Actress Qi Wei gives AI her face and a future

"Then I had an idea: If we were going to make it using AIGC, why not have the character use my face?" the actress said candidly.

The project was launched at the end of 2025 and has brought together multiple AI production studios from across the country, along with several overseas teams. The first season, running 100 minutes, is scheduled to be released shortly before the Spring Festival of the Year of the Sheep, which falls on Feb 6, 2027, on Hongguo, a micro-drama platform.

Yet, Reborn is not simply a matter of entering prompts into AI models, generating vast amounts of footage and selecting the most suitable clips to assemble into episodes. Instead, Qi has taken a more hands-on approach to creating her digital counterpart.

"I have to perform many scenes myself, ensuring that every detail of my facial expressions is precisely captured before being digitally transformed into the AI avatar," she explains.

While much of the production looks toward the future, Qi has also brought a deeply personal touch from her past. She provided photographs of her childhood home — an apartment in Chengdu where she spent her early years with her late grandparents — as a reference for the protagonist's house.

The use of an actor's digital likeness, however, also raises questions about authorization and potential misuse. Asked about the possibility of netizens using celebrities' AI avatars to generate unauthorized content, Qi acknowledges that it could be a "dangerous" prospect.

She believes stars should retain strict control over how their digital likenesses are used. "At first, a star should not authorize his or her digital image to be used in all works. It should be used under limited terms. You should cherish your feathers and have the final say over all works featuring your AI avatar," she says, emphasizing the need for stronger legal protection.

Some AI platforms have already introduced safeguards. For example, platforms such as Jimeng AI flag attempts to use a public figure's likeness without authorization, she says.

Qi sees AI not only as a challenge to the established film and television industry, but also as a new creative tool. "The advent of the AI era will inevitably bring a reshuffle of the global film and television industry and redefine the rules of the game," she says, adding that AI can help actors overcome some of the limitations imposed by aging, while opening "another door" for artistic creation.