Outrage in China after streaming site debuts AI actor ‘database’

BEIJING — China's equivalent of Netflix, iQIYI, faced backlash on Monday over a new initiative that facilitates the use of actors' likenesses in artificially generated dramas and films.

More than 100 celebrities have joined a platform to connect with makers of AI-generated content interested in using their image, a senior executive told a conference in Beijing.

China's entertainment industry has rapidly embraced the use of artificial intelligence, with AI-generated films and shows a common feature on video platforms.

A slate of Chinese actors took to social media to declare they had not or would not sign up to the "artist database", with fans decrying iQIYI's apparent move to reduce work for human actors.

The streaming site called the backlash a "misunderstanding" and insisted actors would retain control over how their image was used in AI-generated content.

"We are not currently licensing the likeness of actors," iQIYI senior vice president Liu Wenfeng told AFP.

"Rather, we are enabling AI creators and actors to more quickly establish connections through Nadou Pro," he said, referring to the company's new AI tool targeted at filmmakers.

Users can input prompts into Nadou Pro to generate short films and use it for editing, according to a live demonstration on Monday.

"There's a misunderstanding here," Liu said. "What kind of drama, which shot -- everything needs to be confirmed by the actor."

Fans were also angered by comments made by iQIYI chief executive Gong Yu suggesting fully human-made work could become "intangible cultural heritage"—a phrase used in Chinese to describe a relic of the past worth preserving.

The phrase "iQIYI went nuts" was the most-discussed topic on social media platform Weibo by mid-day.

"If actors all turn into AI, what warmth will these works of literature and art have?" read one post.

Experts warn there are risks involved in allowing AI to use a person's image.

"Once an artist's image data is used for training platform models, there are technical risks such as model fine-tuning, data leakage and unauthorized secondary training, which are difficult to eliminate," Li Zhenwu, a lawyer from Shanghai Star Law Firm, told AFP.

"This means that an artist's digital assets may be reused...completely outside of their control," Li added. — Agence France-Presse