China's Tomb-sweeping festival is looking to be artificial intelligence-centered after various online advertisements are reported to be offering Chinese netizens AI-powered avatars to pay tribute and revive their deceased loved ones.
According to reports, families in China celebrate the Tomb-sweeping holiday every year, leaving offers of food and flowers at the graves of loved ones, as well as burning incense and paper goods.
(Photo : Photo by Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images) SHANGHAI, CHINA - JUNE 18: Cutting edge applications of Artificial Intelligence are seen on display at the Artificial Intelligence Pavilion of Zhangjiang Future Park during a state organized media tour on June 18, 2021 in Shanghai, China.
Some businesses marketed online allow Chinese netizens to create a moving digital avatar of a loved one for as little as 20 yuan (£2.20). Thus, this year, in honor of Thursday's tomb-sweeping holiday, creative mourners are using artificial intelligence to communicate with the dead.
On the most advanced end of the spectrum, Taiwanese artist Bao Xiaobai utilized AI to "resurrect" his daughter, who passed away in 2022. Bao allegedly spent more than a year trying AI technology, despite having only an audio clip of his daughter speaking three lines in English. Eventually, he managed to construct a video of his daughter singing Happy Birthday to her mother, which he shared in January.
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Live Forever with AI
AI-powered digital avatars for departed loved ones are only getting better. Somnium Space's much-awaited "Live Forever Mode" for Metaverse was finally given a release time frame this week; it is projected to be released later this year.
To construct digital avatars of loved ones and imitate the person so that future generations can engage with them, the mode mixes virtual reality and artificial intelligence. The AI tool was created by internet entrepreneur Artur Sychov. It features synthetic avatars that can mimic a person's speech, mannerisms, and behaviors after only 30 minutes of user observation.
Digital clones of the deceased are reportedly becoming more and more popular as China's AI sector develops into human-like avatars. The market for "digital humans" was estimated to be worth 12 billion yuan in 2022 and is predicted to grow fourfold by 2025.
China's AI Avatar Industry
China's internet businesses are skilled at generating digital humans in part because the nation's massive live-streaming community, which brought in an estimated 5 trillion yuan in sales last year, is increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to make clones of themselves to promote items around the clock.
After the COVID-19 outbreak started in early 2020, retailers in China hurried to hire or train internal livestream hosts to sell merchandise, according to a December 2023 CNBC story. People who use livestream commerce to make money have become celebrities and sudden millionaires.
Back then, businesses experimented with using digitally generated humans as live-streaming hosts: either avatars that mimic real-life hosts, or virtual persons that are produced from scratch.
Using virtual livestreamers is a method for stores to stand out from the competition and cut costs associated with employing a well-known influencer who may also be associated with scandals, according to Xiaofeng Wang, principal analyst at Forrester.
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