“I’m pregnant. After much consideration and thorough discussions with the company and my bandmates, I have decided to temporarily leave the group to focus on rest and recovery,” reads a statement signed by Mity, one of five members of the new girl group BABYQUEEN, alongside a selfie of her wearing pink pajamas in bed.

At first glance, nothing seems out of the ordinary, except that she and the entire BABYQUEEN pop group are AI-generated.

The announcement, published Tuesday on the group’s official Xiaohongshu account, also known as RedNote, has drawn criticism for turning women’s reproductive health into entertainment, as well as jokes and incredulity about the situation’s perceived absurdity.

AI girl group accounts have proliferated on Chinese social media in recent months, with virtual idols often maintaining social media accounts where they share glimpses of their daily lives and even secure and promote brand endorsements. 

BABYQUEEN, styled as a South Korean girl group, launched its Xiaohongshu account on Sept. 7. As of Friday, the account, whose IP address is located in China’s northeastern Liaoning province, has roughly 1,000 followers. 

Mity’s pregnancy was initially announced on the group’s account the day before, reading, “To prioritize her health during pregnancy and prepare for childbirth, she will temporarily suspend all group and individual variety show appearances and stage performances after thorough discussions with the team.” It also urged followers not to “over-speculate about her private life.”

Since it went viral on social media, the topic has attracted more than 6 million views on microblogging platform Weibo as of Friday. 

Many users have expressed astonishment. “AI group members can get pregnant now? I don’t understand the virtual world anymore,” one highly upvoted comment reads. Others joked that the group’s creators might be running short on tokens, implying they had to let one member go because they lacked the computing power.

Users also accused the band’s makers of using the story for views while showing little respect for women. “Using ‘pregnant and preparing for childbirth’ as a marketing hook and a sensationalized narrative trivializes real women’s reproductive experiences by turning them into entertainment,” one comment reads.

The day of the announcement, the account also released a teaser post for a new song performed by the group’s four remaining members. 

In a since-deleted Tuesday post on the BABYQUEEN account, the group’s creators cited pressures of running the group as the reason for the pregnancy announcement. 

“We’re just a few girls who like K-Pop, and we’re still students,” they wrote, adding that they had “not earned a single cent” from the endeavor. They also said they had experienced personal attacks and online harassment.

On the group’s official parent account, BABYPVSSY Entertainment, the creators said Mity might next “explore two possible career paths: acting or becoming a maternity and infant content creator.” 

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: Visuals from Xiaohongshu, reedited by Sixth Tone)