Zao — meaning “make,” “build,” or “fabricate” in Mandarin — turns users into “stars” by digitally grafting their faces onto the bodies of celebrities in scenes from movies, TV shows, and music videos ...

Jesse Damiani covers AI, ClimateTech, and emerging media. The process was simple: Allan Xia uploaded a photo of himself to app Zao, a Chinese social deepfake app created by Momo Inc. Within eight ...

Launched recently, Zao is currently topping the free download chart on China's iOS store. Its popularity has also pushed another face-swap app, Yanji, to fifth place on the list.