A digital human could be your next favorite celebrity--or financial advisor

"Rising demand is driving the boom of digital humans," says Shiyan Li, head of the digital human and robotics business at Baidu, which created the digital model-actor, Gong. "In China alone, there are over 400 million ACGN (animation, comics, games, and novel) fans, and an enterprise market worth hundreds of billions of dollars centered on digital humans." And according to a company that tracks business registrations, Qichacha, China now has more than 280,000 enterprises that engage in digital human-related activities. The debut of Baidu's digital celebrity may not seem like much at first, as the concept of "virtual idols" has been around for years. For example, US virtual influencer Lil Miquela has been appearing alongside real human celebrities in online advertisements and TV commercials since 2016, gaining over three million Instagram followers.