[Opinion] Why Are Virtual Humans Gaining Attention?

Im Joo-hwan, Honorary President of the Korean Institute of Communication Sciences

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances, virtual humans have recently gained significant attention. In the last presidential election, virtual presidential candidates in the form of AI avatars and chatbots were introduced. The first words of AI Yoon Seok-yeol were, "Were you surprised at how much I resemble candidate Yoon Seok-yeol?" Although it sounds very similar to the real voice of candidate Yoon, it was reproduced not by direct recording but by repeatedly learning from videos of the candidate.

Candidate Lee Jae-myung also unveiled a ‘chatbot’ that answers questions related to him. It is said that the chatbot learns questions on its own through AI technology and implements them in a conversational format. Candidate Kim Dong-yeon also released his AI avatar video. While virtual humans were introduced at a basic level in this election, it is expected that virtual humans will be fully integrated and lead elections in five years.

Virtual humans are digitalized humans created using AI technology as computer-generated human characters. The current feasible technology level can flawlessly reproduce subtle human features such as eyelids, wrinkles, eye twitches, and sweat pores.

Currently, over 130 virtual humans are active worldwide in various professional fields such as idol singers, news anchors, models, show hosts, and bank clerks. With the spread of COVID-19 making non-face-to-face interactions routine, an environment has been created where virtual humans can rapidly permeate our daily lives. In particular, the metaverse (extended virtual world), which implements the real world in virtual space, is accelerating the spread of virtual humans. Among virtual humans, highly influential virtual influencers naturally communicate and empathize with people on social networking service (SNS) platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

Influencer Lil Miquela, introduced in 2016, is a 19-year-old Brazilian-American singer who also works as a model for various luxury brands such as Prada and Dior. Lil Miquela has secured 3.1 million Instagram followers, and as of 2019, her annual income reportedly reached approximately 14 billion KRW.

Kim Rae-ah from LG Electronics, introduced at CES 2022 in January this year, is a 23-year-old woman. LG Electronics devoted considerable effort to developing related technologies so that Kim Rae-ah could appear like a real person. They trained 3D images and collected natural language information for voice and language learning. As a female influencer, she works as a model for an online shopping mall.

In April 2017, Shudu, a tall Black female model with radiant skin and shining eyes, appeared on SNS.

Shudu attracted attention when she was selected as a model for Samsung mobile phones in 2020 and also gained recognition in the global fashion industry at fashion shows.

In Korea, the cyber singer Adam already existed about 20 years ago in 1998. Virtual humans realized through 3D graphics were groundbreaking at that time. His first album sold 200,000 copies, and he even had an actual fan club.

However, he disappeared after his second album in 1999. The biggest reason for his disappearance was profitability. The cost invested in creating Adam was considerable, making it difficult to maintain.

Deepfake technology can manipulate the faces of virtual humans using AI, which can become a social issue. Virtual humans possess enormous memory capacity and can use more languages than real humans, raising concerns about causing confusion in human society.

There are also various concerns about virtual humans, including job issues and ethical problems. However, virtual humans have come close to us. Now, we must accept virtual humans as part of our society and seek positive directions.