Navigating Authenticity: The Rise of AI Livestreaming Among Chinese Influencers

Chinese influencers, such as Calvin Chen, are utilizing AI for livestreaming, sparking debates about authenticity as the digital human market develops.

Summary of Content Implications for Brands Future of the Digital Human Market in China Liu Run, an influential figure on Douyin with over 1 million followers, has been using an AI-generated clone of himself for months. He shared that few viewers can distinguish between the AI clone and a real person.

Headlines From China: 10 Truths About Livestreaming in China | In China, Livestreaming is a highly popular profession Liu has effectively leveraged his digital clone to debut videos, sharing managerial tips, profound business insights, and industry anecdotes. “I stared at that person every day: is it real or fake?” – Douyin user @haode0 commented, “Celebrities can now make money even while lying in bed.”

Although virtual individuals are seen as efficient, they are not always warmly received. In fact, livestreams featuring digital clones are increasing, causing discomfort among some netizens. Twitter user @bachuanxiaoji (@扒圈小记) commented, “Celebrities can now make money while lying in bed.”

He doesn’t even have to go to work anymore’: AI version of Calvin Chen on sales livestream baffles netizens, Entertainment News – AsiaOne Singer Calvin Chen utilized his virtual clone for livestreaming A digital AI version of the famous actor and singer Calvin Chen, formerly of the boy band Fahrenheit, participated in a livestream last September. He ate chicken feet for 15 consecutive hours, garnering 9 million viewers. The livestream was labeled ‘AI video’ for easy identification. However, this caused Chen to lose 7,000 followers in three days after the livestream.

Implications for Brands Integrating AI clones of influencers into e-commerce and live streaming in China reveals a significant development in brand engagement strategies.

However, this creative sales approach has complex impacts on different brands. Brands can easily control their message accurately, ensuring consistent brand presence and operational effectiveness through virtual individuals. This helps reduce costs and unpredictability compared to traditional partnership relationships.

Yet, there are significant obstacles. For example, many consumers seek authenticity in their interactions with influencers. Chen’s loss of followers after deploying his AI clone highlights the risk of strong consumer backlash. Brands need to be cautious when using AI to maintain consumer trust and authenticity.

Deepfakes of Chinese influencers are livestreaming 24/7 | MIT Technology Review

Moreover, over-reliance on AI may be perceived as laziness or lack of creativity, potentially damaging reputations. Brands must navigate these perceptions carefully, ensuring their AI usage enhances rather than detracts from human creativity and effort.

As this field is still in its infancy, another challenge that clone users must face is legal regulations. Last October, the Chinese government proposed regulations for companies deploying creative AI technology. They stipulated that individuals or organizations wishing to use someone’s AI clone must have written consent for data usage.

However, this law remains vague regarding content determination and presentation to the public. Additionally, the Douyin social media platform has banned livestreams featuring AI appearances.

Future of the Digital Human Market in China Many brands are making virtual clones more accessible to a wider audience. This technology requires less funding and only 60 seconds of footage to enable a virtual individual to livestream. And the price to create images of influencers can reach thousands of dollars. The reason is that they can attract a large audience.

According to IDC forecasts, the scale of China’s virtual human market is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2026, and livestreamers in China are predicted to generate about $689 billion in revenue in 2023, accounting for over 11% of total e-commerce.

AI models are here. Can they actually improve fashion representation? | Vogue Business In the fashion industry, AI-generated models have been heard of Major companies like Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba are innovating AI replication technology, and even Xiaoice has announced a project to replicate AI of influencers and celebrities. Qiu Yiwu, a businessman in China, believes that commercializing AI-generated humans is an inevitable trend.

“Basically, this can be seen as one of many cases in intellectual property licensing, and a form of virtual economic and human digitization” – shared on China’s ShenRan blog.