Chinese influencer Luo Yonghao and co-host Xiao Mu attempted live streaming on Sunday, June 15th, 2025 using interactive digital avatars based on Baidu’s generative artificial intelligence model.
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BEIJING – The artificial intelligence-generated avatars can now be sold more than real people, according to a collaboration between Chinese high-tech company Baidu and popular live streamers.
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 told CNBC on Wednesday, mimicking Wu Jialu, research director at Be Friends Holding, another Luo company, to mimic the jokes and style from five years’ worth of videos.
“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.
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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 that the app surpassed traditional e-commerce company JD.com, becoming China’s second largest e-commerce platform, and ate the market share of lead player Alibaba, according to a Bain & Company report 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.
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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.
