The third Shanghai Internet Audio and Video Creators Conference opened on Thursday at Fuxing Island in Shanghai's Yangpu district, bringing together filmmakers, influencers and young innovators to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping content creation.
Among the keynote speakers was Hong Kong director Stanley Tong, best known for action blockbusters including Jackie Chan's Rumble in the Bronx. Tong shared behind-the-scenes stories from Feng Shui Tian Shi (The Feng Shui Master), an AI-generated micro-drama for which he served as executive producer.
Now in its third season, the series has become one of the most popular AI-generated micro-dramas following its first season, which attracted 600 million views. Adapted from a popular online novel, the story follows a legendary feng shui practitioner who uses inherited skills to combat evil and protect ordinary people.
Reflecting on the production process, Tong said AI filmmaking presents unique challenges. Because the visual effects rely heavily on repeated randomized generation, final results are often difficult to control.
"AI could be a good help in visualizing stories and could even be a bridge to prompt Chinese films to go abroad. But we should continue to focus on writing quality scripts to truly resonate with audiences," said Tong.
While many speakers praised AI's creative potential, others also warned of its risks.
Wang Xiao, an influencer better known online as "Xiaowang Albert", cautioned creators against "AI hallucinations" — inaccurate or misleading information generated by AI models.
"With these hallucinations, the future content market may see a large amount of fake news emerge," Wang said. "Therefore, AI content creators should have the ability to distinguish between opinions and facts."
The conference also highlighted how younger generations are adapting naturally to AI technology.
Yang Xizhe, a 13-year-old junior high school student and the youngest speaker at the event, shared his enthusiasm for programming and AI. Along with several teenage teammates, Yang developed an AI agent capable of calculating the online traffic of posts on Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, within 48 hours. The project won the Special Unit Award at the Red Hackathon, an AI creation competition held earlier this year.
"We, the post-2010 generation, were born and raised alongside AI," Yang said. "Communicating with AI has become instinctive for us. We call ourselves 'AI natives' because AI is as natural to us as air and water."
However, he emphasized that AI cannot replace genuine human emotions and experiences.
"For example, AI will never understand the look of utter despair on my deskmate's face while memorizing vocabulary," he said. "Nor can AI grasp the mixture of embarrassment and pride I feel when younger students say 'Hello, teacher' because I'm 1.85 meters tall."
"We will use the tools of this era to tell stories for ourselves, for the times and for our country," Yang added.
The two-day event will conclude on May 29.
