In China, firms can hire a virtual individual for approximately $14k annually

January 3, 2022: -From customer service to the amusement industry, firms in China are giving big bucks to virtual people.

Tech company Baidu stated that the number of virtual people whose projects it’s worked on for clients has increased since the previous year, with a wide price range of nearly $2,800 to a whopping $14,300 per year.

Virtual people combine animation, good tech and machine learning to create digitized human beings singing and interacting on a Livestream. While these digital beings have on the fringes of the U.S. internet, they pop up more in China’s cyberspace.

A few buyers of virtual individuals, including financial services firms, local tourism boards and state media, added Li Shiyan, who heads Baidu’s virtual people and robotics business.

As the tech improves, he said costs have dropped by about 80% since the previous year. It commands 100,000 yuan ($14,300) a year for a three-dimensional virtual person and 20,000 yuan for a two-dimensional one.

The virtual person industry will grow by 50% yearly through 2025.

Beijing city stated in August a plan to build up the municipal virtual individuals industry into one valued at over 50 billion yuan by 2025. The city administrations also called for developing one or two “leading virtual people businesses” with more than 5 billion yuan operating revenue each.

This fall, central administration ministries released a detailed plan for incorporating more virtual reality, especially in broadcasting, manufacturing and other areas. The country’s recent five-year plan revealed in the previous year contained a call for over-digitalization of the thrift, which includes virtual and augmented reality.