(Yicai) Oct. 21 -- China’s artificial intelligence image and video industry, in which computers generate images and short videos, is rapidly maturing and becoming profitable.

The question people in the industry ask themselves is no longer "What can AI do?," but "How can we make money with AI?," Yicai learned at a recent industry expo.

Wangou Intelligent Technology uses AI facial depth synthesis technology to generate portrait photos according to different themes, Chief Operation Officer Wen Xiaomeng told Yicai.

Technological iterations have enabled AI to achieve commercial viability, said Wen. Until the end of 2022, AI tools still had problems synthesizing characters with irregular facial features and uncoordinated limbs.

Now, AI-generated images are 99 percent close to photos taken by cameras. Chengdu-based Wangou has fulfilled 7,000 customer orders for AI portraits so far and has started to recover its initial investment costs.

A set of studio portrait photos will usually cost over CNY1,000 (USD141), but portraits generated by AI can cost under CNY300 (USD42), Wen said. This is because AI portraits do not need photographers or post-production staff and do not incur any venue expenses. Generating 50 photos with AI takes around 18 minutes, with a computing cost of no more than CNY2 (USD0.28) thanks to cloud computing power.

Kiframe Studio, a company specializing in early-stage animations, has also started to use AI to perform labor-intensive tasks that it would normally outsource so as to lower costs, co-founder Yu Linfeng said.

It normally takes a team of six people one month to complete a one-minute 2D animation, Wen said. But with AI, a team of 10 people can finish a five-minute animation in just over a month. AI is helping slash costs by at least half.

Editor: Kim Taylor