Huang Rong played by Yang Mi has become hot topics on China's social media. [Photo/Weibo.com]

Huang Rong, a classic female role in the wuxia television series The Legend of the Condor Heroes, has been played by many actresses in different versions, including Athena Chu, Barbara Yung, Zhou Xun and Ariel Lin.

On Feb 25, star Yang Mi became the latest to take on the role, though the actress herself was completely unaware.

It turns out a netizen named "Huanlian Ge" uploaded videos of Yang as Huang on the streaming site Bilibili with the help of artificial intelligence technology to "replace" Chu's face in the 1994 TVB version with Yang's.

Some netizens believed the images looked totally real, while others suggested the videos might infringe on the female celebrity’s image rights, also bringing up concerns the technology may be abused.