{"id":8965,"date":"2024-10-22T07:44:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T07:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.d-id.com\/?post_type=af-resource&p=8965"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:20:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T12:20:31","slug":"digital-humans","status":"publish","type":"af-resource","link":"https:\/\/www.d-id.com\/resources\/glossary\/digital-humans\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Humans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Digital humans give companies the ability to deliver interactive, personable services across many areas of business at minimal cost. With a digitally created person, service users such as sales prospects, customers, and employees can enjoy fast and informative interactions through digital representatives that are created and updated at a fraction of the expense and effort required when using actual people. As the technologies for building a digital person improve, we can expect even higher levels of service quality and applications to come. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Digital Human?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A digital human is a computer-generated representation of a human being that can interact with real people in virtual environments. Through artificial intelligence, digital humans are programmed to simulate lifelike facial expressions and body movements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sophistication of digital humans varies according to application. When an application is not interactive (for example, as part of a sales pitch or product demonstration), the digital human\u2019s movements are coordinated with the script that it delivers. However, when real-time responses are required, a number of technologies are used to both generate knowledge-based interactions and dynamic expressions (in the form of, for example, smiling, blinking, and nodding). Regarding information sources, digital human AI translates content from a database into responses to user queries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of digital human technology is to give people the impression that they are interacting with something visually appealing and innovative while getting a high level of service quality. In the case of an advanced digital human chatbot, it can sometimes be challenging to tell that you are speaking with a virtual human<\/a>. Ultimately, digital humans will be almost indistinguishable from actual people, leading to the types of emotional connections that are important for customer loyalty, branding, and other vital business needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Digital Humans Matter<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The use of digital humans is evolving. Once regarded as a \u201cnice to have,\u201d the market for digital human technology is growing rapidly<\/a>. Along with this maturity comes the competitive necessity of learning how to develop digital humans for your company so that their abilities outperform others in your market. It\u2019s becoming clear that AI is a difficult category to master<\/a>, and companies that have a head start can develop a competitive barrier that lasts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the board, industries have implemented digital humans in some of their most important areas of operations. Current use cases include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer Service<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Digital humans that enhance the customer experience<\/a> fill many roles, with customer service being one of the leading areas. As technologies improve, the speed and accuracy of responses by virtual customer service reps even exceed that of people. In this environment, the performance of digital humans is limited only by the completeness of the source material that generates their responses (which is easily improved by analyzing cases escalated to human representatives). Virtual customer service teams reduce bottlenecks caused by a lack of staff and minimize customer frustration due to a poorly trained or undermotivated human employee.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning & Development <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Digital humans provide engaging and personalized experiences for academic and corporate training. Virtual instructors are often more interesting than traditional presentations, diagrams, or texts. Plus, AI can adapt learning material in real time, enabling customized training. For example, if a certain topic does not challenge a student in a group, the system can channel more advanced material to them specifically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entertainment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ability of digital humans to use generative AI allows the creation of inexpensive but effective entertainment media. AI companions are a popular application where real people interact with digital humans who are programmed to be sympathetic, affectionate, and attentive. Generative AI (see below) enables digital humans to process publicly available data as a way to handle the kinds of random questions and interactions that are common to personal conversations.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Digital Humans Are Created<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From facial features to tone of voice, digital humans are created by using a wide range of technologies, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI and Machine Learning<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AI powers machine learning enabling digital humans to generate responses using custom data sources or general information. For instance, in the form of a personal digital assistant, machine learning would allow a digital human to arrange a flight by checking the user\u2019s calendar and then using the internet to access flight availability. This second type of data collection is known as Retrieval-Augmented Generation, where large language models look up data from a wide range of sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generative AI<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The output of a digital human is based on generative artificial intelligence. It processes the data collected through machine learning into a response communicated to the user. For digital humans, this is typically through verbal communication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Custom Databases<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To operate effectively, digital humans rely on a robust data source that supplies the necessary information for optimal performance. A digital human might deliver a product presentation using verbal information supplied by text created by the user. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avatar Creation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Building the physical appearance of a digital human is a multi-stage process: <\/p>\n\n\n\n