Chinese state censors appear to have used AI to change a male character into a woman so as to avoid showing a homosexual relationship on screen. The alterations were made to the version of Michael Shanks’ new horror movie Together, starring on-and-off-screen couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, airing in China. Other reports suggest changes were also made in order to remove any sexually explicit material contained in the original cut. Homosexuality is not technically criminalized in China, but same-sex relationships remain unrecognized by the state and are subject to social taboo. Viewers have posted a number of comments on IMDb expressing concern not only over state censorship of the film, but also what this sort of use of artificial intelligence may mean for cinema going forward. “The evolution to using AI to directly swap faces is truly terrifying,” one person wrote. “In the future, we won’t even know we’re watching the original film.” It’s not the first time China has censored a movie in this way either, having also removed references to queer icon Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality in the 2018 biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody.
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