During the May Day holiday, a special series titled "Shanghai's 'New' Youth" introduces us to some fascinating young individuals. They strive with passion, creating innovative approaches in their chosen fields. Today, we meet a group of "uncertain" young people riding the wave of artificial intelligence.
With just a computer, an idea, and determination, they dare to establish one-person companies and venture into the AI arena. How are those born after 1995 and 2000 navigating their course in this vast AI blue ocean?
AI-generated short dramas are quietly gaining popularity, where a single person can constitute an entire production crew. In Shanghai's Da Ling Hao Wan area, Liu Quanbo, born after 1995, and Chen Bowen, born after 2000, found an instant connection. An "emotional-brained" engineering graduate and a "rational-brained" humanities student, they joined forces to break into the AI short drama market.
Liu Quanbo, Founder of Evening Reverie, said with a smile, "Just like a traditional film crew shooting a scene, we first need to define the characters and settings. We use AIGC tools to generate their images and employ AI to break down the script into individual entries, which are then separated into shooting sequences." The duo developed their own software, which meticulously documents the workflow for every piece of AI-generated content. Their most prized technique is the deep integration of 3D modeling with AIGC technology.
"Point cloud technology essentially establishes basic storyboard angles for a specific shooting scene. You see the desk here, the spatial position of the lamp—it's all calculated to match reality. We can then adjust the camera angle, imagining the character positioned centrally in the frame, moving forward..." By using digital twin scenes to lock in the camera positions and shot sizes for each storyboard, they aim to overcome the randomness of AI generation and ensure the director's vision is realized. This method was developed from their practical experience working with over a hundred production crews, addressing a clear market need.
They saw the AI wave coming and dared to be among the first to take a seat at the table. However, as leaders of their enterprise, they must also balance ideals with practical necessities. Chen Bowen, Co-founder of Evening Reverie, stated seriously, "We don't want to just make a quick profit and then disappear when the trend fades. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than just being a production company; we want to develop our software product to serve other directors, and even ordinary people. The reason we accept fewer commercial projects each month is to dedicate more time to refining and perfecting our craft."
This blend of drive and thoughtful planning is evident in many startups. Another pair, comprised of a post-95 and a post-00 founder, Zhai Xingji and Chi Guangyao, established Yuhe Tech in Shanghai's Xuhui Caohejing area. Now three years old, their company has grown into a 50-person team with an average age of 25.
Zhai Xingji, Founder and CEO of Yuhe Tech, explained gesturing, "We aim to add depth to this layer, creating a personalized intelligent agent. It can observe everything happening within a defined space." They are dedicated to empowering traditional manufacturing with AI. Their innovative "pre-sales digital employee" solution has secured major clients, including several large state-owned enterprises, generating revenues exceeding ten million RMB last year.
Such success did not come overnight. In 2023, shortly after the company's founding, an AI application they developed received positive feedback but low willingness to pay, eventually leading nowhere. Fortunately, they promptly pivoted, focusing first on enterprise services to achieve stability ("putting food on the table") before developing a "self-evolving" AI Agent designed to serve individual users and liberate inefficient productivity.
Zhai Xingji said, "We hope our product will enable a vast number of modern white-collar workers to harness Agents, significantly enhancing their own productivity. Let Agents handle the repetitive, inefficient tasks that nobody wants to do, potentially boosting everyone's productivity tenfold or a hundredfold." Chi Guangyao, Founder and CTO of Yuhe Tech, added, "As model capabilities reach this threshold, they can capture this information and utilize it independently. Previous model capabilities were insufficient for this. Once the models are capable, you realize the immense value of this approach. Our core is observation; to complete a given task, the unspoken human context is indispensable."
As "digital natives," these Z-generation entrepreneurs are not only bold in thinking and action but also possess a global perspective, coupled with highly efficient information acquisition and rapid innovation abilities. Chi Guangyao, only 23 years old, studied journalism and communication, yet this doesn't hinder his fluency in discussing technical architecture. Having started coding at age 10, his cross-disciplinary background allows him to break conventional paradigms more effectively.
Chi Guangyao smiled and said, "Age is an absolute number. The core of starting a company lies in understanding whom you serve in your field, what problems you solve for them, how you generate revenue from them, and what unique value you provide that differs from other available market options."
The Z generation charging into the AI entrepreneurial wave should not be underestimated. They harbor ideals of creating "altruistic" products that generate societal value, backed by the capability to face challenges head-on and swiftly adjust their strategic "course."
Artificial intelligence has unlocked limitless possibilities for young entrepreneurs, offering low barriers to entry and high efficiency. However, no matter how powerful the technology, it remains a tool. The essence of entrepreneurship remains unchanged: solving real problems and creating genuine value. Best wishes to these young pioneers in leveraging AI to achieve their dreams, while remembering the fundamental初衷 of keeping their feet on the ground and solving tangible issues.