Two AI avatars explode sales in six hours of live broadcast

AI-generated digital avatars in China have proven they can outperform human influencers in sales during commercial livestreams, according to a recent collaboration between tech giant Baidu and Luo Yonghao. The livestreamer, one of the country's most famous, and his co-host Xiao Mu used their digital doubles for the first time during a live session lasting more than six hours last Sunday. The livestream on Baidu's Youxuan platform generated 13 million views and 55 million yuan (over 6.25 million francs) in product sales. By comparison, a previous session hosted in person by Luo Yonghao, lasting more than four hours, saw significantly lower sales, CNBC reports.

Developed using Baidu's generative model , these realistic avatars were designed from five years of video archives to faithfully reproduce the humor, facial expressions and communication style of the hosts.

Sharing his experience with his 1.7 million followers on the social network Weibo, Luo Yonghao admitted to being “a little baffled” by the impact of his digital version. “This is a DeepSeek moment for the entire Chinese livestreaming and digital human industry,” commented Wu Jialu, head of research at Be Friends Holding, a company headed by Luo Yonghao. He was referring to OpenAI’s rival company, which recently gained attention for launching technology similar to ChatGPT, but at a lower cost .