Beijing plans to regulate ‘digital humans’

The Beijing city government has unveiled a four-year action plan to encourage development in key tech industry subsectors – especially to increase investment(s) in digital humans. The action plan, named the Beijing Action Plan for Promoting the Innovation and Development of the Digital Human Industry, is the first of its kind and lays out the goals and future prospects for everything that exists online, and in the metaverse, that performs a human-like function. It intends to create standards for digital assistance, virtual influencers, and avatars used in video games.

The plan is unclear about what constitutes a digital human. However, experts who focus on Chinese technology policies claim that the phrase encompasses anything from player-controlled avatars in games like Roblox and other metaverse services to virtual influencers and digital pop stars like Ayayi and Luo Tianyi.