A granddaughter used AI to “P” her grandma into <cite>Journey to the West</cite>, and the old woman stared at the screen for a long time: “When did I ever act in this?”
Once the video went viral, the comments split into two camps. One side said they wanted to make something like this for their own elders too; the other reminded people that before doing it, you should ask the elder for consent—don’t joke around with a senior’s face, and don’t let them mistake it for something real. Both points are actually right.
What’s interesting is that the kind of AI use that has the least technical content is the one that really moves people. Writing code, making PPTs, generating reports—none of it is as compelling as “putting grandma into the story she’s watched for forty years.” Under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an, there’s also a 72-year-old tour guide who uses AI to give Journey to the West explanations—playing around with it even more smoothly than the younger crowd.
After the tool threshold dropped to zero, the only remaining difference is this: what you want to do something for.
Would you make one for the older people in your family?
Once the video went viral, the comments split into two camps. One side said they wanted to make something like this for their own elders too; the other reminded people that before doing it, you should ask the elder for consent—don’t joke around with a senior’s face, and don’t let them mistake it for something real. Both points are actually right.
What’s interesting is that the kind of AI use that has the least technical content is the one that really moves people. Writing code, making PPTs, generating reports—none of it is as compelling as “putting grandma into the story she’s watched for forty years.” Under the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an, there’s also a 72-year-old tour guide who uses AI to give Journey to the West explanations—playing around with it even more smoothly than the younger crowd.
After the tool threshold dropped to zero, the only remaining difference is this: what you want to do something for.
Would you make one for the older people in your family?