AI Model Anthropomorphism Trend Sparks Debate Over Fan Art
A foreign blogger named Jason Dean recently posted on social media about an unusual trend among Chinese internet users. His post, which has since reached 22,000 views, compared a viral overseas fan-art phenomenon with AI model anthropomorphism content. He noted that while some might find gender-swapped character trends odd, they were less surprising than what he encountered elsewhere. The topic has since sparked discussion about the boundaries of fan creativity and how online communities reimagine both fictional characters and AI chatbots in dramatic new ways.
Jason Dean referenced the “gender-swapped Draco Malfoy” trend, which has recently spread across overseas social platforms. This fan-creation movement retains Malfoy’s signature blonde hair, Slytherin temperament, and arrogant expression, transforming the character into a female figure with tsundere and sharp-tongued traits. According to the source, the trend has spread rapidly among illustrators and cosplay communities, becoming one of the more prominent fan-creation waves online. Dean used it as a point of comparison before turning his attention to the AI-related content he found even more unusual.
According to Jason Dean, Chinese content creators have taken a different approach, turning major AI chatbots into anthropomorphized female characters. DeepSeek is portrayed as a blue whale girl nicknamed “Big Fat Fish,” ChatGPT appears as a green-haired character, and Claude is reimagined as an orange-haired tsundere. Creators have woven complex romantic relationships between these personas, with video titles exploring dramatic storylines and emotional entanglements between the fictionalized AI figures, according to the source.
The AI character content has drawn significant attention, with individual videos reportedly reaching up to 312,000 views. On a Chinese Q&A platform, users have even compiled collections of DeepSeek meme art, clearly documenting the character designs and relationship pairings for each AI model. The phenomenon invites debate over which trend is more “abstract” — gender-swapped Malfoy or AI-model romance stories. For now, both stand as examples of how internet communities reinvent familiar subjects through fan creativity.
