Ahn Yujin, a member of the South Korean girl group IVE, recently made a remark at a fan signing event that unexpectedly went viral on social media, sparking a cultural discussion about "AI and human emotions".
At a fan signing event in early March, a fan mentioned to Yu Jin that if someone is bad at expressing themselves, they might use AI to write fan letters. Yu Jin's response was very direct: Using AI for assignments might be understandable, but if a letter written to her smells like ChatGPT, she'd rather not write it at all.
This video has garnered nearly 400,000 views online because it reflects how generative AI is changing the way humans express themselves. From writing homework and resumes to writing love letters and confessions, more and more people are relying on AI to help them organize their thoughts.
Yu Zhen's reaction points to a contradiction: if AI helps you express your emotions, are they still your own emotions?
In particular, Yu-chan's generation has witnessed the evolution of humanity from handwritten love letters and text messages to AI-generated content. Many IVE fans, on the other hand, have grown up in recent years, with the rapid development of generative AI.
IVE Ahn Yu-jin: If you're going to use ChatGPT to write fan letters, you might as well not write them at all.
The incident began at a fan signing event in early March. A fan chatted with Yujin and mentioned that many people now use ChatGPT to assist with writing, such as for assignments or articles. The fan went on to suggest that if someone is not good at expressing themselves, perhaps AI could be used to help write fan letters, making the content richer and the writing more elegant.
Yu Zhen's response was very direct. She first stated that using AI for assignments might be understandable, but it would be different if it were letters written to her. She even half-jokingly said that if the letters she received smelled like ChatGPT, she might not just let it go, or even not write them at all.
Yu Zhen's response received a lot of positive feedback, with netizens saying: "She probably said that because she reads fan letters carefully."
AI cannot replicate human emotions or "imperfect beauty".
This conversation was filmed by a fan and quickly went viral on social media. Many netizens expressed support for Yu Zhen's idea, believing that the most important thing in a fan letter is emotion, not writing style. But this actually reflects a larger issue of our time: AI can write better, but is it still "your words"?
Generative AI is rapidly changing the way humans express themselves. From writing homework and resumes to writing love letters and confessions, more and more people are relying on AI to help them organize their thoughts. However, Yu Zhen's reaction points to a core contradiction: if AI helps you express your emotions, are they still your own emotions?
Fan letters were originally a very "clumsy" cultural form. Many letters were grammatically imperfect, had broken sentences, and might even be very simple. But it was precisely this imperfection that made them feel real. When AI can generate a perfect, well-structured, and emotionally rich letter, the text itself loses its ability to prove "this is your writing." Just like vinyl records regained popularity in the digital music era.
The video of the autograph session quickly went viral online, reaching nearly 400,000 views before press time. Below is a verbatim transcript translated by ABMedia:
- Fan: But lately, everyone seems to be using ChatGPT a lot, like for things like doing homework.
- Yujin: That's understandable, but if it's a letter to me...
- Fan: Because I'm not very good at expressing myself, using GPT can enrich the content and help me write better articles.
- Yujin: Even so, if you're going to use ChatGPT to write, then don't write it. I'm making this clear first. If I receive an email and smell ChatGPT, I won't stand it. It's just not acceptable to me.
Model generation lacks soul
The topic of AI-generated content can be extended to Paul Graham's observation that taste will become even more important in the age of artificial intelligence. Tofus goes a step further, drawing on his writing experience, to propose a view highly consistent with "taste": in the AI era, the value of a work lies not in how much content is generated, but in how it is infused with "soul."
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He breaks down creation into two levels: thinking and organizing viewpoints, and writing and presentation. AI can significantly reduce the cost of the latter, but the selection and organization of viewpoints still rely entirely on the creator. If you simply hand over scattered ideas to a model for generation, what you often get is just a patchwork of tone imitations, smooth content but lacking depth. This also echoes Yu Zhen's intuition: a fan letter perfectly generated by AI may have more beautiful language, but it lacks that clumsy yet genuine emotional trace.
Tofus believes that the real key to creation in the AI era is not "adding" information, but "subtracting" it. Through repeated deletion and recombination, the core ideas are refined into a form that can be perceived by others. Only through this process can a work form a structure and a viewpoint, which is the so-called "soul".
This article, "IVE Ahn Yu-jin Refuses to Accept 'ChatGPT Love Letter,' Sparks Heated Discussion: Generative AI Is Changing Human Expression," first appeared on ABMedia ABMedia .
