Businesses in China are paying pretty hefty sums to “hire” virtual workers. According to CNBC, such employees are popular in companies in various fields, including the service industry and the entertainment industry..

Technology firm Baidu says the number of virtual people it works on for its clients has doubled since 2021.. Their price range ranges from $2,800 to $14,300 per year..

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Virtual people are a combination of animation, sound technology and machine learning that take the form of digital people who are able to sing and interact with others on live TV.. Buyers of virtual people include financial services companies, local tourism boards and state media.

According to Li Shiyan, who leads Baidu's virtual humans and robotics business, costs have dropped by about 80% as the technology has improved.. For a three-dimensional virtual person, you need to pay about 14 thousand a year, and for a two-dimensional one - about two.

Li predicts that the virtual people industry will show a steady annual growth of 50% until 2025..

The sphere of virtual people is very popular in China.

For example, Beijing announced in August that it plans to build a municipal virtual human industry worth over 50 billion yuan (about $7 billion) by 2025.. The local authorities have called for the creation of one or two local enterprises providing such services, with an operating income of about five billion yuan (about $700 million) each..

From a business point of view, virtual people are interesting in terms of content generation. Many brands are looking for new "