According to a recent report from Research And Markets, the global virtual humans market was worth $11.30 billion in 2021 and is predicted to reach $440.3 billion by 2031, with an annual growth rate of 44.7% from 2022 to 2031.
Virtual humans are usually referred to as avatars that can be used in immersive virtual reality experiences. As the metaverse continues to grow, these avatars are becoming increasingly common in various aspects of daily life, such as gaming, socialising and work.
According to the report, the virtual humans market growth is driven by three key factors: the increasing demand for virtual space in the metaverse, the growing use of AI-based avatars in the healthcare sector, and the rising awareness of the need for virtual social-emotional support.
Utilising AI in healthcare
As the use of AI continues to expand across various industries, the nascent technology is being used to address the global shortage of healthcare workers by automating routine tasks and freeing up the time of healthcare professionals to focus on more complex and high-value work.
The report also suggests that AI can be used to ease the burden on doctors and the healthcare system by performing other tasks and freeing up time to help doctors focus on the most important tasks.
These virtual humans can handle tasks such as gathering patient data and completing encounter reports. Customer service representatives could also use virtual humans to handle patient calls.
Expanding the use of avatars
The report goes on to suggest that the concept of digital humans is likely to expand beyond cultural and creative fields to encompass virtual celebrities as virtual humans are expected to be integrated into a variety of industries, which will boost the real economy.
As the virtual human market continues to grow, the report shows that there are many opportunities for key players to grow their businesses. Some key players have adopted strategies such as partnerships, product development and product launches to take advantage of these opportunities.
Key drivers of virtual humans
According to the report, the driving factors of virtual humans include the growing demand for virtual space in the metaverse through AR, VR, and ML, increasing demand for AI-based virtual humans in the healthcare sector and the rising awareness of creating virtual social-emotional support.
The report highlights some of the restraints of virtual humans including technological limitations due to the cost of developing intelligent applications and that it reduces the demand for human labor.
As for opportunities, virtual humans could create a surge in machine-to-human customer interaction in various end-use verticals as well as adopt smart and interactive educational solutions.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
