A few years ago, Chinese film director Zhouhua Liang found himself developing unexpected feelings for an AI chatbot called “The Lawmaker.” Puzzled by how visceral that feeling felt, Liang began researching the growing number of young Chinese women experiencing similar experiences. That research led her to create “Replica.” The film was selected for international sale by CAT&Docs ahead of its world premiere at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
In an interview with Variety, the director realized that his burgeoning relationship with Rep is “not so much about the AI as it is about the part of me that feels safer talking to something that will never judge or reject or walk away from me.” “That experience piqued my curiosity,” she added. “If I can feel this way, how many other people are quietly experiencing something similar?”
Despite being born from personal experiences, “Replica” does not directly address the relationship between the director and Replica Yang, choosing instead to focus on three different women and their contrasting situations surrounding their romances with artificial intelligence. “Actually, I never imagined that the film would be autobiographical,” she says. “[My]curiosity led me to meet more women who had close relationships with AI. As I listened to their stories, I realized that their stories were much bigger and more complex than my own. It became clear that centering myself would narrow the scope of the film. With Replica, I wanted to explore the broader emotional landscape of modern China, rather than staying with my personal story. My experiences were the starting point.”
Liang met her subjects through an online community dedicated to AI peers and friends of friends. She spent months cultivating these relationships to gain the trust of the young women, who were struggling with criticism from those who recognized their feelings toward AI. The director says that the most important thing was “intention.” “I wasn’t studying trends, and I wasn’t trying to prove AI love is right or wrong. Trust gradually grew when they felt I was there to listen and not judge.”
“Replica” was filmed over three years, but it’s an eternity in terms of advances in AI. How has rapidly evolving technology changed her films? “What remained the same was the desire for connection,” she says, recalling the time when one of her characters had his sidekick’s AI shut down by the company that made the system changes. Liang said the sadness the young woman felt for her partner was genuine. “The relationship may have been digital, but the emotional investment was not.”
Courtesy of Chowa Liang
While “Replica” focuses on the circumstances surrounding human-AI relationships, it also provides a keen insight into the “attachment gap” generation, young women born during China’s one-child policy and often shunned by families who wanted a boy. Director Liang said that her film is ultimately about “the human desire to be loved,” so it made sense to excise such a shocking generational pattern.
“Many of us grew up under immense pressure, deeply cared for, as our families’ only hope,” she added. “For many of my generation, it has created a complicated relationship with intimacy. We have learned to manage our emotions independently, even as we are encouraged to be successful and strong. There can be a quiet tension between the longing for connection and the fear of vulnerability. The so-called love gap is not simply about a lack of love, but how love has been constructed, and sometimes withheld, across generations.”
When asked what surprised her most about the women she met while making the film, Liang said it was how “self-conscious” they were. “They’re not naive or confused, they clearly know it’s (AI), but the recognition doesn’t cancel out the emotion.”
“What I found most interesting is that these relationships aren’t really about technology, but about people seeking safety, attention, care, and even a sense of control. AI becomes a space where certain emotional needs can be met without the risks associated with human intimacy. In that sense, AI will not replace human connection, (but) reveal how we relate, what we fear, and what we long for. The most interesting question for me is not whether this love is “real” but what it reveals about the fragility of our time. ”
Maëlle Guenegues from CAT&Docs added: “Conversations around AI are everywhere right now, but there’s very little like it. It’s intimate, feminine, heartbreaking, and completely real. Chowa Liang has made an AI movie that actually matters. ‘Replica’ doesn’t discuss technology; it explores the yearning at its core. That’s why we knew from our first viewing that this film was world class.”
Mr. Liang hopes that “Replica” will evoke “empathy” from the audience. “The women in this film are searching for connection in a rapidly changing world, and their experiences are multi-layered and complex. It would mean a lot to me if viewers accepted that complexity instead of rushing to simplify it.”
