AI anchor enters the moment of "quantitative change"

In this article, the author analyzes the application of AI digital human anchors in the field of live broadcasting/short video based on the current situation and gives examples, as well as how the author views AI digital human anchors. This article is suitable for readers who are interested in AI live broadcasting.

At the beginning of 2023, AI technology has exploded, enabling digital human-computer interaction through multi-simulation interaction, and developing in the direction of intelligence, refinement, diversification and popularization.

Major domestic Internet companies have begun to enter the field of digital humans, such as Tencent's Yunxiaowei Digital Human, ByteDance's Volcano Engine virtual digital human platform, Baidu Smart Cloud-Xiling Digital Human Platform, JD Technology's Yanxi Multimodal Digital Human, and iFlytek AI Virtual Human Interaction System. AI digital human anchors have begun to be widely used in all walks of life.

Especially in the field of live broadcast/short video, the application of AI digital human anchors has reached an unprecedented level and is already at the moment of "quantitative change" before popularization. Let's talk about the application of AI digital human anchors.

1. Competition in e-commerce live streaming is fierce, and digital people are used to reduce costs and increase efficiency

According to the "2022 Double 11 E-commerce Talent Data Report", the demand for e-commerce jobs in 2022 increased by 9% compared with the same period last year, and 30% of anchors have a monthly salary of 10,000 to 30,000 yuan, which is hard to find. The explosive growth of the industry and the influx of a large number of people are the main reasons for this phenomenon. As the market scale of live e-commerce continues to grow, more and more brands and anchors will enter this field, and the competition in e-commerce live broadcasting is becoming more and more fierce. Competition in e-commerce live broadcasting has further intensified, and practitioners are looking for ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

As time enters 2023, due to the influence of the overall environment, major platforms and brand merchants are seeking ways to increase revenue and reduce costs, and merchants have reduced the number of e-commerce anchors used.

At the beginning of this year, the salaries of e-commerce anchors in Hangzhou were reduced, and the number of anchors who lost their jobs began to appear. Starting from 2023, the e-commerce anchors who used to have inflated prices are slowly becoming more formal. "The era of making quick money is over. The industry is exploring a longer-term development path, and the role of anchors is also changing."

The strong market demand, coupled with the strong explosion of AI technology, has led to a large number of businesses opening their own digital human live broadcast rooms . The person in charge of digital human solution provider Shan Gou told Audiovisual Observation that digital human anchors are currently widely used in local life and large cultural and tourism industries.

One characteristic of this type of industry is that their products or services are relatively standardized, without anything particularly personalized. Whether it is a real person or AI speaking, the content of the explanation is the same, and potential purchasing users are more concerned about price issues.

For example, if you are the owner of a coffee shop or restaurant, most of your products are standard products, and you only need to give repetitive explanations. Then, with the help of digital anchor technology, you can use your store as a live broadcast background, let digital people explain the products in real time, and start live broadcasts to attract sales. This not only saves costs, but also allows scenes to emerge, giving users a greater sense of immersion.

To give another example, if you go to buy a ticket to Disney, people will definitely not ask about the specific content of the ride, because this is basically standardized, and people are more concerned about the price of the ticket. A real anchor talks about repetitive content every day, which is not only boring but also very tiring after two or three hours. Digital people will not get tired. The advantage of digital human anchors is that they can replace real anchors to complete repetitive explanation work, thus liberating productivity.

Jingjing is a full-time e-commerce anchor, but it is not an easy job. She admits that if she wants to broadcast well and sell more, she has to work overtime and endure both psychological and physical pressure.

"I broadcast for six hours every day, sometimes without a break. Before going on air, I have to come in advance to arrange for makeup and hair, and discuss products with team members. After the broadcast, I have to review the data. It's about nine hours of highly intense work a day." And five or six hours of high mental concentration will definitely consume a lot of the host's willpower and mental strength.

In fact, in many e-commerce live broadcast rooms, a product needs to be explained repeatedly, and a lot of repetitive and boring work makes it difficult for the anchor to maintain a good state for a long time. At the same time, if a live broadcast room wants to maintain a long daily live broadcast, it needs to hire several anchors to maintain it. In addition to the expenses of live broadcast room decoration, operation, streaming, after-sales and other costs, the cost of e-commerce live broadcast is generally high.

Instead, using digital human anchors will avoid the above problems. At the same time, in terms of live broadcast room control, since everything is set up in advance, digital human anchors do not have problems with on-the-spot performance, which can avoid many potential control risks. At the same time, in terms of anchor personality, real anchors are more difficult to control. Once the personality collapses, it will bring disastrous consequences, but digital human anchors can avoid these.

Digital human anchors have another advantage, which is that they can greatly reduce labor costs. The person in charge of Shan Gou, a digital human solution provider, revealed to Audiovisual Observation that to build a digital live broadcast room, you only need a computer with decent configuration, a live broadcast companion and digital human software. For ordinary digital human software, using a built-in standard digital human model, the annual usage fee is less than 10,000 yuan. If you want to upgrade to a customized version of the digital human image, you can add a maximum of 8,000 yuan and use it for life.

Traditional live broadcasters have a monthly salary of tens of thousands, which is hundreds of thousands a year. If they are big broadcasters, it will be even more expensive. In comparison, digital broadcasters are really cheap. However, this does not mean that digital broadcasters are not perfect. In some personalized clothing and makeup categories, digital broadcasters are difficult to apply, and the technology needs to be continuously improved to solve the personalized problem.

2. In addition to live broadcasting, digital humans can also be used in the short video track

Financial writer Wu Xiaobo bluntly stated in his New Year's Eve speech: In 2023, every company may need a digital human, which can be used for local life, customer service, brand live broadcasts, short videos, etc.

Digital human anchors are artificial intelligence images created through virtual reality technology, deep learning and speech synthesis. They can show real-life behaviors, expressions, voices and movements, making users feel like they are chatting with real people. Therefore, digital human anchors can be a perfect replica of real people. In real life, many people are busy but need to shoot short videos. Digital human anchors can be their perfect substitutes.

For example, Professor Wang, a well-known doctor at a university affiliated hospital, not only trains medical students but also treats patients in his daily work. However, due to publicity needs, he needs to record lecture videos. At this time, the staff can reproduce Professor Wang's image and generate his exclusive digital human anchor.

In the future, when Professor Wang needs to make a video but does not have time to shoot it, the staff only needs to organize the text in advance and verify it with Professor Wang, and then use the text to directly generate his lecture video. With the support of AI digital human technology, it can be as lifelike as a real person. This saves time on character makeup, clothing matching, props preparation, and video shooting, allowing Professor Wang to spend his time on more important things.

Like many doctors’ popular science lectures, teachers’ teaching, knowledge payment, and business speeches , virtual digital human technology can be used to produce videos for matrix output operations.

3. Conclusion

To sum up, here are the current application scenarios of AI digital human anchors.

The first category is live broadcast rooms that mainly sell "standard products", such as tickets, fast-moving consumer goods, snacks, and daily necessities, which are mainly based on simple explanations and have relatively uniform speech; the second category is live broadcast rooms of local life merchants, which sell group purchase coupons and takeaway coupons, because no matter who the anchor is, the "purpose" of consumers coming to the live broadcast room is clear, that is, to come for low prices; the third category is short videos or live broadcast rooms that are mainly used to output opinions. I believe that with the advancement of technology, there will be more and more application scenarios in the future.

AI digital human anchor is a tool. AI digital human anchor does not conflict with real people. It does not replace real people. It is a productivity tool that empowers and complements real people . Intelligent virtual anchor can effectively relieve the pressure of real people, lower the threshold, reduce the intensity of work, and let people focus more on the areas they are good at.

"Quantitative change" starts and "qualitative change" ends. I believe that with the continuous development of technology, AI digital human anchors will enter the moment of "quantitative change".

Author: Liu Bugong

Source: WeChat public account "Audio-visual Observation (ID: shitinggc)"