Sogou has been actively developing digital human technologies since 2018, emphasizing its strength in language and AI. The company launched its first digital human that year, powered by a proprietary system called the “Sogou Avatar” platform. This technology integrates hyper-realistic 3D modeling, machine translation, multimodal generation, transfer learning, and real-time facial animation. Sogou has produced AI-driven avatars for news broadcasting, including hand-signing AI anchors, and collaborated with platforms like Sohu to create celebrity-based digital human hosts. These avatars are used in various applications such as live-streaming, automated content creation, customer service, and AI education. The company’s AI open platform (ai.sogou.com) supports digital human cloning, customized avatars, and virtual influencer creation.
Tencent is Sogou’s parent company: after first taking a minority stake and folding its own Soso search into Sogou in 2013, Tencent moved to acquire all outstanding Sogou shares in July 2020 and completed the go-private merger on September 23, 2021, delisting Sogou from the NYSE and making it a wholly owned subsidiary; Sogou’s assets and teams were then integrated into Tencent’s search and content ecosystem, leadership changed (Wang Xiaochuan departed), and Sogou products such as search and input method continued under Tencent’s control.