The hottest artificial intelligence (AI) app in China right now is a portrait generator that charges just 9.9 yuan (US$1.4) to create beautified avatars in different styles. It is so popular that consumer demand has overloaded servers, with some users waiting more than 24 hours to get the result.
Miaoya, or Fabulous Duck, is one of the most popular mini-program on Tencent Holding’s super social app WeChat. It allows users to upload a single headshot and a set of 20 or more recent photographs, which are then processed into a set of stylised portraits, including standard ID photo and professional portrait.
It is so popular that since it was launched on July 17, some users have waited more than 24 hours to get their portrait. The popularity of the programme has even fanned hopes that there will be many ways to profit from AI technologies in China thanks to its huge market.
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AI has become one of the most popular topics in China this year, triggered by the frenzy over ChatGPT, the conversational bot launched last November by San Francisco-based OpenAI. Chinese Big Tech firms such as Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu, and JD.com have all jumped in, believing the technology will help to upgrade their current services.
Zhang Dingding, an internet industry commentator and former head of Beijing-based research firm Sootoo Institute, said it was the first popular consumer AI product in China since the advent of ChatGPT. “It’s hard to say how long the popularity will last, but what’s certain is that the market will see many similar products because these kinds of products do not have a high bar,” he said.
Zhang added that users were likely to share the photos on WeChat or Xiaohongshu, China’s social e-commerce platform, so the technology also has a social connection.
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The developer of Miaoya is a little known company called Weixu Internet Technology, which uses an email contact from Youku, the Alibaba-owned video platform, according to information on the corporate credit information website on Qixin.com. Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Similar AI-powered services have emerged. 45ai, another mini-program launched last week, also generated huge traffic after it became available. One of the photo styles it offered was based on Barbie, the Mattel character depicted in the recent hit American fantasy comedy film of the same name.
In a post on Xiaohongshu on July 25, 45ai said it was experiencing some technical issues because of the high volume of traffic, and offered some solutions for users.
Meanwhile, it is an open question as to whether the popularity of such products can translate into sustainable profits, or whether this will be another Chinese internet fad that fizzles out. Some consumers are not impressed.
“I spent 9.9 yuan and waited for 11 hours, Miaoya’s camera captured my bra bulge fat on the right arm, an asymmetric collarbone, and one high and one low double eyelid,” a Xiaohongshu user wrote in a post published over the weekend.
Lucy Liu, a 27-year-old Shanghai resident, tried out 45ai’s Barbie-style photo after her friend sent an invitation code. After waiting more than 24 hours, she was not satisfied with the results. “I almost don’t know myself any more. I got a sense of feeling that I’m looking at someone else,” she said.
“I like photos that are vivid and close to life. I don’t need a photo that looks fake,” she added.
Privacy remains an issue. Miaoya’s original privacy agreement said it could use the content “in any form, in any media or technology (now and in the future)”. However, the company later changed the agreement, saying that photos would only be used to create a digital image of the user.
Zhang Yichang, who lives in Zhejiang province, said she used the Miaoya camera mini-program to upload 20 photos of herself, the minimum requirement for the mini-program to generate portraits. “I think the results are very close to [photographic studios] … but I’m mainly having a taste of the [new technology]. On the one hand, I am still worried about the security issue, on the other hand, it’s not a real photo, so I won’t use it [on important occasions],” she said.
