Director: Wang Chen

Synopsis

A young IT worker named Xiao Zhang comes to me, a journalist, and says that ever since he updated a plug-in that turns photos into moving images, things in his life have felt wrong. He finds it too realistic, especially the new feature that can extract an animated portrait from the background. Xiao Zhang says he often seems to see the people from his photos sitting beside him, but when he rubs his eyes he realizes he has just been staring at the screen too long. Recently, he has found that he has disappeared from his old photos, and someone in his room seems to be watching him all the time, which terrifies him. Finally, facing my camera, he asks for help. At a conference center, I explain that AI language simulation and dynamic generation have advanced to an unimaginable degree: a single photo picked up on the street is enough to generate realistic video. As I speak, I start the program, and on screen the young man named Xiao Zhang is asking me for help.