Recently, there have been phenomenal products in the domestic AI and animated film fields. Following the emergence of DeepSeek, which has stirred up the global technology industry, ‘Nezha 2’ has topped the global single-market box office chart. As of 16:10 on February 13, the box office has reached 9.868 billion yuan, ranking 18th on the global box office chart.
The success of the two has also brought market attention to domestic enterprises in the AI and domestic animation IP fields, such as launching the “Chinese Xiaoyao” writing AI large model, and owning Chinese online platforms with domestic animation IPs such as Luo Xiaohei. On February 12, Beijing News Shell Financial reporter interviewed Tong Zhilei, Chairman and CEO of Chinese Online Group.
Tong Zhi Lei told the Shell Financial journalist that the company’s internal writing team has started using DeepSeek for creation, and Chinese Online will also upgrade its writing large model ‘Chinese Xiaoyao’ with the DeepSeek technology. As for the popularity of ‘Nezha 2,’ Tong Zhi Lei said that this has attracted more attention to Chinese animated films, and the movie ‘Luo Xiaohei 2’ will also be released in 2025.
Standing on the shoulders of DeepSeek, the application of the ‘Chinese Wonderland’ product will reach a higher level
Tong Zhi Lei stated that DeepSeek provides a new path for the global development of AI. Previously, it was the ‘scaling law’ (economies of scale), where the larger the computing power, the better the effect. This was to some extent a simple and high-investment model. However, DeepSeek, through the MoE architecture and optimized model training, has improved in inference depth, cost-effectiveness, and deployment flexibility, offering a new approach. Moreover, DeepSeek is open-source. From the perspective of Chinese online, this open-source achievement serves as a new stepping stone, allowing us to stand on the shoulders of DeepSeek and take the application of large Chinese language models to a higher level.
Beijing Finance reporters noticed that many netizens are publicly publishing their conversations with DeepSeek on social platforms, and DeepSeek’s generation of exquisite writing has received a large number of likes and comments. In contrast, Chinese Online’s Chinese Xiaoyao large model is specifically aimed at novel authors and can generate tens of thousands of words with one click. Reporters found that its product UI design includes functions such as “creative generation” and “new outline”.
Tong Zhilei said that Chinese Online has conducted in-depth research on DeepSeek. “We believe that DeepSeek indeed has many brilliant and even amazing outputs in language expression. The company’s content team has started using DeepSeek for creation. Overall, we have also compared it with Chinese Xiaoyao and found that each has its own merits. Therefore, we believe that with further training on DeepSeek’s technology, there will be new breakthroughs in the effect of Chinese Xiaoyao.”
In addition, regarding whether rapidly iterating, evolving large language models may replace human authors, Tong Zhilei stated that AI large models are just a creative tool. No matter how powerful they are, they cannot replace truly creative writers. “This tool can improve human writing from a score of 60 to 85, but the top works may score 95 or 98, which AI cannot achieve. Just like when we write English novels, large models can be a ‘translation tool,’ and now when we write novels, large models become a ‘language tool,’ helping authors with output. It can enhance the quality and efficiency of the work, but the core creativity of the work still lies with the author.”
For the possible ‘illusion’ problem that may arise during the creation of AI, Tong Zhilei said that in the process of novel creation, this kind of ‘illusion’ may sometimes be positive. Because it generates some things that go beyond common sense, which may instead become a source of inspiration for assisting authors in generating creativity.
“Nezha 2” attracts more attention to Chinese animation, and the movie “The Legend of Hei 2” will be released this year.
On the other hand, the domestic animated film ‘Nezha 2’ has become a hit during the Spring Festival, steadily creating a historical record for the Chinese film box office. In response to this, Tong Zhilei expressed that this is a significant positive boost for the Chinese animation film industry. ‘In 2024, the total box office of Chinese films decreased year-on-year, and many people were very worried about the future of the Chinese film industry. The success of ‘Nezha 2’ has set a new record for the Spring Festival film box office, showing that the most important thing is the content. Good content can attract audiences back to the cinema.’
In Tong Zhilei’s view, animated films are very in line with the future development trend, because with the advancement of technology, the effects of animated films will become better and better, just like “Ne Zha 2” has brought many viewers a brand new visual impact. With technological advancement, the production quality of animated film works will become higher and higher, also bringing audiences a better viewing experience. Compared to live-action films, technological development has a greater impact on animated films, and animated film works also have more imaginative space such as the metaverse, virtual reality, and more.
It is understood that Chinese Online is committed to developing IP business, and completed the acquisition of the domestic animation IP Luo Xiaohei in 2024. Tong ZhiLei told reporters, “Strategically, we believe that top-notch animated IPs are valuable. When AI lowers the threshold for creation, the number of excellent works will gradually increase, and the competition for top IPs will become increasingly fierce, so their value will also become greater. ‘Ne Zha 2’ has set a very good example. At the same time, I firmly believe that Luo Xiaohei is one of the top IPs.”
Tong Zhilei told reporters that the strategy of Chinese Online can be summarized in 16 words: “strengthening content, winning IP, AI empowerment, international priority”, "winning IP strategy has been going on for five or six years, the movie “Luo Xiaohei 2” is in full swing, it is expected to meet with the audience this year, we expect this to be another milestone in animated movies. What’s even more rare is the international influence of Luo Xiaohei. About a year and a half ago, when I visited Japan, I found that so far, “Luo Xiaohei’s Record of the Battle” is the highest-grossing Chinese animated movie in Japan. The recognition of the animation powerhouse Japan also proves the value of this IP, and in the future, we will also increase our efforts in building the Luo Xiaohei IP.
The journalist noticed that with the popularity of ‘Nezha 2’, its peripheral derivative products are also selling like hotcakes. In this regard, Tong Zhilei stated that compared to written works, animated works themselves have a ‘tangible IP’, which can be developed into IP products with enormous value. This also confirms the strategic importance of ‘victorious IP’ for Chinese online. In the future, Chinese online will continue to develop more IP products.
It is worth noting that not only has Chinese Online applied AI capabilities to novel creation, but Tong Zhilei also told reporters that Chinese Online also has an AI animation department. “The personnel in this department need to understand both AI technology and animation. This is why there is a need for interdisciplinary talents now. In the future, creating animations may become as easy as using AI to write drafts, with the threshold getting lower and lower.” By 2024, Chinese Online has used AI technology to produce nearly a hundred comics and animated works, with a total viewing count exceeding 3 billion times.
Tong Zhilei believes that AI is a great opportunity for end users. As the threshold decreases, more and more people will use it. If companies seize this opportunity, it may effectively increase production. Not all companies are aware of this now. I call on all companies to actively embrace AI. In the future, companies that make good use of AI will definitely surpass those that do not use AI or are not good at using AI. This is the general trend, just like when the Internet wave hit, companies that make good use of the Internet will definitely outperform those that do not know how to use or are not good at using the Internet.
(Source: The Beijing News)
Source: Eastmoney.com
Author: The Beijing News
