Tested: Baidu’s Wen Xiao Yan AI digital human social messaging app

Note: The article was first published on TechNode China written by Steven Lee and translated by Zinan Zhang.

Baidu recently launched an AI digital human social app called Wen Xiao Yan, which is based on the ERNIE Bot. It is an AI application service for “real-time communication, interaction, and establishing emotional connections” with AI virtual characters. According to the official statement, Wen Xiao Yan uses a simulated digital human as an “AI social object” with a vivid personality, making interactions “more realistic.” 

TechNode has trialed the app; the below is our review.

Interface and features

The interface of the app is straightforward, mainly divided into two sections: “Chat” and “Discover”. Users can swipe up and down in the “Discover” section to find their favorite digital human chat partners. Each digital human has its own avatar, nickname, and profile, and users can choose according to their interests and hobbies. You can enter the chat interface after clicking on the digital human’s avatar.

The app provides a variety of digital humans for users to interact with, and their nicknames are mostly named in the form of profession, personality or characteristics with names such as “an uncle who loves fishing,” “a psychological counselor,” “a love strategist,” “a fitness coach,” “a TV drama fan,” and so on. 

It is currently unclear whether new digital humans will be periodically added for users to experience.

In the chat interface, users can interact with the digital humans in three forms: text, voice, and pictures. The digital human will reply in the form of voice and text. The expressions and demeanor of these digital humans are a bit “unnatural” however, for example occasionally shaking their heads left and right, which is a bit scary.

User experience

We asked the series of questions in the app and the digital humans all gave relatively satisfactory answers. However, when uploading a picture and asking which channels the item can be purchased via, the digital human only replied with generic rhetoric and did not provide a purchase link or product example (in contrast, uploading a picture of an object on Taobao can directly open a product link with an item of the same or similar appearance). 

When the digital human reads its answers, their mouth shape does not correspond strictly to the words being spoken, and it feels very abrupt when you look closely.

The feeling of communicating with a digital human in the chat interface is still quite different from making a video call with a real person at this stage.

Similarly, the answers provided by the digital human are sometimes too mechanical, lack flexibility, and the voice sounds very “robotic.”

Summary

At present, Wen Xiao Yan is an AI digital human app worth experiencing for a few minutes. It can meet a small part of your social needs. The advantages include a fresh and fun experience, with the AI acting as a life assistant similar to a real person, providing helpful interactions. 

However, there are also disadvantages: it can become boring once the initial novelty wears off, the expressions and demeanor of the digital human can feel unnatural, and there is no support for creating a personalized digital human.