In Depth: Metaverse Trailblazers Hope to Make Real Money From Virtual People

By Guan Cong, Guo Yingzhe, and He Shujing

A concert was held to commemorate late singer Teresa Teng on May 9, 2015, in Taipei . Photo: VCG

During the 2022 Winter Olympics, you didn’t have to look too far in China to catch a glimpse of one of the stars of Team China, Chinese-American skier Eileen Gu, whether it was on billboards, bus station ads or TV screens.

One admittedly small contributor to the ubiquity of Gu’s image was Meet Gu, an autonomous digital likeness created by Migu Video, a video site backed by state-owned wireless carrier China Mobile Ltd. In industry speak, Meet Gu is a “simulated human (虚拟人) product” that looks and sounds a lot like the star skier herself. During the Games, she could be seen chatting with television hosts and members of the audience.