AI Avatars Outshine Human Influencers, Raking in $7.65 Million in 7 Hours on Baidu’s Livestreaming Platform

BEIJING — In a remarkable display of the potential of artificial intelligence, digital avatars in China have outperformed human livestreamers in sales. On Sunday, Chinese tech giant Baidu and popular livestreamer Luo Yonghao demonstrated the capability of AI avatars by achieving a staggering 55 million yuan ($7.65 million) in sales over a seven-hour session on Baidu’s e-commerce livestreaming platform, Youxuan. This success marks a significant milestone, especially when compared to Luo's previous livestream on Youxuan, which lasted just over four hours and generated fewer orders for consumer electronics, food, and other products. The digital versions of Luo and his co-host, Xiao Mu, were able to engage with viewers seamlessly, mimicking their personalities and even humor, to drive sales effectively. Luo, who began his livestreaming journey in April 2020 on ByteDance’s short video app Douyin to pay off debts from his beleaguered smartphone company, Smartisan, expressed his astonishment at the AI-driven performance. “The digital human effect has scared me … I’m a bit dazed,” he wrote to his 1.7 million followers on social media platform Weibo, according to a CNBC translation. His Douyin account, “Be Friends,” has nearly 24.7 million followers, highlighting his popularity as an influencer. The AI avatars were created using Baidu’s generative AI model, which had been trained on five years of video footage to replicate Luo’s and Xiao Mu’s mannerisms and comedic timing. Wu Jialu, the head of research at Luo’s company, Be Friends Holding, explained this process in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. The advanced AI model not only mastered the hosts’ speaking styles but also their interactions with viewers, making the virtual experience almost indistinguishable from a live broadcast. The growing popularity and effectiveness of AI avatars underscore a significant shift in the influencer marketing industry. As technology continues to advance, these virtual personalities could redefine how products are marketed and sold, potentially offering brands and businesses a more scalable and consistent method of engaging with consumers. The success of this livestream suggests that AI avatars may soon become a staple in e-commerce, leveraging their ability to work long hours and maintain high engagement levels without fatigue. This development also raises important questions about the future of human labor in the digital age. While the AI avatars offer tremendous potential for business growth, they could also pose challenges for human influencers and content creators. As AI systems become more sophisticated, the line between virtual and real interactions may blur, leading to new opportunities and possibly new job roles but also necessitating a reevaluation of the skills and value that human influencers bring to the table. For now, the collaboration between Baidu and Luo Yonghao highlights the rapid progress being made in AI technology and its transformative power in the world of e-commerce and digital marketing. The next steps will likely involve further refining and expanding the capabilities of these AI avatars to meet the diverse needs of different markets and industries.