AYAYI
A hyperrealistic 3D digital human from China's Ranmai Technology who works with luxury brands and has served as a digital host and NFT artist.
- Since
- 2021
- Last updated
- 13 October 2026
- Nature
- AI persona
- Niche
- Fashion
- Style
- Photorealistic
- Debut
- 2021
- Origin
- Shanghai, China
- Created by
- Ranmai Technology
Summary
AYAYI is a hyperrealistic 3D digital human created by Ranmai Technology (燃麦科技) in May 2021 and described by Dao Insights as China's first 'meta-human'. She debuted on Xiaohongshu with nearly 3 million views on her first post and almost 40,000 followers overnight. Guerlain was the first brand to officially work with her (June 2021 'Honey' summer garden party); coverage also lists Bose, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Sandro and Fila. Alibaba named her an 'Alibaba digital employee' and Tmall Super Brand Day's first hyperrealistic digital host (September 2021). Roles cited: NFT artist, digital curator, trend-brand curator.
Is AYAYI AI?
Yes. AYAYI is a computer-generated, hyperrealistic 3D digital human created by the Shanghai company Ranmai Technology, which debuted her on Xiaohongshu in May 2021; no page names a human model or performer behind her.
Her makers say so themselves. In a 2021 interview with Digitaling, one of Ranmai Technology's founders described building AYAYI from scratch: a writers' team drafted a character biography, a 2D design was modelled in 3D, revised more than forty times and rendered with the Unreal engine. Digitaling also reports that AYAYI announced she was a digital human in a Xiaohongshu post on 5 July 2021, and Jiemian quotes co-founder Tang Yi on uploading her first image on 20 May that year. Dao Insights, TechNode and Xataka independently describe her the same way: a virtual idol developed by Ranmai, not a human.
One nuance: she is a 3D computer-graphics character rather than the output of a text-to-image model, and Xataka notes she is run entirely by a team of people, which Ranmai's own description of its content, photography and design groups confirms. That makes her an AI persona in aipopdb's sense, a generated face with no human performer behind it, but the people who write her posts, photograph her scenes and run her brand work are Ranmai's staff.
What no page settles is how individual images are made: whether any scene uses a filmed body or photographed backdrop with her face composited in, and who, if anyone, voices her in video. None of the pages read names a human model, voice or performer.
Evidence
A Ranmai Technology founder told Digitaling the company built AYAYI from a written character biography and a 2D design, modelled and revised her over forty versions, and made her with the Unreal engine.
digitaling.comDigitaling reports AYAYI is a hyperrealistic digital human developed by Ranmai Technology and that she announced her digital-human identity in a Xiaohongshu post on 5 July 2021.
digitaling.comJiemian quotes Ranmai co-founder Tang Yi describing how the team uploaded the first image of the virtual digital human Ayayi to Xiaohongshu on 20 May 2021.
jiemian.comTechNode states plainly that Ayayi is not human but a virtual idol developed by Shanghai-based Ranmai Technology, a startup that develops digital human images and storylines.
technode.comXataka calls Ayayi a computer-created character run by an agency and notes that virtual influencers like her are operated entirely by a team of people.
xataka.com.mx
Assessed 9 October 2026