AI Girl Group’s Fictional Pregnancy Draws Backlash in China
AI Girl Group’s Fictional Pregnancy Draws Backlash in China
The creators of the AI-generated group BABYQUEEN announced that virtual member Mity was pregnant and taking leave, prompting criticism that the storyline trivialized women’s reproductive experiences.
A fictional pregnancy storyline involving an AI-generated pop idol has drawn criticism and ridicule on Chinese social media. BABYQUEEN, a five-member virtual girl group, announced Tuesday that member Mity would temporarily leave to rest and recover because she was pregnant.
The post on the group’s official Xiaohongshu account, also known as RedNote, included a selfie-style image of Mity in pink pajamas in bed and a statement signed in her name. At first glance it resembled a conventional celebrity announcement, although Mity and every other member of the group are generated with artificial intelligence.
A notice posted one day earlier said Mity would suspend group and individual variety-show appearances and stage performances to protect her health and prepare for childbirth. It also asked followers not to speculate about her private life.
The story quickly spread beyond Xiaohongshu. By Friday, related discussion had received more than 6 million views on Weibo. Some users expressed confusion that a virtual performer could be presented as pregnant, while others joked that the creators had run out of computing tokens and needed to remove one member.
A more serious strand of criticism focused on the use of pregnancy as a promotional device. Commenters accused the group’s makers of seeking attention while treating women’s reproductive health as entertainment. One widely shared response argued that a sensational “pregnant and preparing for childbirth” narrative reduced real experiences to a marketing hook.
The timing intensified those complaints. On the same day as the leave announcement, the account promoted a teaser for a new song performed by the four remaining members, leading some users to view the storyline as part of a publicity campaign.
Accounts for AI girl groups have become increasingly visible on Chinese platforms in recent months. Virtual performers are presented as maintaining daily routines, interacting with fans, and in some cases promoting commercial brands, borrowing many conventions from human celebrity accounts.
BABYQUEEN is styled after a South Korean idol group. Its Xiaohongshu account opened on Sept. 7 and had about 1,000 followers as of Friday. Platform information locates the account’s IP address in Liaoning province in northeast China.
In a Tuesday post that was later deleted, the creators said the pressure of running the project led to the pregnancy announcement. They described themselves as a small group of female students who like K-pop, said they had not made any money from BABYQUEEN, and reported receiving personal attacks and online harassment.
The creators’ explanation suggested the leave narrative was intended as a way to pause one character rather than depict an actual event. Even so, the attempt to manage workload through a fictional pregnancy became the central controversy and eclipsed the group’s music promotion.
BABYPVSSY Entertainment, the group’s parent account, later suggested two possible directions for Mity. It said the character might move into acting or become a creator of maternity and infant content. That proposal further blurred the line between an AI persona, celebrity storytelling, and commercial content tied to pregnancy.
曾-M.Zēng--THT-士蔑報
