This ranking evaluates 15 China-market AI digital-human companies using an iiMedia big-data scoring model across three weighted dimensions: digital-human richness (30%), digital-human communication volume or “buzz” (30%), and digital-human application potential (40%), with all indices expressed on a 0–100 scale and higher scores indicating stronger overall capability. The monitoring cutoff stated in the methodology notes is August 8, 2023, the ranking is described as intended to be updated annually, and the methodology text also flags that automated monitoring can miss firms and provides a pathway for additional firms to submit information for inclusion.
Looking dimension-by-dimension, the table indicates that Baidu’s leading composite score is supported by a high communication score (88.96) and the highest application-potential score in the table (85.00), even though its richness score (78.04) is not the highest. iFLYTEK’s second-place composite is comparatively balanced, with richness at 78.42, communication at 84.27, and application potential at 84.94, which is close to Baidu’s application score and materially above most of the list. 360 Group’s third-place composite combines a high richness score (82.32) with solid communication (82.21) and application potential (83.06), consistent with a profile of breadth plus deployability rather than dominance in a single metric. Xiaoice’s fourth-place composite is driven primarily by the highest richness score (85.00) alongside communication at 81.92 and application potential at 81.25. Huawei’s fifth-place composite is shaped by the strongest communication score in the table (90.00) paired with lower richness (77.03) and application potential (79.06), which implies that visibility and attention to its digital-human efforts are unusually strong relative to the breadth of its catalog and the assessed expandability of use cases.
The accompanying commentary explains “richness” as breadth of digital-human types and scenario coverage, arguing that more types and more industries served imply stronger ability to meet diverse customer needs and to support broader value-chain integration. It then uses Xiaoice and 360 Group as illustrative cases: Xiaoice is framed as an early “emotional intelligence”–oriented AI system with applications including digital employees, virtual companionship, and game NPCs, emphasizing natural dialogue, semantic understanding, and emotional recognition; 360’s AI digital-human line is described as built on its “360 Zhinao” large model, spanning digital employees, digital celebrities, and custom digital humans, and the text stresses ease-of-use (reducing the need for prompt expertise), the role of enterprise knowledge bases in business problem-solving, and a security positioning rooted in 360’s security focus. The commentary also highlights an event-based example in which a 360-supported digital human “Kexin” appeared as a host at ISC 2023 and was used in on-site guidance and consultation, and it claims that the 360 AI digital-human lineup contains more than 200 roles, pointing to deliberate role multiplicity as part of its richness story.
For “communication volume,” the commentary treats it as a proxy for industry influence and market attention, explicitly stating that Huawei ranks first on this dimension, followed by Baidu, iFLYTEK, 360 Group, and Xiaoice. It links higher communication volume to enterprises’ intensified actions around large-model deployment and digital-human initiatives during 2023, and it uses 360 as an example of how a large-model milestone (the “360 Zhinao 4.0” release) and subsequent productization under “360 Intelligent Marketing Cloud” are portrayed as driving increased attention. The underlying implication is that the ranking’s visibility metric is not merely media presence but an index intended to capture sustained momentum from product announcements, ecosystem moves, and market activity that draw ongoing attention to digital-human offerings.
For “application potential,” the commentary defines it as the likelihood of creating new business opportunities and changing how people live and work, and it says the top five on this dimension are Baidu, iFLYTEK, Alibaba, 360 Group, and Xiaoice. The evaluative logic presented emphasizes interaction experience, commercial feasibility, and user acceptance, and it argues that scaling AI digital humans requires both advanced AI and careful matching to real scenario needs and terminal requirements. A key analytical claim in the commentary is that firms need to break product homogeneity and create distinctive competitive advantages to unlock broader growth space, which positions application potential as a forward-looking differentiator rather than a retrospective measure of current deployments alone.
The final thematic block situates AI digital humans within a broader “cost reduction and efficiency improvement” (降本增效) narrative, explicitly tying enterprise digital transformation pressures to the appeal of AI-driven digital humans as service-providing assets that can reduce labor costs and improve productivity. It also foregrounds data security and privacy as central constraints, presenting secure, service-oriented digital humans as aligned with enterprises’ simultaneous needs for efficiency and data protection. The commentary further claims that large-model progress lowers technical barriers and funding burdens that previously limited digital-human adoption, and it characterizes the policy environment as still in an early planning stage but expected to mature through continued practice and refinement, with the intended effect of improving norms and creating better conditions for higher-quality industry development.
Baidu (百度): A Chinese internet and AI company that develops AI-driven digital human capabilities within its broader search, cloud, and generative AI product ecosystem.
iFLYTEK (科大讯飞): A Chinese AI company known for speech and language technologies that applies these capabilities to interactive digital human products and services.
360 Group (360集团): A Chinese cybersecurity and internet services company that integrates large-model and security-oriented positioning into its digital human offerings.
Xiaoice (小冰公司): A Chinese AI company focused on conversational and character-based systems that produces digital human products for virtual companionship and enterprise scenarios.
Huawei (华为): A Chinese ICT company that supports digital human deployments through its cloud, AI, and computing infrastructure and related solution stacks.
Alibaba (阿里巴巴): A Chinese technology group that develops and deploys digital human applications across e-commerce, cloud services, and enterprise software contexts.
Douyin Group (抖音集团): A Chinese internet company behind major short-video platforms that applies digital humans in content, marketing, and platform-driven creator workflows.
Bilibili (哔哩哔哩): A Chinese video and community platform that uses virtual and digital human formats within entertainment, live streaming, and creator communities.
Tencent (腾讯): A Chinese technology company that applies digital human technologies across social, content, cloud, and interactive entertainment services.
China Mobile (中国移动): A Chinese telecommunications operator that explores digital humans as service interfaces and customer-facing applications within its broader digital services.
Kuaishou (快手): A Chinese short-video and live-streaming platform company that applies digital humans to content production, marketing, and creator-facing tools.
NetEase (网易): A Chinese internet company with major game and content businesses that uses digital humans within interactive entertainment and related media products.
miHoYo (米哈游): A Chinese game company that develops character-centric interactive experiences where digital human-like characters and production pipelines are strategically relevant.
Tianyu Digital Technology (天娱数科): A Chinese digital technology company that participates in digital human-related commercialization through its broader digital services positioning.
JD.com (京东): A Chinese e-commerce and logistics company that applies digital humans in retail operations, customer service, and marketing-oriented digital experiences.