The Man Who Makes AI Slop by Hand

Mu is not the only comedian who has tried to imitate the style of AI-generated videos, but he really nails all the elements: the clumsy body movements, the broken facial expressions and the unpredictable plot development. Many viewers, myself included, were shocked at how exactly he captured the essence of AI slop videos.

Mu tells me that the half-dozen AI imitation videos he's filmed represent only a small portion of his acting career. He wanted to be an actor since college and spent the summer after his freshman year at Hengdian World Studios—the world's largest film studio—looking for background acting opportunities. He started making comedy sketches on Chinese social media in 2019, and content creation now occupies most of his time.

The success of his AI imitation videos earned him a sponsorship deal from a Chinese generative AI company, which paid him 80,000 RMB (about $11,000) to produce two more skits promoting the company's video model. That's not a bad performance, but I honestly expected Mu to have gotten more opportunities due to his global virality.

As part of the sponsorship, Mu shot two versions of the sketches, one embedding AI-generated footage and one without. He secretly hoped the advertiser would choose the latter because it showcases human acting skills front and center. But the advertiser chose the one with the AI. “That feels like it's starting to steal jobs from human actors, doesn't it?” says Mu.

Mu reappeared on my timeline last week when he released a sequel after his first AI imitation series, this time mimic the videos made by SoraOpenAI's latest generative video tool. His new video is much more subtle, but still manages to nail that inexplicable unsettling feeling that has endured even as AI videos advance.

Mu says there's a perpetual battle going on as AI accelerates, but it's not man versus machine. Rather, the clash is between humans and other humans creating AI models, and each side is constantly trying to one up the other. “We make fun of some of the flaws of AI, its eininess and absurdity, but the AI ​​creators probably improve those too. You see, this year's AI already looks much more human,” says Mu.

How to act like AI

Before making his first AI imitation sketch in July 2024, Mu watched many AI slop videos to study their common properties. He wanted to understand the types of mistakes AI often makes and then recreate them in his own scripts.

For example, when an object appears in the frame, AI often understands its purpose for being there. For example, a hanger can be used to hang clothes, but it is also often the weapon of choice when parents in China physically punish their children. That dual use inspired another one from Mu's videos last year, where halfway through pretending to hit his “son” with a hanger, the boy's shorts mysteriously come off, and Mu suddenly seems to forget what he's doing and decides to hang up the shorts instead.