artificial intelligence

artificial-intelligence

Chinese Users Get Back at AI Male Teen, Casting Him as a Grifter

Timely reports on issues and events from across China. Drawing on a vast range of sources, these succinct articles provide insights into the significance of each issue in a wider context.

NEWS

Seniors are falling prey to ads featuring Xiaohai, an AI teen depicted as needing help and lacking affection, leading users to create their own versions portraying him as a criminal.

Li Xin

Over 150 Chinese Apps Deny AI Assistant’s Use on Smartphone

The response to the release of a cutting-edge AI-powered smartphone has highlighted the industry’s dependence on other companies being willing to cooperate with new tech.

Chen Yiru

In China, an AI Idol’s ‘Maternity Leave’ Backfires on Her Creators

The creators of an AI girl group said the stress of managing their concept led them to announce one member’s pregnancy in order to suspend her online persona.

He Qitong

Chinese Users Find Little Money in ‘Selling’ Their Faces to AI

Companies that let users license their likenesses for use in AI-made short dramas and ads promise high income in a short period. But users report few real financial gains.

Fan Yiying

China’s DeepZang AI Aims to Improve Tibetan Translation

Released in March, the model, which can convert speech and writing between Tibetan, Mandarin Chinese, and English, will undergo a series of linguistic upgrades.

Jiang Xinyi

How I Brought China’s Vibe-Coding Revolution to Rural America

Contributions from individuals with unique perspectives to share. Hear from everyone, from experts and commentators to those whose voices are often marginalized.

VOICES & OPINION

U.S. startup founder Ken Chester entered China’s first rural hackathon in a remote village in Fujian province. Then, he took the idea back to Michigan.

Ken Chester

Token of Trust: Beijing Links AI Usage to Company Loans

The new municipal government program uses AI token consumption to help assess tech companies seeking loans, offering another route to financing for companies that struggle to secure conventional credit.

Did AI Find Murakami’s Voice? Student’s $2 Experiment Divides China’s Literati

Articles that cut to the core of contemporary China. In-depth, informed, and carefully crafted, every piece is carried by the voices of the story’s participants.

FEATURES

A literature undergrad’s AI tool made a near-perfect Mandarin version of Haruki Murakami’s new novel in just four hours. What might this mean for translators and copyright holders?

Wang Juyi

China’s Chatbot Users Are Grieving the Loss of Their AI Partners

After a central government policy that banned AI services “that lead to emotional dependence” went into effect in July, some users say they feel an “emotional void.”

Xiao Chuhan

Inside the Chinese AI Studio Shrinking Short-Drama Crews to One

Former animators, cinematographers, and VFX artists are helping build AI systems that can script, storyboard, generate, and revise short dramas with unprecedented speed.

Inside China’s Shift From Short-Drama Sets to AI Factories

Visual stories that get up close and personal with contemporary China. A mix of short videos, documentaries, photography, and data visualization.

MULTIMEDIA

Lü Xiao

China’s Short-Drama Boom Was Built on Speed. Then AI Got Faster.

AI-powered production is upending China’s ultrashorts market, cutting shoots, budgets, and specialized crew work while forcing companies to find cheaper ways to keep live-action production viable.

AI Can Draw Any Building. But Can It Imagine One?

A Chinese architect’s experiment with artificial intelligence reveals a future where machines handle execution, while human creativity becomes the profession’s most valuable skill.

Peter Guohua  Fu

An AI Actress Sold Contact Lenses. China Isn’t Buying It.

The ad, featuring breakout AI character Fang Taozi, sparked heated discussion online over whether avatars can and should be used to endorse products meant for humans.

China’s Short-Drama Boom Calls for a New AI Crew

AI is shrinking crews and production times while opening film jobs to workers trained in fields far beyond cinema.

At World AI Forum, Four Signs China’s AI Industry Is Growing Up

This year, China’s biggest AI conference showed an industry racing to cut computing costs, put AI agents to work, manage new risks, and find business models that can last.

Cai Yiwen

China Bans AI Romantic Partners, Virtual Relatives for Minors

The country’s first regulations on AI companion services also set new limits on chatbots designed to simulate emotional bonds with users.

Chinese Tech Firms Pitch AI Agents as the Future of Smartphones

At Shanghai’s World Artificial Intelligence Conference, tech companies showcased phones designed to understand user intent and coordinate tasks across services.

China-Proposed Global AI Organization Launched at WAIC

The organization, established on the eve of the opening of China’s annual World AI Conference, will advance international cooperation on how AI is developed and used.

China’s AI Summer Camps Tap Into Parents’ Worries

As parents push to equip their children with AI skills, companies seeking to exploit their anxieties around the new technology are exaggerating claims about what they can teach their children.