LayarHijau – Fan Bingbing has weighed in on whether artificial intelligence could eventually replace human actors, acknowledging that the possibility is real as AI-generated short dramas continue to gain traction in China.
The actress was speaking at a press conference for her latest film, Diary of a Mad Old Man, which was selected for the Busan International Film Festival. Asked about the future of AI actors, Fan Bingbing said she believes AI could eventually take over some roles currently performed by humans.
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She pointed out that some directors are already turning to AI as a way to lower production costs. However, she stressed that human performers bring something to the screen that current AI technology has yet to fully replicate: the emotional depth built from their own life experiences.
According to Fan Bingbing, an actor’s personal experiences and accumulated emotions can be reflected in subtle layers of a performance. By comparison, she said current AI short dramas tend to deliver emotions more directly and place greater emphasis on the final result.
For Fan Bingbing, the difference lies not only in what a character expresses but also in the emotional journey behind that expression. That process, she suggested, remains difficult for AI to reproduce convincingly.
Fan Bingbing also revealed that she occasionally watches AI-generated short dramas herself. Yet she has noticed a striking similarity among many of the AI-generated characters.
“They look quite similar,” she said, noting that changing the characters’ appearances or putting them in different costumes, such as traditional or contemporary outfits, does not necessarily make them feel like distinct characters.
Her concerns go beyond the technology itself. Fan Bingbing expressed particular concern about the type of visual content young people in China are consuming as AI-generated short dramas become increasingly widespread.
“I feel that young people in China are not getting very good nourishment right now,” she said.
She contrasted the current landscape with the experience of previous generations, who had opportunities to watch films from different countries as well as a wide range of feature-length movies. Exposure to those works, she argued, gave young people opportunities to develop broader artistic experiences and perspectives.
Fan Bingbing worries that the rapid rise of AI short dramas could instead encourage some young viewers to rely primarily on quickly produced content for entertainment.
“If young people only absorb nourishment from AI short dramas, it could have an impact on the aesthetics of the new generation,” she said, trailing off with a knowing “you know what I mean.”
While Fan Bingbing acknowledged that AI could eventually replace some human actors, her comments also underline what she believes technology is still missing: the lived experiences, emotional accumulation and creative process that human performers bring to a role.
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