Baidu‘s AI avatars just outsold real humans in livestream shopping. On June 15, Chinese influencer Luo Yonghao and co-host Xiao Mu used digital versions of themselves on Baidu’s "Youxuan" platform. The AI avatars ran the livestream for over six hours and pulled in 55 million yuan ($7.65 million).
That beats Luo’s previous real-person livestream on the same platform last month, which had fewer orders over a shorter time. Luo told his 1.7 million Weibo followers it was his first time selling with virtual humans and admitted,
"The digital human effect has scared me … I’m a bit dazed."
The avatars were created with Baidu’s generative AI, trained on five years of Luo’s past videos to mimic his style and jokes, according to Wu Jialu, head of research at Luo’s other company, Be Friends Holding.
"This is a DeepSeek moment for China’s entire livestreaming and digital human industry," Wu said, referencing DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup competing with ChatGPT.
Baidu says its AI avatars cut costs by eliminating the need for studios and production teams. The avatars can also stream nonstop without breaks. Earlier, Baidu tried multiple digital human formats but now claims its tech is the best for livestream e-commerce.
Livestream shopping exploded in China post-pandemic. Platforms like Douyin now outsell major e-commerce players like JD.com and Alibaba with their livestream tools. Tencent and others are also pushing AI avatars for uses like news anchors and shopping events.
Industry experts warn that livestream sales often have high return rates due to impulse buying. Compliance remains a challenge with different platforms setting strict rules on virtual avatars. Douyin recently limited virtual hosts that don’t interact with viewers.
Wu expects Luo to livestream again with avatars very soon—and sees digital humans streaming in multiple languages to reach global audiences.
