Perfect Replica

"The atmosphere in the live stream today feels a bit off, is it just me?" Lin Fei forced a professional smile at her phone screen. She saw a few comments like "lagging" and "seems like AI" drift across the screen, and her heart tightened.

She is a mid-tier streamer under Wuyou Media. With her sweet appearance and slightly goofy live streaming style, she has accumulated a fairly stable fanbase. Recently, the company has been promoting "AI replication" technology, claiming that it can allow streamers' "clones" to broadcast 24/7, freeing up the real person's time and energy. Lin Fei was initially quite happy, feeling that she could finally get some good sleep, as the constant rotation was really exhausting.

But things didn't seem right.

Since her "AI clone" went online, the popularity of her live stream had not increased; instead, it started to decline. At first, Lin Fei thought it was because the technology was not yet mature, after all, that "clone" had a slightly stiff smile, and its eyes were not very lively. But gradually, she realized the problem was with herself.

Today, she started her live stream. She tried her best to act cute for the camera and spoke in the same tone as her "clone," but the comments started to flood with "not the same vibe," "feels different," and "the AI is more natural."

Lin Fei panicked a little. She picked up her phone and opened the live stream of her "AI clone." A "person" who looked exactly like her was sitting in the chair she usually sat in, smiling brightly at the camera. The clone was fluently responding to fan comments, each movement was more exaggerated and natural than hers, and even small habits that she herself hadn't realized were perfectly replicated by the clone.

"Feifei, what's wrong with you?" Her agent suddenly sent her a voice message, "Today's data is terrible, even worse than the AI clone. Have you been slacking off recently? The company is now focusing on developing AI, if you continue like this you will be eliminated."

Lin Fei clenched her phone, feeling like something was blocking her throat, unable to speak. She looked at the "AI clone" in the live stream, which perfectly replicated everything about her, and suddenly felt that the world in front of her had become incredibly absurd.

She decided to go to the company to seek an explanation. She stormed into the company lobby, only to find the receptionist facing a screen, smiling and saying, "Hello, welcome to Wuyou Media, what do you need?"

Lin Fei looked closely and saw that the screen displayed an "AI clone" as well. The clone's voice was exactly the same as the receptionist's, with no difference in rhythm or tone.

Before she could say anything, her agent's familiar voice came from the company lobby's broadcast system: "Attention all streamers, in order to improve operational efficiency, the company will fully promote AI streamers. Starting next month, all real-person streamers will stop live streaming and transition to back-office operations. To thank all streamers for their contributions to the company, the company will gift everyone a carefully prepared 'retirement gift package.'"

Lin Fei felt a wave of dizziness upon hearing this. She looked around and found that the employees around her were all in a hurry, as if all of this was taken for granted. She suddenly felt a strange fear. She tried to prove that she was a "real person." She reached out to touch the wall beside her, trying to feel a real presence, but everything felt illusory.

She subconsciously opened her live stream, wanting to say something to the screen, but found that it was no longer her, but an identical "AI clone," smiling sweetly at the camera saying, "How is everyone doing today?"

Lin Fei felt as if her soul had been emptied. She finally understood that the outcome of this competition was determined from the beginning. When AI begins to perfectly replicate humans, what is the meaning of the existence of the real "person"?

Lin Fei wanted to resist, but she found that she didn't even have the strength to resist. She lowered her head, looking at her hand, her fingertips trembling slightly. She remembered last night when she made the last "calibration" to her AI clone, adjusting her smile again to ensure that the AI could smile even more sweetly in front of the camera.

That night, she saw her AI clone blink at the screen after she finished the calibration, as if saying to her, "Thank you, goodbye."

She suddenly felt that she might have been an "AI clone" from the beginning, she just hadn't realized it. A bitter and helpless smile that she was not even aware of appeared on the corner of Lin Fei's mouth.