20/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | APR 20, 2026

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China seeks to rein in risks from AI ‘digital humans’

BEIJING: After her father died from cancer, Zhang Xinyu had an artificial intelligence avatar made that looks and sounds just like him, part of a growing “digital human” industry that China is moving to govern more tightly. Videos featuring AI digital humans are ubiquitous on Chinese social media, with their uncanny features and smooth, dexterous motions often used to tout products. The nation’s cyberspace regulator issued draft rules this month on how these avatars are developed and deployed – seeking to stop them harming children, threatening social stability or being created to resemble someone without their consent. Zhang, 47, approached the company Super Brain two years ago, feeling depressed and lonely following her bereavement. She can now converse online with her father’s avatar, something that made her feel “fully recharged in an instant and filled with motivation once again”, she told AFP. Some friends worried Zhang would become too immersed in the virtual world and “never be able to move on”, calling it a form of “false comfort”, she added. “But even if the comfort itself is simulated, the love behind it is real,” said Zhang, who is based in Liaoning province. State news agency Xinhua reported last year that the country’s digital human industry was worth around 4.1 billion yuan (RM2.4 billion) in 2024, having grown a huge 85% year-on-year. Chinese governance of new digital technologies has always followed the logic of “develop first, then regulate, and perfect in the process”, said Marina Zhang, from the University of Technology Sydney.

“Price fluctuations are instruments that help society adapt to new norms. In general, it’s inappropriate to switch them off and hamper changes in public behaviour,“ he said. Instead of blanket subsidies, countries should spend more on investment to boost energy efficiency, increase oil reserves and take steps to diversify energy consumption, Kanda said. The dollar dropped to its lowest in seven weeks on Friday after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open, raising hopes the Middle East conflict is nearing an end. The dollar also weakened against the yen, though with prospects fading for an interest rate hike in April the Japanese currency remained near the 160-per-dollar mark that has sparked past currency interventions. The dollar stood around ¥158.61 on Friday. Wary of hurting a fragile economy, the BOJ has kept rates low even as rising import costs from a weak yen and steady wage gains have kept inflation around its target for nearly four years. Kanda, who presided as Japan’s top currency diplomat for three years until July 2024, combated the yen’s relentless falls with record foreign exchange intervention – a move that earned him the nickname “Mr. Yen”. – Reuters to 200,000 yuan, the CAC said. Previously, the CAC has clamped down on the use of AI-generated deepfakes that impersonate public figures in e-commerce livestreams, which it said “severely damaged” the online ecosystem. One goal for China of imposing new tech regulations is to preserve its “sovereignty and political objectives”, said Manoj Harjani, a research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Under the draft rules, digital humans are prohibited from generating or disseminating content that endangers national security or incites subversion of state power. And to protect children, the CAC regulations ban services offering minors virtual intimate relationships, or that encourage them to “develop extreme emotions, or cultivate harmful habits”. “Beijing wants to move quickly on AI adoption and deployment, but within a controlled framework,” said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society Policy Institute. There is strong support for scaling new technologies – but once “risks become visible”, Lee added, regulators step in quickly. – AFP

o Regulator issued draft rules this month on how these avatars are developed and deployed

mimicked her son’s speech patterns and his movements so closely that she believed it was him on a video call. It sparked heated online discussion on the ethics of generative AI, with some people calling for more regulation to prevent bad actors like scammers from misusing powerful new tools. The woman’s family approached Super Brain after her son died in a car accident, Zhang told AFP. It was a “well-intentioned lie”, he said, adding that Super Brain always obtains consent from family members of the deceased. The CAC regulations – open for public comment until early May – mark China’s latest attempt to balance its technology ambitions with preventing unfettered development that could prove risky. Violations will be punished in accordance with the law, with potential fines of 10,000 yuan

The regulations proposed by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) require clear labelling on digital human content. They also prohibit using personal information to create deepfake clones of individuals without their consent. Super Brain’s founder Zhang Zewei said he sees new laws and regulation on the sector as “inevitable”. “I view this as a positive development, as it achieves a balance between standardised regulation and industry growth,” he told AFP. The company specialises in creating AI avatars of the dead for grieving families. A video clip of an elderly woman who unknowingly chatted with a hyper-realistic avatar of her dead son was widely shared on Chinese social media this month, with a related hashtag garnering over 90 million views on Weibo. The avatar, created by Zhang’s firm,

ADB chief warns of pressure on yen from Japan’s ‘too-slow’ rate hikes WASHINGTON: The yen may come under further pressure if markets see the Bank of Japan as being too slow in addressing inflationary risks, Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda said. While Japan is not the only country using subsidies to curb fuel bills, such measures should be targeted and temporary to avoid distorting market pricing, Kanda said.

Investors buy dollars in times of global stress in part because the US is an oil exporter, but even when such positions are unwound the yen fails to rise much against the dollar, Kanda, who was formerly Japan’s top currency diplomat, told reporters last week. “The biggest reason is interest rate differentials (between the US and Japan). With markets particularly focusing on what the US Federal Reserve could do, Japan’s currency will be left behind if many people think the BOJ will be behind the curve” in addressing inflationary risks, he said. Investors may also sell yen if they worry about Japan’s fiscal sustainability, Kanda said during his visit to Washington to attend this week’s meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group. An advocate of expansionary fiscal policy, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has rolled out subsidies to cap gasoline prices and pledged to keep boosting spending to support the economy. Critics say such moves would add to Japan’s huge public debt, which is already twice the size of its economy and the largest debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio among major countries. the second half of the fiscal year ended in March as easing inflation and lower taxes supported household spending and corporate borrowing. HDFC Bank’s advances rose 12% in the quarter from a year earlier, driven mainly by retail loans including mortgages and personal debt. Total deposits rose 14.4%. Jagdishan did not provide a loan growth forecast for the 2026-27 financial year, citing geopolitical uncertainties. “I’m being very conscious of staying away from getting a certain number to you all. But ...

Kanda says investors may also sell yen if they worry about Japan’s fiscal sustainability. – REUTERSPIC

HDFC Bank beats profit estimates on strong loan growth MUMBAI: India’s HDFC Bank reported a stronger-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter profit on Saturday, helped by a pick-up in lending to consumers, though lending margins remained weak. HDFC Bank has hired two domestic law firms and one US-based law firm to review the resignation letter from former part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty, Reuters reported last month, citing sources.

we are on the right track,“ he said. The bank’s management said earlier this year that loan growth would exceed the industry average. Net interest income – the difference between interest earned on loans and interest paid on deposits – rose 3.2% to 330.8 billion rupees. – Reuters

The bank posted a standalone net profit of 192.2 billion Indian rupees (RM8.22 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, compared with 176.16 billion rupees a year earlier and just above analysts’ estimate of 191.16 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG. Loan demand in India gained momentum in

India’s largest private lender is reporting its first quarterly results since its chairman resigned citing differences over “values and ethics”. It is conducting a legal review of the incident and will provide a summary in due course, chief executive Sashidhar Jagdishan said on a post-earnings call.