7, along with real-time barrage responses; short video batch generation capabilities increase the efficiency of the content team by more than 10 times. A beauty brand used a digital human matrix account to increase its monthly video production from 30 to 800.
2. Intelligent customer service and business processing
Digital human + large model knowledge base provides visual consulting services on the official website, APP, and large screens in business halls. Compared with plain text customer service, the length of stay of users using digital customer service is increased by an average of three times. Can be deployed in combination with our AI voice interaction solution.
3. Corporate training and product explanation
Product manuals, rules and regulations are converted into digital human explanation videos, and new employee training is standardized; when products are updated, only the manuscripts need to be modified and regenerated, without the need for repeated filming.
4. Exhibition Hall Guide and Government Services
Digital human guides provide welcome, guidance, and policy interpretation services in the exhibition hall and government affairs hall, and cooperate with the touch screen to complete business pre-processing.
5. Executive IP and brand endorsement
Create digital avatars for corporate founders or virtual brand ambassadors, batch produce speeches, speeches, and industry opinion content, and continuously operate brand IP.
Five-step method for implementing digital human project
Step one: scene and image positioning
Clarify the business functions of the digital person (live broadcast/customer service/training), determine the image style (real person reproduction/virtual image) and character style.
Step 2: Image production and sound cloning
Live-person reproduction requires arranging green screen shooting (about half a day) to collect multi-angle expression materials; sound cloning collects clear voice samples for more than 30 minutes.
Step Three: Brain Access
Connect to large models and enterprise knowledge bases to enable digital people to have business question and answer capabilities; configure speech boundaries and transfer to manual rules.
Step 4: Channel Deployment
Deploy to live broadcast rooms, official website floating windows, exhibition hall large screens or small programs according to scenarios to complete audio and video link debugging with each channel.
Step 5: Operation and iteration
Continuously replenish the knowledge base, optimize words, analyze user interaction data, and iterate image expressions and clothing materials on a monthly basis.
Real implementation cases
Case 1: Home Furnishing Brand Digital Live Broadcast
A home furnishing brand deployed two digital anchors to perform live broadcasts in shifts, covering the low traffic period in the early morning. The average monthly new GMV was 450,000 yuan, with an ROI of 1:8. Live anchors focus on prime time, and the overall human effectiveness increases by 2.3 times.
Case 2: Digital human guide in the government affairs hall
A certain government service center deployed digital human guides to cover 200+ high-frequency consultations. The average waiting time for consultations was reduced from 8 minutes to immediate response, and the window pressure dropped by 40%.
FAQ
Will digital live streaming be limited by the platform?
Each platform has different policies: Douyin and video accounts allow live broadcasts by compliant digital people (requiring real person review and filing), but require content quality and interaction authenticity. There is a risk of violations in pure recording and loop playback, so real-time driving + scheduled inspections are recommended.
Are the digital human’s mouth shapes and expressions natural?
The current lip synchronization accuracy of 2D real-person reproduction solutions has reached commercial levels, and the difference from real people in static scenes is very small; large movements and complex expressions are still technical difficulties, and it is recommended to focus on medium and close-range mouth broadcast scenes.
How much does it cost to be an enterprise digital person?
A 2D real-person replica digital person (including image + voice + basic question and answer) is usually 10,000-50,000 yuan; if real-time interactive live broadcast capability is required, the overall plan is 50,000-150,000 yuan. The photo-driven lightweight solution can start with a thousand yuan level.
Can digital people speak dialects and foreign languages?
Yes. Voice cloning supports dialects such as Cantonese and Sichuan dialect, as well as multiple languages such as English, Japanese and Korean, and is suitable for cross-border live broadcast scenarios.
What legal risks are involved in digital humans?
The core risks are portrait rights and labeling obligations: copies of real people require written authorization from the person; AI-generated content must be clearly labeled in accordance with the “Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services”. For details, see Enterprise AI Compliance Practice Guide.
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