Hollywood Can't See Asian-American Stars, But A.I. Machine Learning Can

In the movies, Captain America is a white guy. But what if he were played by Korean-American actor John Cho? This was tricky to imagine a few months ago, as movie studios remain allergic to casting Asian actors in starring roles. Now, thanks to a new collection of "deepfakes," seeing is believing as a new project illustrates what Asian-Americans might actually look like as the heroes of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Digital strategist William Yu is the creator of #SeeAsAmStar (short for "See Asian-American Stars"), a collection of videos and GIFs published on May 4. The title is the goal, as Yu tells Inverse he wants to "break that notion and assert that we can play anything."