UPDATE: Did AI Erase a Gay Character in the Chinese Release of 'Together'?

The Allison Brie and Dave Franco movie Together was a noisy horror movie that played on all of our senses and was a modest hit in America. As it debuts internationally, the film is also doing well.

But headlines out of China suggest that they may not be seeing the same movie we did. In fact, The Guardian is reporting that AI was possibly used to make a gay character straight.

Basically, the scene in question is a cutaway to a wedding between two men. But when Chinese audiences saw the scene, one of the men's faces was replaced by a woman's face.

No one knew about the replacement until images circulated on Social Media and people figured it out.

'Togetherness' AI changes Credit: X

We don't totally know if AI was used to change it, but some sort of computer editing program was used to change it. It just feels like an AI move. And honestly, face replacement like this is usually done that way now.

The prevailing theory is that this was changed to make sure the movie was allowed to be shown in China. They have a board that reviews movies and decides what's allowed to premiere there, and while homosexuality is decriminalized in China, it's still frowned upon by some sectors of Chinese society.

We've just learned that Neon, the film 's US distributor, had no idea this edit happened. “Neon does not approve of Hishow’s unauthorized edit of the film and have demanded they cease distributing this altered version,” the company said.

Apparently Chinese distributor Hishow were the ones who altered the movie without telling anyone.

It has been pulled from Chinese theaters.

The uproar online over these edits has actually caused China to move off releasing the movie widely.

It's so hard to see movies changing innocuous things like this to appease censors in foreign lands to make a few bucks.

This scene is so quick in the movie that I can't imagine being bothered by it, but I also understand the capitalism behind trying to squeeze every last drop of cash out of a movie to make sure it's profitable.

Art and commerce will always be in battle, but we shouldn't add censorship to the mix. That's when I think we do need filmmakers to take a stand.

It's cool to see Neon and the filmmakers do that with people who altered their work.

Let me know what you think in the comments.