Xinjiang has progressively expanded the development and deployment of virtual digital humans across media, culture and tourism, public services, and vocational training, reflecting a broader transition toward a digitally oriented regional economy. The earliest documented milestone in this trajectory predates the later “surge” framing: in May 2020, Xinjiang Newspaper Media Group (Xinjiang Daily) introduced the region’s first AI virtual news anchor during the national Two Sessions coverage, establishing an early operational precedent for AI-presented broadcasting in Xinjiang. From 2023 onward, Xinjiang’s digital human work became more visibly associated with ultra-realistic avatar production and branded cultural figures, most notably the unveiling of “Kunlun Xi (昆仑羲)” in Ürümqi in July 2023 by Xinjiang Ting Guangtong Digital Technology Co., Ltd., positioned as an ultra-realistic virtual digital human and cultural ambassador drawing on Kunlun mythology and intended for tourism, exhibitions, livestreaming, and e-commerce applications. This period also shows a pattern of ecosystem fragility alongside visibility, as registry records in the earlier timeline document note Ting Guangtong’s deregistration on April 24, 2025 even while Kunlun Xi remains a landmark reference point in Xinjiang’s digital human development.
By 2024, deployments broadened into multilingual event communication, tourism-stage integration, and practical workforce enablement. At the 8th China–Eurasia Expo in Ürümqi in June 2024, Xinjiang Guiyu Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. demonstrated a multilingual digital human news anchor cloned from a real employee and used for continuous reading of expo updates in 27 languages, illustrating a commercially oriented approach to scalable, multilingual AI video presentation. In August 2024, Hotan’s Kunlun Mountains Canyon Cultural Tourism Festival introduced “Yi Qi,” an ultra-realistic 3D digital human acting as a virtual tourism recommendation officer, developed by a Beijing E-Town and Shang Yicheng Group team and presented on stage with human hosts as part of a cross-regional cultural tourism collaboration. In parallel, China Telecom’s Shufu County program in March 2024 paired digital human livestreaming capability with training delivery and an AI livestream base to support local e-commerce participation, explicitly linking digital human tools to agricultural sales and entrepreneurship. Xinjiang’s public-sector adoption reached its most consequential milestone in January 2025 when the Karamay Public Security Bureau introduced “Xiao Ke,” the region’s first AI-powered digital police officer, developed with Beijing Shiyin Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. and integrating large language models, computer vision, speech recognition, and voice cloning for 24-hour public enquiry support and internal policing applications such as training and case-scenario assistance.
[Jan 2026]
2025
January 10, 2025: Karamay Public Security Bureau (with Beijing Shiyin Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.) – Unveiled Xinjiang’s first AI-driven digital police officer “Xiao Ke” during the Fifth Chinese People’s Police Day, introducing a 24-hour voice-interactive virtual police service using large language models, speech recognition, computer vision, and voice cloning to provide legal guidance, public enquiries, and internal police training functions.
2024
October 12, 2024: Changji City Media Center with Quanzhou Broadcasting & Television Station – Launched Xinjiang’s first AI Digital Human Studio and introduced the first batch of AI digital news anchors as part of the Fujian-Xinjiang media collaboration program, enabling AI-hosted television and public information broadcasting.
August 23, 2024: Hotan Kunlun Mountains Canyon Cultural Tourism Festival (Beijing E-Town / Shang Yicheng Group) – Debut of “Yi Qi”, an ultra-realistic 3D digital human serving as a virtual tourism recommendation officer, appearing on stage with human hosts to present tourism content and interact with audiences using lifelike expressions and gestures.
June 26–30, 2024: 8th China–Eurasia Expo (Ürümqi) – Xinjiang Guiyu Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. – Demonstrated a multilingual AI digital human news anchor cloned from a real employee, continuously broadcasting expo updates in 27 languages using AI-generated video, voice cloning, and lip-sync technology.
March 25, 2024: China Telecom (Shufu County) at Kashgar Jianguoguo Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd. – Conducted an AI digital human livestreaming training program for e-commerce with more than 150 local businesses, students, and entrepreneurs, establishing Xinjiang’s first AI livestreaming training base to support digital agriculture and rural online sales.
2023
July 13, 2023: Xinjiang Ting Guangtong Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (Ürümqi) – Unveiled “Kunlun Xi (昆仑羲)”, Xinjiang’s first ultra-realistic virtual digital human, modeled on Kunlun mythology and designed as a digital cultural ambassador and virtual idol for tourism, exhibitions, livestreaming, and e-commerce, representing Xinjiang’s formal entry into high-fidelity digital human production.
2020
May 23, 2020: Xinjiang Newspaper Media Group (Xinjiang Daily) – Debuted Xinjiang’s first AI virtual news anchor during China’s Two Sessions, using text-to-speech and AI video synthesis to deliver televised news with human-like lip-sync and facial expressions, marking the region’s first operational deployment of digital humans in media.