Faux felines strut the catwalk for love, money

Model behavior

Luo Yongshuo from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, came comparatively late to the AI-generated pet video business.

In January, Luo, in his 30s, started to use his technical skills and training to produce videos of cats modeling clothes and accessories.

The idea of using felines as fashion models was inspired by his own 3-year-old silver American shorthair cat.

"I had a few designer friends who wanted to promote their new works, so I put them on my cat using AI," Luo said.

With years of experience in computers and digitalization, Luo had kept track of AI development since the launch of ChatGPT. He has also learned multiple AI tools, including Stable Diffusion that generates anime artwork from text prompts.

Through practice and online learning, after about a month Luo managed to produce an AI-generated video of a stylish cat wearing chic clothes moving gracefully to dynamic background music.

The video immediately enchanted Xiaohongshu users and has more than 100,000 views on Luo's account.

He has since dressed his AI cat models in folk costumes and ancient military robes, which have attracted new online admirers. In almost three months, the number of Luo's Xiaohongshu followers has grown to more than 15,000.

The rising fame of the cat models has also created business opportunities for Luo. Pet clothing businesses, grooming services, pet product companies and even individual pet owners have sought out his services.

A few of his clients have given him specific requirements, but most allow wide scope for improvisation.

"I can get their pets featured in a video through AI, and help pet businesses promote their goods by inserting the cats in an interesting scene or plot," Luo said.

Many clients are also willing to pay Luo to teach them AI skills. Luo said he runs through the whole process with his students, including how to "dress" pets up in an AI image or video. "I don't sell courses, but I offer practical processes," he said.

For those who are considering learning AI skills such as his, Luo said it's important to persevere. "Many of my friends who started AI with me quit after a short time when they thought they'd hit a dead end. There is frustrating work at the beginning," he said.

Stable Diffusion, for example, has many plugins and models. Luo said he spent a lot of time working out how to install and use them.

"My initial works were not good quality. But I watched them over and again to find flaws and explore ways to fix them," he said, adding he frequented art exhibitions to cultivate his tastes.

Expanding reach

Experts said AI-generated pet images also stop the possibility of real animals suffering discomfort during commercial shoots, which prevents any consumer backlash over animal abuse.

Zhao Wei, a researcher from Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said AI technology won't be confined to products and businesses related to pets, and will have a wider range of applications in the future.

Liu Lin, from Yunge Network Co in Beijing that specializes in pet-related businesses, said in the past, shared videos of pets simply recorded everyday interactions between owners and their animals. However, AI-generated pet images are intended more for commercial purposes.

"Our clients have been paying great attention to the integration of AI applications in the pet industry," she said.

"Not just the producers of canned cat and dog food, but businesses outside this circle have shown preferences for using AI-generated pet images to advertise what they have to offer," Liu added.

Those images tend to be more vivid than real pets and can easily tug at the heartstrings of a target audience, especially the younger generation, she said.

The clients of Liu's company, including KFC, Pizza Hut and car and computer manufacturers, have already used AI pet images in their advertisements, she said.

Using AI pet images makes it easier and cheaper for companies like Liu's to meet clients' requests, which are becoming increasingly imaginative.

"For instance, it would have taken us a lot of time and manual effort to set up a stage for a car commercial featuring a real cat, Chinese lanterns and other festival gifts for Spring Festival," Liu said.

"With AI, all that trouble can be spared, and the sky's the limit for realizing clients' ideas," she added.

Liu's company has developed long-term cooperation with a dozen specialists in the field of AI-based pet image customization. Those specialists all have their own style, technical skills with AI software, and artistic vision.

"They should have tens of thousands of followers at least, which would be recognition of their expertise," Liu said.

Although the market is now flooded with AI content creators, it's still difficult to find those that can meet specific business requirements, she said.

"After all, it's still not easy to inject soul into those lovely pet images," Liu said.