More companies vie for slice of virtual human market

Industry

Published: 13 Jul. 2022, 17:00 Updated: 13 Jul. 2022, 18:59

More companies vie for slice of virtual human market

Ana, a virtual human developed by Krafton [YONHAP]

Virtual humans have become the rising stars in the social media and entertainment industries.

They have appeared in various commercials and music videos, one of which garnered more than an eight million views over the course of seven months.

Virtual humans refer to computer-generated three-dimensional characters that are designed to behave like humans. There are around 150 of such characters in Korea.

The size of the global digital human avatar market is projected to reach $527.58 billion in 2030, according to Emergen Research, a research and consulting firm headquartered in Canada.

Virtual girl group Isegye Idol has seen success with its song “RE:WIND,” which topped the Bugs music chart after its release. The music video for the track has received 8.07 million views since it was uploaded on YouTube last December.

Musinsa online shopping website saw the number of visitors jump 270 percent in a week after it released a commercial featuring a virtual human inspired by actor Yoo Ah-in last month.

A virtual human introduced by fashion shopping website Musinsa, inspired by actor Yoo Ah-in. [YONHAP]

Rozy, a commercial model for Shinhan Life Insurance, raised 1.5 billion won ($1.2 million) in sales in the second half last year. She receives more than five requests for advertisements and brand partnerships a week.

Using a 3-D-like engine, “it’s become possible to create virtual humans that can move around in real time,” said Shin Kwang-sub, a spokesperson for Epic Games Korea, an engine developer for games.

Major game developers, including NCSoft, Netmarble and Smilegate have also jumped into the virtual human market.

Game developers have the best conditions to create virtual humans because “AI and a high level of graphic skills need to be combined to create virtual humans,” said a spokesperson for NCSoft.

Krafton, the developer of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, is working on a virtual human named Ana. The first teaser image of Ana was released last month, but the company has not revealed when they will officially debut.

Metaverse Entertainment, a Netmarble subsidiary, created Lina who appears on Instagram and TikTok. She signed a contract with entertainment agency Sublime, which also represents high profile actors like Song Kang-ho.

As well as game companies, IT start-ups, computer graphics firms, animation production companies and visual effects studios are vying for a piece of the action.

“Virtual humans will replace logos of all companies,” said Jin Seung-hyuk, CEO at KLleon, a start-up that creates virtual humans.

Naver said it is considering the development of virtual assistants through the combination of AI and cloud-based rendering technology.

Lucy, a virtual model introduced by Lotte Home Shopping, poses for an advertisement promoting Ssangyong Motor vehicles. [YONHAP]

Despite their popularity, there are downsides. Virtual humans faced strong backlash when Lee Luda, designed as a 20-year-old female university student, said homophobic slurs on social media last year. Deep learning algorithms, which used data collection from 10 billion conversations on KakaoTalk messenger app, are said to be to blame for the offensive language she used.

The incident “reflects a lack of human ethics,” said Kim Sang-kyun, a professor teaching metaverse management at Kyung Hee University’s Graduate School of Business.

There are also concerns virtual humans may be used for voice phishing or video phishing when the technology becomes more affordable.

BY PARK MIN-JE, KIM JUNG-MIN [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]