China parents buy AI clips of regretful single women to urge childless kids to marry

Online artificial intelligence-generated videos of distraught middle-aged single women regretting not getting married and having children are being used to push young people to tie the knot.\nSeveral videos made using artificial intelligence (AI) depicting crying single women at hospitals have circulated on a short video platform.\nIn one, a 58-year-old woman regrets not getting married and having children when she was young and complains that she has to go to hospitals alone.\nIn another, a 56-year-old woman says: “I regret it. My parents told me to get married and have kids. I did not listen to them, thinking it was too much trouble. Look at me now.”\n\nThe poster also captioned the video that the woman is from northwestern China’s Gansu province.\nIn the clips, people stand in hospital hallways, calmly watching the woman venting her frustration.\nIn another video, a childless middle-aged woman says she regrets her DINK, or double income, no kids, life choice, while a patient in the next bed has a whole family to look after him.\nDespite posters marking the videos as “AI-generated”, they still attract many people, mainly parents with still single children.\nOne online observer said of one such video: “We need more of these videos. Let us see who still insists on staying single.”\n\n“This is an important educational tool for muddle-headed young people,” said another.\nThe videos also drew sarcastic reactions from young people.\n“Firstly, single women in their 50s look much younger than the women in these videos,” one person said, suggesting that women usually sacrifice health and energy for their husbands and children.\n“My parents sent me these videos and believed they are real. I am worried they might get scammed in the future,” said another.\n“I wonder if those who are making these videos aim to produce anxiety for single women and stir up conflicts between married people and single people? There is no right or wrong in getting married or being single. They are different ways of being happy,” said a third.\nAnother person added: “Parents who reposted the videos do not care whether they are AI-generated. They just agree with the content.”\nLast year, China recorded the lowest number of new marriages since 1980, with only 6.1 million couples registering marriages.\n\nThe country’s population also fell for a third consecutive year, dropping to 1.4083 million last year.\nThe number of newborns increased last year to 9.54 million from the previous year’s 9.02 million, which was the lowest since 1949.\nIt was believed that last year’s Chinese zodiac sign, the dragon, was an important reason for the growth in newborns, as dragon babies are considered to have good luck.\nThe statistics reflect a trend among today’s Chinese young people to choose solo lifestyles.\nTheir way of life forms a contrast with their parents’ traditional belief that a person will only find happiness in marriage and children.\nSometimes tensions between the generations overheat and young people choose to break ties with their family.\n