| Highlights for November 2024
Healthcare Context AI-driven virtual avatars have been developed to deliver personalized health education, offering multilingual support for foreign patients and age-appropriate content for teens while ensuring privacy and customization. University of New South Wales researchers are designing digital companions to help with psychosocial challenges, including loneliness and dementia. These AI-powered characters serve therapeutic and supportive roles, tailored for user-specific needs, demonstrating how digital humans can contribute meaningfully to healthcare through emotional presence and adaptive communication. Education and Lifelong Learning Several developments demonstrate the integration of virtual beings in educational environments. SenseTime and New Oriental launched a digital human teacher in China providing real-time information on studying abroad and standardized testing. In Shanghai, a digital instructor named Hongling offers bilingual support for lifelong learners. SK Broadband’s “Living English” initiative incorporates digital humans to teach English interactively via B tv ZEM. In Korea, the Virtual YouTuber Hyang-achi teaches Korean history live, blending avatar performance with academic instruction. Additionally, digital instructors are being evaluated for their ethical compliance under the EU AI Act, while postdoctoral fellowships are offered in digital human modeling research, supporting the academic foundation of this sector. Entertainment and Virtual Performances Motion-controlled avatars are enabling musicians to produce DIY creative content, lowering the barrier to entry in digital performance. Platforms like Trulience are promoting AI avatars that can speak in multiple accents, demonstrated during live events such as hackathons co-hosted with OpenAI. TikTok’s Symphony Creative Studio offers users tools for creating AI-generated avatar videos, integrating them into short-form content. Snapchat has elevated avatar fashion through Bitmoji collaborations with Prada and Miu Miu. In Japan, Yamato Holdings deployed an AI character at Haneda Airport for visitor guidance, exemplifying public-facing entertainment and utility. A Web3 company is blending “phygital” avatars and fashion across games and social platforms, merging digital and physical identities. Gaming and Immersive Virtual Worlds Gaming environments are heavily populated by avatars and synthetic characters. A study links gaming disorder risk to strong emotional bonds between users and their avatars, suggesting avatar immersion is a behavioral predictor. The GuestXR project investigates the societal effects of AI-driven avatars in extended reality, highlighting the metaverse’s psychological implications. Trulience’s avatars demonstrate enhanced engagement through real-time interaction. Microsoft announced it would discontinue its Xbox and PC avatar editor, while MetaverseME offers a Web3 platform for creating customizable digital avatars with fashion options. Chibi Live2D models are used in VTubing and digital media via Cubism software, and a researcher introduced Neocortex, a development platform for building smart avatar agents within gaming engines. Marketing and Commerce Marketing strategies increasingly incorporate virtual beings for brand communication. Cheil Worldwide’s award-winning campaign used an AI character to promote Toss. Virtual influencers like Lil Miquela and SARA (developed for the Saudi Tourism Authority) are used to humanize brands, with research showing their emotional content boosts purchase intent. Other findings suggest cultural intelligence in avatar design enhances campaign effectiveness. Trulience and EY deployed avatars for marketing and HR respectively—EY’s avatar, eVe, supports recruitment by interacting with job candidates. Luo’s company in Wuhan transitioned from gaming to digital human development, offering services such as tourism guidance and psychological counseling. TikTok introduced “streak pets” as digital companions tied to user engagement, further gamifying marketing. Enterprise and Business Applications AI digital humans are seen as cost-saving, scalable alternatives in enterprise contexts. NiumanAI launched a live commerce solution featuring digital human presenters for customer engagement and automation. Vodafone Ukraine introduced Daria, a digital avatar assistant capable of multilingual communication, personalized advice, and automated services. Soul Machines released Premium Integrations connecting experiential AI agents with platforms like Zapier to automate workflows. Baidu secured a patent for digital human expression migration, advancing realism in AI-human interaction. EY, beyond recruitment, uses avatars for internal business efficiency. Facebook posts also noted digital avatars assisting in enterprise training, as seen with Praxis Labs, which uses immersive avatars to transform workplace learning. Cultural and Historical Representations Virtual beings are now being used to preserve and animate cultural heritage. Scientists recreated the voice and persona of King Richard III, using digital technology to deliver a historically informed avatar with a Yorkshire accent. Leo Li’s interactive AI project reimagined Leonardo da Vinci as a digital being using Unreal Engine’s Metahuman and Convai. These examples demonstrate how digital humans can revive historical figures with accuracy and interactivity, offering new forms of cultural education and engagement. Research, Development, and Ethics A variety of research projects focus on avatar psychology, anthropomorphism, and interaction design. For instance, studies revealed how emotional attachment to avatars influences behavior, while another showed that gestures increase virtual agent engagement. A separate study investigated baby schema design in avatars and its influence on perceived trustworthiness. Stanford supports digital human modeling via initiatives like the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance. In Europe, a new generative agent architecture was introduced to simulate human behavior at scale. Meanwhile, Beijing’s Digital Human Base offers subsidized platforms to support innovation in digital human technology. |
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