Will AI Ever Outperform Salespeople? In China, It Already Is

AI has a great many talents that have made it an indispensable part of the workplace in recent years. Data analysis, summarising information, even writing emails. 

AI-powered tools have become so powerful, in fact, that many workers have started to fear for their jobs. There are some jobs that seem more secure than others, though.

Until recently, sales jobs may have been among those. The natural charisma and conversational skills of a salesperson can help to build a rapport with a client – something that AI has yet to master.

But this might not be the case for much longer. In China, several companies are already using AI-powered avatars to sell their wares over livestreams, according to WIRED. What's more, they're actually beginning to outperform their human counterparts.

Reportedly, Japanese electronics company Brother has started using virtual salespeople in China, where livestreams are a popular and effective way of selling products.

Just two hours after launching, Brother's avatar had managed to secure US$2,500 in printer sales, marking a 30% improvement in standard sales performances over livestream.

This particular avatar was developed by the Shanghai-based marketing firm PLTFRM, which has now deployed 30 AI avatars across major selling platforms including Taobao and Pinduoduo. Here, they sell all kinds of things, from office supplies to run-of-the-mill consumer goods.

"Every morning, we check the data to see how much our AI host sold while we were asleep," Brother has said in a company press release.

"It's now part of our daily routine."

Round-the-clock selling

According to WIRED, PLTFRM has created its virtual salespeople using a combination of Baidu's AI video models and DeepSeek's LLMs. This combination allows the avatars to generate real-time scripts and even respond to customer comments and queries on livestream.

Unlike earlier iterations that relied on pre-programmed answers, this next generation of AI avatar can process live reactions in the moment.

Alexandre Ouairy, PLTFRM's Co-Founder, says that, in the companies which use this technology, these virtual salespeople are now outselling real people on a consistent basis.

An obvious advantage that AI has over humans is that it requires no rest. Virtual salespeople can work round the clock without needing to pause for thought, go to sleep or eat a meal.

In the context of China's booming livestream ecommerce sector, this is a massive advantage.

Human flaws

Traditional livestream selling faces inherent human limitations that AI solutions directly address.

"You can only do a livestream as a real person for three or four hours. After that, you lose your voice, you get tired," Alexandre explains.

Performance data reveals declining sales effectiveness as human presenters experience fatigue during extended sessions.

"When we look at the sales, the sales are better for the first few minutes or the first hour with a real person, but then it goes down because that person gets tired," he adds.

"The virtual human is very standardised in terms of attitude."

Is this the future of ecommerce?

China's livestream commerce market has reached massive proportions, with over one-third of all ecommerce sales occurring during live broadcasts in 2024.

Half of Chinese consumers have made purchases while watching livestreams, according to government research.

Baidu capitalised on this trend with a high-profile demonstration featuring an AI version of influencer Luo Yonghao.

The six-hour session attracted 13 million views and generated US$7.7m in gross merchandise sales.

What lies in store for human salespeople?

The shift towards AI-powered sales represents a fundamental change in Chinese ecommerce marketing strategies.

Companies are moving from influencer partnerships towards direct AI-driven sales channels, potentially reducing dependency on human content creators.

Alexandre positions the technology as complementary to existing influencer marketing, describing AI avatars as acting "as a sales representative, the same way you'd have a salesperson in a physical store".

However, the economic advantages of always-on AI sales staff suggest that a broader displacement of human roles may just be inevitable.