AI Girl Group Faces Backlash Over Fictional Pregnancy Announcement

AI girl group BABYQUEEN drew a backlash after announcing that virtual member Mity was pregnant, prompting its creators to acknowledge that the fictional storyline was an ill-judged attempt to reduce their workload.

The announcement, written in Mity's voice and released yesterday, said she had confirmed she was pregnant and, after discussions, would temporarily leave the group to focus on rest and recovery. The post quickly spread beyond the group's usual audience.

The episode sparked debate over how far virtual idols should be given human experiences. Critics said the storyline trivialized the real costs women bear during pregnancy and childbirth.

A creator behind the project said managing several AI characters at once had become stressful. She wanted to reduce its workload and used the pregnancy plot to write Mity out of the group, the creator said, stressing that the entire episode was fictional.

BABYQUEEN and its members were conceived by several young women who enjoy K-pop, according to the creator. They developed the characters as a hobby for their own entertainment and had not made money from the project.

Without opportunities to perform onstage themselves, they chose to create AI virtual characters, the creator said. They had not expected the post to attract widespread attention.

The team hurriedly issued an apology written in Mity's voice, but it did not have the intended effect and attention continued to grow, the creator said.

As the controversy spread, the creators faced persistent body-shaming and malicious personal attacks, and even their families were harassed, according to the creator, who urged users to stop the online abuse.

"It's not what you think. Please don't send hurtful messages in private. I haven't earned a penny. This was just for entertainment," the creator wrote, asking people to stop using abusive language against the team.

The group remains in a pre-debut promotional phase, with its debut advertised as "coming soon." Its official Xiaohongshu account has about 33,000 followers and displays an IP location in Liaoning Province.