The Guardian - China-How Chinese influencers use AI digital clones of themselves to pump out content
November 6, 2023 4 min 663 words
中国的网络红人和意见领袖们如何利用AI数字克隆来创作内容，引发了诚信和合法性的争议。特别是在线购物领域的直播卖家们，正在使用虚拟形象来提高他们的收入。这个现象抛出了一系列问题，从虚伪到合法性。虽然像陈一如这样的明星可以通过这种方式将内容和收入提升到更高的高度，但对于知名度较低的直播卖家来说，AI可能会威胁他们的工作，因为媒体公司倾向于使用更便宜的数字明星。 中国的直播行业规模庞大，2020年有超过123万人从事这一行业，根据iResearch的数据，有超过7亿互联网用户追随他们的频道，根据Daxue Consulting的数据。而这个现象最初是以人们谈话、唱歌或展示日常生活为特点，但现在已经与电子商务领域紧密联系在一起。据预计，2023年，直播卖家将创造4.9万亿元（约5000亿英镑）的销售额，占整个电子商务行业的11%以上。 现在，AI初创公司加入了这一潮流，向网络红人和媒体公司销售数字虚拟形象。位于南京的Silicon Intelligence公司可以为不到8000元的价格生成一个基本的AI克隆，尽管根据《麻省理工科技评论》的报道，更复杂的编程可能会提高价格。该公司只需要一分钟的人类影像素材来培训虚拟直播卖家。 然而，正是这些新兴的网络红人最有可能受到AI机器人的冲击。独立分析师、Following the Yuan新闻通讯的创办人江雅玲表示：“这一趋势可能对下层直播卖家施加更大压力，因为他们对品牌来说更容易取代。”与陈一如这样的大粉丝依赖他们的幕后形象来提高自己的知名度和银行信誉度不同。江雅玲表示：“成为成功的意见领袖最困难的部分是成为炒作和媒体循环的一部分。AI网络红人没有八卦，不出现在真人秀、街头或球场，就像泰勒·斯威夫特一样。如果他们不出现在公众视野中，他们又有什么媒体价值呢？” 此外，还有真实性的问题。中国政府于10月11日发布了使用生成式AI技术的公司的草案指南。拟议的法规规定，使用AI进行克隆的个人应该提供书面同意，允许他们的生物特征数据以这种方式使用，但没有详细说明如何向公众标注这样的内容。一些平台，如抖音，有自己的要求，但它们没有广泛应用，根据江雅玲的说法，“仍然存在许多模糊地带”。 深度伪造直播卖家的世界可能很快引起中国监管机构的注意。但在那之前，视频平台上将出现越来越多的克隆形象，以及宣传制作克隆形象服务的视频。这一现象引发了关于诚信和合法性的重要讨论，以及对技术如何改变娱乐和媒体行业的思考。这也提醒我们在数字时代，我们需要更加警觉和审慎地对待内容的真实性和来源。
In September, Chen Yiru, a Taiwanese influencer with nearly nine million fans on Weibo, livestreamed footage of himself eating chicken feet for a jaw-grinding 15 hours.
His followers were suitably wowed – until some started to question if such a feat was humanly possible. The small print on the video stream confirmed their suspicions: “For display purposes only, not a real person.”
Many of Chen’s fans were outraged, and he reportedly lost more than 7,000 followers between 24 and 26 September. Even the legal community weighed in. Quoted in Chinese media reports, Dong Yuanyuan, a senior partner at Tiantai, a Beijing law firm, said that AI avatars could not be “completely untied from the celebrity himself” and that “virtual live broadcasts … do not exempt celebrities from legal liability”.
But Chen is hardly alone in outsourcing his duties to an AI avatar. Chinese influencers, or key opinion leaders (KOLs), particularly in the e-commerce industry, are increasingly turning to digital clones to pump out content 24/7. For some stars, like Chen, this enables them to take their content and earnings to even greater heights. But for lesser-known livestreamers, AI may put their jobs at risk, as media companies pivot towards cheaper digital stars.
Livestreaming is big business in China. The industry employed more than 1.23 million people in 2020, according to iResearch, and there are more than 700 million internet users who follow their channels, according to Daxue Consulting. While the phenomenon started out with livestreams of people talking, singing or going about their day, the industry has become closely intertwined with the world of e-commerce. Livestreamers are expected to rake in 4.9tn yuan (£0.5tn) in sales in 2023, more than 11% of the total e-commerce sector.
Livestream shopping channels show influencers talking about, or trying out, products for hours on end. They can respond to viewer questions about the products and push discounts and sales for brands.
Now AI startups are getting in on the trend by selling digital avatars to influencers and media companies. Silicon Intelligence, based in Nanjing, can generate a basic AI clone for as little as 8,000 yuan, although the price can increase for more complicated programming, according to MIT Technology Review. The company only needs one minute of footage of a human being to train a virtual livestreamer.
A recent survey of 10,000 young people on Weibo found that more than 60% would be interested in working as influencers or livestreamers. But it is these up-and-coming influencers whom the AI bots are most likely to displace.
“This trend may place more pressure on lower-tier livestreamers as they are more dispensable to brands,” says Yaling Jiang, an independent analyst and founder of Following the Yuan, a newsletter about Chinese consumers.
Bigger fans like Chen rely on their off-camera profiles to boost their status and bankability. The most difficult part of becoming a successful KOL “is to be part of the hype and media cycle”, says Jiang. “The AI influencers do not have gossip, aren’t seen in reality shows, on the streets or in the stadium like Taylor Swift is. If they aren’t in the public eye, what media value do they have?”
Then there is the issue of authenticity. On 11 October the Chinese government published draft guidelines for firms using generative AI technology. The proposed regulations said that individuals to be cloned using AI should provide written consent for their biometric data to be used in that way, but they did not elaborate on how such content should be labelled to the public. Some platforms, like Douyin, have their own requirements, but they are not widely applied and, according to Jiang, “there are still a lot of grey areas”.
The world of deepfake livestreamers may soon catch the attention of Chinese regulators. But until then, video platforms are featuring an increasing number of clones – and videos of clones advertising clone-making services.
Additional research by Chi Hui Lin