梅兰芳

Rise of AI performers triggers concerns about human actors_我的网站

A |     

    The Girl Who Was FiredA virtual AI actress has gathered massive followers and stirred widespread heated debate on Chinese social media - unlike conventional celebrities, this breakout star is entirely artificially generated.
Fang Taozi, an AI-generated character who stars in the hit AI short drama series The Girl Who Was Fired, has posted lifestyle vlogs, launched social media accounts, shared her breakfasts, workouts and pets, landed brand deals and has a fanbase.
Since the drama debuted on short video platform Douyin on June 12, it has accumulated 200 million views. Fang's Douyin account has attracted more than 400,000 followers.
Fans interact with her as if she were a real celebrity, creating fan edits, discussing fictional relationships and building a community around her imagined life.
This raises a question that has become increasingly urgent for the entertainment industry: Does Fang Taozi represent the first generation of AI celebrities? The answer depends on how "celebrity" is defined, said Zhang Peng, a cultural researcher and associate professor at Nanjing Normal University, in an interview.
If celebrity status is measured by public attention, emotional connection and commercial value, Fang appears to meet many of the criteria. She has fans, a personal brand and even advertising opportunities. 
Whether AI can truly become stars depends not on the technology itself, but on their ability to forge genuine emotional connections with audiences and sustain their appeal over time, added Zhang. 
However, Shi Wenxue, a Beijing-based cultural critic, argues that AI stars have indeed emerged, but they should be viewed as part of the broader lineage of virtual idols.
From the 1958 US virtual musical group Alvin and the Chipmunks to Hatsune Miku, Luo Tianyi and the hyper-realistic digital human Liu Yexi, virtual performers have existed in various forms for decades. 
From the perspective of how she is created, Fang Taozi represents a technological advance. Her emergence is largely a product of the current economic environment of the film and television industry.
The rise of AI performers has also triggered concerns among human actors, especially those working in smaller productions.
Human performers bring personal experience, emotional interpretation and unpredictability - qualities that remain difficult to reproduce. But for industries that require large volumes of affordable content, AI characters offer obvious advantages: They do not age, can work continuously and can be customized for different audiences.
AI short dramas are cheaper, faster and free from the risks associated with human performers, raising concerns over the future of lower-level entertainment jobs in areas such as short dramas, advertising, background acting and voice work, said Zhang.
In Shi's view, beneath the debate lies a familiar tension: technological efficiency versus the threat of displacement for human workers.
The question is not whether AI will completely replace actors, but which parts of acting and entertainment can be automated, he noted.
Rather than presenting an AI figure only as a digital image, Chinese platforms appear to be building complete entertainment ecosystems around AI characters, including dramas, social accounts, fan interactions and commercial partnerships.
China's AI stars have grown out of the audience's desire for emotional companionship, while Hollywood's AI experiments have been shaped by industry battles over efficiency and costs, noted Zhang. 
According to Shi, Fang Taozi's sudden popularity is, in many ways, a reflection of audience psychology. Whether they are moviegoers, fans or casual viewers, audiences have grown weary of formulaic content, scripted fan service, predictable performances and fragile celebrity personas. An idol like Fang Taozi offers an alternative: She cannot be involved in scandals, play diva or break character, and her persona can be adjusted to meet audience demands. But the model also comes with risks, particularly the limitations of its creators and the potential for excessive commercialization.
。         China's first independently developed ultra-large methanol dual-fuel roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) ship begins its maiden voyage in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu Province, on December 8, 2025. With a capacity equivalent to 9,300 cars and 78,400 square meters of deck space, the ship will carry new-energy vehicles to Europe. Photo: VCGChina's green fuel industry has made phased progress, with production capacity steadily increasing. As of the end of 2025, the country had green fuel production capacity of about 8 million tons of oil equivalent (TOE) per year, according to a report released by China's National Energy Administration (NEA) on Wednesday.
The output of green methanol reached 380,000 tons, green ammonia stood at 700,000 tons, and sustainable aviation fuel hit 1.7 million tons, making China a major global supplier, the report showed.
The NEA published the China Green Fuel Development Report (2026) on its website on Wednesday. Downstream application scenarios for green fuels in China continue to expand, with coverage extending from land transportation to the shipping, aviation and industrial sectors, the report showed. 
China's green methanol production capacity accounted for 60.3 percent of the world's total in 2025, according to the report. The ratio for green ammonia was 79.5 percent.
Green fuels, represented by green methanol, green ammonia, and sustainable aviation fuel, are fuels with low carbon emissions throughout their entire life cycles and in compliance with environmental protection requirements.
In recent years, global climate governance constraints have tightened, and the global energy mix has accelerated its transition toward clean and low-carbon sources. International organizations such as the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization, as well as countries and regions including the US, the EU, and Brazil, have introduced policies to promote carbon reduction in key transportation sectors.
Analysts said that China's development of green fuels not only supports deep decarbonization in key industries and addresses the bottleneck of large-scale renewable energy absorption, but also helps cultivate new drivers of economic growth. That's very significant in supporting global climate action and promoting a comprehensive green transformation of the Chinese economy and society, they said.
Although China has taken a leading position globally in green fuel production and equipment R&D, key technological equipment still requires further breakthroughs, Li Zhijian, vice president of the China National Petroleum & Chemical Planning Institute, said in a post on the NEA's website. 
In particular, there remains considerable room for improvement in areas such as biomass gasification efficiency and the performance of high-efficiency synthesis catalysts - areas that urgently need focused research efforts, Li noted.
According to projections from domestic and international institutions, global green fuel demand is expected to reach about 10 million TOE by 2030 and exceed 100 million TOE by 2050, indicating vast room for industrial growth.
China, rich in renewable resources such as wind, solar, and biomass, provides a solid foundation for large-scale development of the green fuel industry, the NEA said.
China could achieve green electricity from a total installed capacity of 3.6 billion kilowatts for wind and solar power, with an annual available volume of organic waste of some 617 million tons by 2035. If reasonably used for green fuel production, this could support an industrial scale of about 10 million TOE, Li said, citing an industry estimate.
Global Times
。

B |

Current article:http://s58jp.deshabisaoguonouzuo.cfd/vfid/cmr.html

Published on:15:49:32