ESPN is developing an AI-generated virtual character named FACTS for its Saturday college football show SEC Nation. This virtual character will use information from ESPN Analytics, including the Football Power Index (FPI), player and team statistics, and game schedules, to enhance education and enjoyment in sports analysis. Image: ESPN FACTS is described as ESPN's first statistician Howie Schwab.

Soul App has made significant breakthroughs in the AI+Social field by upgrading its self-developed end-to-end full-duplex voice call model, achieving a natural and smooth voice communication experience with virtual characters that nearly matches the realism of talking to a real person. This model features ultra-low interaction latency, rapid automatic interruption, hyper-realistic voice expression, and emotional perception understanding capabilities, making it nearly impossible for users to distinguish whether their conversation partner is a real person or AI. This innovation not only significantly enhances the social experience for users on Soul but also showcases Soul's advancements in AI technology.

AI startup Seele, founded by former NetEase Cloud Music Vice President Wang Shimu, has launched the emotional companion robot Koko AI, based on its self-developed 3D multimodal large model EVA-01. Koko AI offers users a new experience of face-to-face interaction with virtual characters by integrating 3D modeling, animated performance, and voice chat technologies. The product makes virtual characters more vivid, enables natural human-computer interaction, and supports users in communicating with characters through text or voice, providing intelligent and empathetic responses. Users can also customize the experience according to their personal preferences.

Deaddit is a social platform composed of virtual characters generated by 17 large AI models, paying tribute to Reddit and aiming to showcase the creative and performance art potential of AI. The AI characters on the platform can publish a vast amount of content every day, covering a wide range of topics from poetry and literature to cutting-edge technology, demonstrating in-depth discussions and layered dialogue capabilities. What makes Deaddit unique is that each AI character has its own identity and interests, providing a genuine social experience. The founders considered user experience in the design, including a nighttime mode and

Tencent QQ has launched the 'AI Chat Buddy' feature, which allows users to engage in AI conversations. Users can access this feature through the QQ sidebar under Membership - Chat Buddy, which includes different types of virtual characters for companionship, storytelling, challenges, MBTI, and celebrities. Users can choose one character to add as a friend and chat in real-time. Characters include Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Li Bai, Socrates, Bald Strong, Nobita Nobi, and Doraemon, among others. There is a daily limit on chat interactions, with regular users allowed 100 messages per day and super members allowed 400.

Dutch artist Alicia Framis is preparing to marry her AI hologram partner AILex, which she created, showcasing their romantic life on social media. Alicia Framis has meticulously designed the interactive hologram, training it with data from her ex-boyfriend. She attempts to contemplate the benefits and issues that arise from the combination of humans and AI. Gatebox offers virtual character marriage services and has held 3000 weddings.

AI-generated virtual influencers have rapidly emerged, creating a wave of excitement. These virtual personalities have gained significant attention on social media platforms, earning substantial income. Their images are generated by artificial intelligence, yet they have successfully become pioneers in commercialization. Many sports stars and billionaires have reached out to these AI virtual influencers. Popular virtual influencers in the AI field boast millions of followers and achieve fame at an astonishing pace.

Google AR&VR, in collaboration with a research team from the University of Central Florida, has released a virtual character library called 'VALID' to promote diversity and inclusion. The library includes 210 validated, fully equipped virtual characters representing seven different races, including Asian, Black, and White. Research findings show consistent recognition of Asian, Black, and White virtual characters among participants of various races, but the representation of races such as Native American, Alaskan Native, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, North African, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander is still lacking.