Pillow case

If there are all-girl pop groups like Blackpink, there are also the artificial intelligence (AI) versions, like Babyqueen, a K-pop-style virtual girl quartet managed in Liaoning province in northeastern China.

Babyqueen was formed in September and has around 1,100 followers, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports. The group recently went viral on social media after one member named Mity announced on 13 October that she will pause all public activities due to her pregnancy, according to SCMP.

Mity’s post asking fans to respect her privacy and her new life drew 78 million views on Weibo, many questioning her pregnancy since she does not have a physical body.

The group’s creators later admitted that managing several AI idols at once had become overwhelming, prompting them to scale back by reducing the Babyqueen members, SCMP reports. They said the pregnancy narrative was fictional.

Meanwhile, police in Bontang City, East Kalimantan, Indonesia interceded in a family feud involving a fake birth.

A report by the local online news portal detikKalimantan said a woman identified by the initials AR admitted to having been pregnant for approximately 10 months before informing her in-laws via social media that her baby had died during delivery.

During the funeral procession for the baby, residents and local religious leaders grew suspicious and demanded to see the shroud before it was buried, detikKalimantan reports.

When checked, the shroud turned out to contain pink pillows and bolsters, not a baby’s body, according to detikKalimantan.

In the ensuing meeting called by police between the couple, AR and DN, their families, and representatives from Yabis Hospital to clarify the matter, AR admitted fabricating the pregnancy and death of the supposed baby.

detikKalimantan reports that AR faked her pregnancy because she feared her family and in-laws would think she couldn’t conceive.