HONG KONG — A U.S. film distributor has criticized a Chinese studio for reportedly using artificial intelligence to make a gay couple straight when distributing the body-horror film “Together” in China.
Early this month, moviegoers who attended preview screenings said on Chinese social media that one of two men shown getting married in the film was digitally altered into a woman, most likely with AI.
Hishow offered the first prerelease screenings in 11 Chinese cities starting Sept. 12, with the movie scheduled to be released nationwide on Sept. 19.
Many early viewers took to social media to complain about the gender change.
One user on Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, a Chinese platform similar to Instagram, described the AI alteration of the same-sex wedding as “outrageous.”.
This isn’t the first time that artificial intelligence has been used to alter a film in Asia.
The original version of the film ends with the death of a Hindu man who has a doomed romance with a Muslim woman. »