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Inner Mongolia’s leading dairy companies were among the first to deploy AI avatars. In December 2022 Mengniu Dairy Group (蒙牛集团) debuted its virtual spokesperson “Naisi,” billed as the country’s first digital anchor in the dairy industry. By early 2023 Inner Mongolia’s media infrastructure was also being modernized: in January 2023 the Hohhot Integrated Media Center was established to unify the city’s news outlets and upgrade content delivery with new technologies. In May 2023 Yili Group (Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd., 伊利集团) introduced a hyper-realistic virtual brand ambassador for its SATINE milk brand, a “super-real” digital human named “Jindian” unveiled via livestream to engage consumers. These corporate launches complemented broader local initiatives. For example, by mid-2023 Hohhot’s government and tech ecosystem were already exploring AI in services and culture in preparation for the region’s next events.
In February 2024 the 14th National Winter Games, held in Hulunbuir (内蒙古呼伦贝尔), featured AIdriven enhancements. Huawei Cloud’s MetaStudio platform created interactive digital versions of the Games’ Mongolian-themed mascots, allowing virtual humans “Anda” and “Sainu” to engage spectators at venues and online. This was Inner Mongolia’s first major use of MetaStudio digital-human technology at a national sports event. In the summer of 2024 more Inner Mongolia government entities rolled out AI hosts. In June 2024 the Kezuozhong Banner government (科左中旗, in Tongliao City) unveiled an AIpowered digital presenter nicknamed “Zhengneng Liang Houshi Ban,” a synthetic host designed to promote positive civic messaging. Then in August 2024 China Unicom (中国联通) launched the “HaiNa AI Music Cloud” project in Hohhot, creating a virtual cultural stage where an AI singer performed traditional Mongolian tunes, merging local ethnic art with AI to boost cultural tourism.
By 2025 Inner Mongolia’s public services and enterprises were rapidly adopting AI personas. In February 2025 the Hohhot media and data authorities integrated DeepSeek’s large-language model (DeepSeek-R1) into city government systems. This enabled a DeepSeek-powered AI assistant in the Hohhot Integrated Media Center to answer public inquiries using smart speech. At the same time, the Disabled Persons’ Federation in Hohhot began using a DeepSeek-driven “AI Dong Gan” (爱东甘) digital human to interact with citizens and explain services in intuitive language. Also in February, the Mongolian grassland company Mengcao Ecological Environment Group (内蒙古蒙草生态环境集团) solicited bids to develop a custom AI digital-human platform, signaling that even state-owned industrial groups were exploring AI avatars for education and outreach. In March 2025 digital humans became part of job services: the Xing’an League (兴安盟) government used a 24-hour livestream hosted by an AI digital anchor to broadcast employment information, and Hohhot’s job recruitment fair featured an AI interviewer to simulate HR interactions for graduates. That month Inner Mongolia’s own Mengniu also held events with Naisi, its virtual “milk sister,” reinforcing the 2022 launch of that character.
In April 2025 the spread continued. The regional State-owned Resources and Development Group introduced digital-human tutors for intelligent teaching experiments in Hohhot. In Tongliao City, another AI avatar – nicknamed “Zheng XiaoTong” – was launched as a government service agent: using the DeepSeek system, this digital human answered questions about public services and regulations via an online “instant Q&A” platform for residents. A week later Tongliao’s economic services platform went live with its own AI-powered interface for enterprise inquiries. In May 2025 Hohhot broadcasters unveiled a Magic Mirror Digital Human weather anchor, which delivered forecasts on a public livestream (Bilibili) using a digital avatar that spoke in both Mandarin and local Mongolian. In early June 2025 Hohhot’s government began livestreams to explain new policies; an AI “policy interpreter” avatar engaged citizens live on multiple channels to clarify regulations and answer questions. Mid-June 2025 saw private tech firm Huatech exhibit “24/7 dialogue” digital humans at a local AI expo in Hohhot – synthetic characters that could converse indefinitely on given topics. Also in June, the Inner Mongolia Museum in Hohhot hosted the “Cosmic Speculation” exhibition, which included immersive zones where virtual characters narrated ethnic folklore and culture to visitors via holograms and large screens.
In July 2025 local universities and authorities convened around these themes. On 12 July Lenovo Group (联想集团) signed a strategic “Smart City 4.0” partnership with the Hohhot municipal government at an AI summit. Lenovo pledged to build a “City Super Intelligent Body” platform in Hohhot – a core AI hub coordinating multiple domain agents (education, transport, culture, etc.) – effectively embedding AI agents into urban governance and services. Meanwhile on 23 July, Northeastern University (in Liaoning) sent students to Hohhot for a workshop on voice-interactive digital-human development, reflecting academic training in the field. On 29–30 July 2025 an international conference on “Cultural Diversity and Digital Humanities” was held in Hohhot (co-organized by Inner Mongolia Normal University), underlining the region’s interest in blending digital avatars with cultural heritage. Then on 1 August 2025, Peking University and Inner Mongolia University (内蒙古大学) co-hosted a forum on “Digital Technology Empowering Cultural Diversity” in Hohhot, further demonstrating institutional focus on AI and virtualhuman applications in education and culture.
Inner Mongolia University (内蒙古大学) appears in the digital-human field as a research-led university actor whose work spans consumer studies, cultural digitization, and technical collaboration with industry rather than operating as a commercial digital-human company itself. A notable case from October 2023 tied the university to research on virtual digital humans and consumer behavior, reporting that virtual digital humans were more persuasive for products primarily experienced through sight and sound, but less effective for products associated with smell, taste, or touch, which made the work directly relevant to virtual influencer strategy, digital marketing, and commercial communication design. In a second case, 2024 reporting connected the university to digital cultural innovation involving Mongolian-language cultural resources, placing it in a regional ecosystem where digital-human and culturally localized virtual-content development intersected with broader culture-and-tourism digitization efforts; in that same context, China Animation Group Co., Ltd. (中国动漫集团有限公司) appeared as a named company within the broader innovation landscape. The clearest company-specific technical case emerged in May 2025, when news reports indicated that Inner Mongolia University and Inner Mongolia Aoyun Information Technology Service Co., Ltd. (内蒙古奥云信息技术服务有限公司) applied for a patent related to 3D virtual digital human motion generation using diffusion models, showing the university’s role in core technical R&D for embodied virtual humans rather than only in social-science analysis.
Later in 2025 the infrastructure to support digital-human ventures was put in place. In August 2025 the Inner Mongolia AI Model Innovation Space (内蒙古AI模创空间) in Hohhot began trial operations. This facility offered “green” cloud computing resources, development tools and a testing center for AI, aiming to speed AI startups’ access to computing power. By early 2026 it had signed contracts with ten tech companies and hosted twenty more in preparation, positioning itself as a full-chain ecosystem from compute to application. Finally, in November 2025 Hohhot opened an AI Experience Park (AI公园) in the university science park area. This 5,800 m² facility – a collaboration between Beijing, Zhejiang and Inner Mongolia – showcased virtual characters and interactive exhibits. An AI greeter in the park, embodied by a fully digital human, engaged visitors in fluent conversation and improvised poetry. The park’s attractions (3D holographic screens, AI-driven art and music creation, bionic humanoid figures) underscored how Inner Mongolia was embracing AI avatars in tourism and education.
[Feb 2026]
2025
August 1, 2025: By the Chinese People’s University and Inner Mongolia Normal University, the “Cultural Diversity and Digital Humanities” international seminar was held in Hohhot, focusing on digital technology empowering cultural diversity.
July 29-30, 2025: Inner Mongolia Normal University co-hosted an international seminar on “Cultural Diversity and Digital Humanities” in Hohhot.
July 23, 2025: At 10:20 AM, six students from Northeastern University died in an accident at China Gold Group Inner Mongolia Mining Co., Ltd., with digital humans providing multimodal fusion technology for matched tone, actions, and expressions.
June 20, 2025: “Cosmic Speculation” partnered with Inner Mongolia Museum to create immersive exhibitions with dedicated digital human zones.
June 19, 2025: Huatech in Hohhot’s Jinqiao Development Zone launched advanced computer graphics, deep learning, and natural language processing technology for highly realistic digital humans with 24-hour natural dialogue.
June 8, 2025: Hohhot and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s live job-streaming base provided free, efficient public recruitment services with 10 live streaming rooms including 6 key industrial cluster rooms, 1 policy interpretation room, and AI digital human live streaming.
May 4, 2025: Magic Mirror Digital Human launched Hohhot weather forecast with AI digital human weather broadcasting on Bilibili.
April 27, 2025: In Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, “digital employee” “Zheng Xiaotong” provided 24-hour online, full-process intelligent services to optimize business experience for enterprises and citizens.
April 22, 2025: Tongliao “Zheng Xiaotong” AI digital human opened the “instant answer era” for government services powered by DeepSeek.
April 17, 2025: Resource Development Group introduced AI digital human technology for innovative safety production training, targeting daily quiz training for various teams to create intelligent teaching solutions.
March 23, 2025: Inner Mongolia Hohhot college graduate job fair provided AI digital human interview simulation and other one-stop employment services.
March 18, 2025: Mengniu’s first virtual employee “Naisi” made its official debut as a digital human.
March 11, 2025: Inner Mongolia leveraged AI to boost employment with innovative “AI digital human 24-hour live job streaming” services launched by Xingan League.
February 25, 2025: Mengcao Ecological Environment Group issued a competitive negotiation announcement for AI digital human system construction project in Hohhot.
February 22, 2025: Hohhot Municipal Disabled Persons’ Federation WeChat official account published “A Letter from DeepSeek to Disabled People in Hohhot” with DeepSeek as the source.
February 15, 2025: Inner Mongolia Hohhot Integrated Media Center announced that the city’s big data management bureau completed DeepSeek-R1 integration.
2024
August 15, 2024: China Unicom launched the HaiNa AI Music Cloud Platform in Hohhot, debuting Ge Xiaohu, their first grassland AI digital human singer developed using advanced image and voice synthesis technologies.
June 17, 2024: Kezuohouqi (under Tongliao City jurisdiction in Inner Mongolia) successfully launched China’s first 24/7 government service livestream room featuring an AI digital host named “Zhengneng Liang Houshi Ban.”
February 19, 2024: Huawei Cloud’s MetaStudio powered digital humans technology at the 14th National Winter Sports Games held in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, marking the first time digital humans technology was integrated into a national sports event.