Chinese girl idol group creates digital clones built by AI

A new generation of idols are singing and dancing in music videos in China, with plans to sell albums and perform in concerts where they will engage fans with personalised interaction. Only thing is, they don't actually exist, at least corporeally. In the latest Christmas music video released by Chinese girl idol group SNH48, six of the group's most popular stars sing and dance with some special partners – digital copies of themselves based on their looks, voices and body language. The four-minute music video, co-produced by Tencent-backed artificial intelligence (AI) start-up ObEN, claims to be the world's first commercially released song co-starring human singers and their AI 3D avatars. "This song is our first step to test the waters in the virtual idol market. We are planning to create more intelligent virtual idols, releasing albums and making movies for them," said Xiong Wei, vice-president of the Shanghai-based SNH48.