In China’s livestream shopping scene, a new breed of around-the-clock sales reps is elbowing out their human counterparts. Built using AI video tech from Baidu and script-writing capabilities from DeepSeek, these “virtual humans” work 24/7 on ecommerce giants like Taobao and Pinduoduo. One AI avatar representing Brother printers racked up $2,500 in sales in just its first two hours and helped boost livestream revenue by 30%. Shanghai-based PLTFRM, the company behind it, has already unleashed 30 of these bots, each capable of greeting viewers, fielding questions, and doing it all without a bathroom break.
While livestreaming influencers across platforms like TikTok have become familiar faces pushing everything from skincare to spatulas, AI avatars are quietly reshaping the script. PLTFRM’s cofounder notes that humans start strong but fade after a few hours—fatigue sets in, charisma fades. The bots? Perpetually chipper and on-message. Some brands toggle between human and AI hosts for a hybrid approach—peak energy early, endurance later. There’s already interest from Western platforms like YouTube and Facebook, though PLTFRM says they’re sticking to China for now, partly due to their tech’s language limitations (English avatars still sound a bit like Siri circa 2012).
But even as virtual hosts close more deals, their presence introduces some surreal challenges. When exposed to prompt injection attacks mid-stream, at least one AI host ditched the sales pitch to meow for 46 seconds straight.
Full story at Wired.