Chinese science and technology from the Winter Olympics (III): the awakening and evolution of digital people

Half of the Winter Olympics has passed , Our emotions are also ups and downs in the hearty competition . In the freestyle skiing competition of Gu ailing , The gold medal of short track speed skating team race represented by Wu Dajing was exciting ; Also for young snowboarder Su Yiming's silver medal award, there is constant debate , Sorry for the outstanding Winter Olympic performance of top flower skaters .

Recently, most of the news searches and emotions have contributed to this top sports feast , If you want to get some emotional breathing , You can try to return to the science and technology behind the Winter Olympics , Be proud of the black technology displayed in the world window , Calm down the mood at the trough .

The cheetah high-speed camera out of the circle in the Winter Olympics , Zero emission carbon dioxide ice making , The core technology of artificial snow making that breaks through the standard blockade , Intelligent motor car, etc , It gathers the most cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements . In this world window , Show rich technical muscles . Among these technological achievements , Perhaps the most conspicuous is the image of various virtual digital people . If you continue to pay attention to the event , In various broadcasting platforms , Always see the busy figure of virtual digital people , Or use sign language to broadcast the progress of the event to thousands of spectators in silence , Or talking about and analyzing the competition . At the Winter Olympics , Virtual human figures are everywhere .

Ubiquitous Winter Olympics digital people

Judging from the process of holding the Winter Olympics , The virtual human participated in the whole process from the beginning and didn't fall behind . From the very beginning “ Meet Beijing ” At the opening ceremony of the Olympic Cultural Festival , Virtual singer Luo Tianyi shows her voice , Singing 《Time to shine》 Ignited the venue , Cheer for the promotion of the Winter Olympics .

The virtual digital human idol is just the beginning of the virtual digital human in the Winter Olympics , Inside and outside the Winter Olympics , There is no lack of virtual human images .

If we classify from the perspective of the application of virtual digital human , It can be divided into service virtual human and identity virtual human . The virtual people of the Winter Olympics are mainly these two categories . These two types of digital virtual human also exist mainly as a supplement to the Winter Olympic news reports .

CCTV news has the highest appearance rate AI Sign language anchor , This friendly and sweet sign language anchor , Be able to provide professional services for the audience 、 Accurate sign language interpretation . And this sign language virtual anchor has “24 Hours off ” The title of , It is reported that after the Winter Olympics , The virtual sign language anchor will be available all year round , Make good news reports for hearing-impaired groups .

AI Sign language virtual anchor is a typical service-oriented virtual human . The identity virtual human emphasizes its design , Such as virtual idol , Human digital avatar, etc .

Virtual singer Luo Tianyi , Gu ailing, an Olympic athlete who is hot for body searching, is divided into digital people 、 CCTV anchor Wang Bingbing digital human separation 、 Feng Xiaoshu, the digital person of weather host Feng Shu, etc . These virtual digital people rely on their own design , Attract traffic , Report for the Winter Olympics 、 commentary , Bring a novel experience to the audience .

There are too many recent hot search reports about athlete Gu ailing , It is estimated that many readers are bored by screen brushing , Let's take Feng Shu, the host of the weather channel, for example , Look at the refining process of virtual digital human separation .

（ Virtual weather anchor Feng Xiaoshu ）

Behind the birth of Feng Xiaoshu is the technology provided by Microsoft Xiaobing . It is reported that , Microsoft Xiaobing adopts deep neural network rendering technology and small sample learning technology , Just use 1 In a week's time, I finished my study of Feng Shu . After voice 、 Mouth shape 、 Face rendering expert model training , Virtual digital human can be perfect get Feng Shu's own mouth movement 、 The synergy between eye and facial muscles , Its face 、 expression 、 The overall naturalness of body movements is almost the same as that of real people . If there is no special emphasis on digital human identity , It's almost true , Completely indistinguishable .

Observe the application scenario of virtual human in Winter Olympics , We will find that , Virtual human from the ancestor chuyin future idol's computer CG technology , By now AI Technology upgrade , The transformation of sign language anchors that can be translated instantly and virtual people that confuse fake with real , The time span of more than ten years , The technology accumulation of virtual digital human has made a qualitative leap . Driven by technology , Digital virtual human is in the world window of the Winter Olympics , The achievements in recent years are intensively displayed .

The rise of virtual digital people

The visual virtual digital human has developed rapidly in the past two years . A virtual idol with cool and ancient temperament LING Ling 、 Fashion bloggers AYAYI、 Virtual beauty expert Liu Yexi , These virtual anchors with strong goods are virtual digital people familiar to many young fashion audiences . In the science and technology circle , Hua Zhibing, a virtual student in the Knowledge Engineering Laboratory of Tsinghua University , This kind of highly anthropomorphic digital human shows the most cutting-edge technical ability of virtual human to the public .

Virtual tour guides are more common 、 The host 、 Digital astronauts, etc , Most of these virtual people are oriented to tradition by technology enterprises B Digital human solution services launched by end customers . No one set up a pile , This kind of virtual digital human is the replacement of enterprise employees , Replace the enterprise for simple production and interaction of content , Publicize and provide services for enterprise products and technologies .

We can find from the application scenario of virtual human , Its application fields are mainly entertainment and service industries . Whether it's the increasingly mature picture presentation of digital idols , Or integration 5G、AI And other comprehensive technical capabilities , The scene of virtual human landing has become increasingly rich .

The virtual digital human of Vanke, the most popular migrant worker “ Cui Xiaopan ”, It represents the technical level of virtual human in office scene . With the blessing of the system algorithm , Cui Xiaopan can deal with all kinds of accounts receivable with a efficiency that is thousands of times higher than that of human beings 、 Show your skill in overdue reminder and abnormal work detection . The advance receivable she urged / The overdue verification rate of documents reaches 91.44%.

（ Virtual digital beauty blogger Liu Yexi ）

From the exquisite virtual idols that first attracted attention to today's Social 、 game 、 Specific applications such as office scenes , Live E-commerce 、 Idol endorsement 、 Accompanying service, etc , Virtual digital people have realized commercial realization .

And the technical service provider behind it , It is a leading technology enterprise with strong technology and financial resources , Such as Baidu 、 tencent 、 Hkust xunfei 、 Ali et al , Also have AI Technology start-up Zhongke intelligence 、 Yunbo technology, etc . These enterprises are in their own AI The accumulation of technology and the future of the meta universe , As the vanguard force, virtual digital people cut in , Seize the cake of the virtual digital world .

No matter what kind of identity and technical ability it is , The whole market presents a prosperous scene , We will see that all kinds of virtual people are increasing . Their rise , And AI Capability has something to do with the rapid development of digital technology .

Delve into the essence of the popularity of virtual people , It is the gradual generalization of the virtual digital world . The boundary between the real world and the digital world is constantly fused and blurred , Virtual digital human is the most suitable carrier to connect the two worlds , As the entrance of virtual digital world , Whether it's visualization 、 Immersive experience , Or the display of integrated technology , Virtual people are all in this opportunity at the right time and place , Become a bridge between the two worlds . But in this seemingly blooming market , The development of virtual digital human driven by technology is still in the initial stage of development .

Across the chasm and evolution

The technical ability of digital people shown in the Winter Olympics , It almost represents the highest level of digital virtual human at this stage . stay 5G、AI、 With the blessing of digital technology , At this stage, virtual human can communicate with people through self-learning and algorithm ability 、 Gesture interaction . In this kind of sports event with sufficient capital , It's easier to concentrate on creating and displaying digital people who conform to the event reports . But in the process of extensive landing , There are still many obstacles in the development of virtual digital human .

From the perspective of virtual human application , Identity digital people such as idol Luo Tianyi 、 Gu Ailing and other digital avatars , This kind of digital virtual human needs IP Manned operation . Especially the virtual human with idol nature , We need excellent professional works and content creation to continue the vitality and commercial value of human design . This also raises the threshold and cost of its application . It is reported that , A single of virtual idols, from composition to character image 、 Stage design costs nearly 200 Ten thousand yuan , Plus the cost of publicity and promotion , The training cost will even exceed that of real idols .

And the virtual digital human of service , Technological capabilities vary . Our ultimate imagination of virtual human is the natural and smooth interaction with people , Experience silky like human interaction , But this requires higher comprehensive technical ability of virtual human . At the technical level, such as NLP、 Machine vision 、TTS Speech synthesis and other foundations AI Our analysis and processing capabilities have reached the top level . The technical requirements and costs are too high , Complex technology and lengthy customization cycle , So that it cannot be quickly and widely promoted .

Virtual digital human is in the process of development , There are also unavoidable ethical issues . Face recognition technology 、AI Face changing and other technologies are being promoted on the ground , Such public opinion risks have occurred . Humanoid virtual human , There will also be risks of counterfeiting and replacing the character prototype , The price of attention is to be magnified by countless magnifiers , Bring the possibility of sliding into the abyss .

The law of Tao reveals that things are in the process of development , There will always be peaks and valleys . The outcome achieved overnight is as short as a flash in the pan , Stick to the long-term right choice , It is a must to go to the sea of stars . The continuous deepening of the digital world no man's land , Thorns are inevitable .

From exploration to growth , Digital virtual human is still in the initial climbing period , At present, the level of intelligence is relatively elementary , Unable to cope with complex working environment . It is still a long way from the application of generalization “ Changpo ” Need to overcome . But in the current display of these windows , We also have a glimpse of the future of virtual digital people ： Powerful analysis and data processing capabilities , Diverse identities and silky services , The world of virtual digital is gradually enriched and three-dimensional .

From the graphic and audio of the plane , To real-time silky 3d Interaction , The dissemination of information continues to increase . In the future, we will have similar 《 No. 1 player 》 Metauniverse in “ Oasis ” virtual world ： Digital people with intelligence and emotional level , Reprint the real person under the digital mask , Natural and smooth interactive experience , It's hard to distinguish the true from the false .

Whether in the real world or the virtual world , Virtual human will be the best supplement to human beings , Enrich the digital world , It has infinite vitality and imagination .