Beijing pilots identity cards for AI digital humans

Beijing is running a pilot program that issues identity cards to AI digital humans, ABC News reported on 7 October 2026. The ID records a digital human's name, birthday, address and facial features, and allows its operators to open a digital currency wallet. The report does not name the agency issuing the cards.

Yuri, a virtual idol, was the first Chinese digital human to receive a government-based official ID earlier in 2026; the Beijing pilot also made her the first licensed AI artist in the country. ABC cites screenshots supplied by Douyin and Bilibili showing roughly 100,000 followers for her across Chinese social media.

The pilot sits alongside other measures. In September 2026 Beijing issued a practice guide for broadcasting and online video services, urging them to register their digital humans. Shanghai began a blockchain-based identification system in 2024 that assigns digital humans a permanent serial number. ABC says multiple government agencies are rolling out plans to regulate digital humans but does not name them.

On the sector's size, ABC cites a 2025 report from the Communication University of China putting at least 1.3 million firms in the digital human sector, and describes the 2025 market as an estimated 48 billion yuan (about US$10 billion) without naming a source for that figure. It also reports, without a source, that everyday people have been paid up to $20,000 to license their identities for digital human productions.

Supporters quoted in the article argue registration would protect intellectual property and curb online scams. Jeannie Paterson of the University of Melbourne argues companies should be held accountable because digital humans cannot be sued or imprisoned. Lennon Chang of Deakin University warns that ID registration could unmask anonymous users and create a chilling effect on speech.

Why it matters for digital humans: Disclosure regimes elsewhere — the EU AI Act's Article 50, New York and California's synthetic performer laws — ask you to label the output. A registry asks you to register the entity, which is a different compliance object: a per-avatar record, tied to a named operator, that a regulator can look up. If this moves from pilot to requirement, any vendor shipping avatars into China acquires an onboarding step and an inventory obligation per persona, not just a watermark. Treat the market figures with care: the 1.3 million firm count comes from a university report and the 48 billion yuan estimate is unattributed in the article, so neither is audited.