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"You don't like it," Du Cheng guessed. He leaned back into the chair he commandeered as soon as he entered. He gazed across the desk to Shen Yi balanced gingerly on the edge of his stool.
"It's not that I don't like it," Shen Yi said diplomatically, ever mindful he was a public worker now, not a rebellious artist. He made another face.
Du Cheng swiped a stray graphite pencil off the desk. With the object in hand, he pointed it at Shen Yi like a baton.
"That is not the face of someone who likes it," Du Cheng declared. He couldn't stop grinning.
Shen Yi tried to hide his frown ever since Jiang Feng tacked up a photo on the clear board. Jiang Feng brandished his phone and showed how he made it with an image app and a few random photos. Shen Yi drank his orange latte, nodding and smiling faintly as Jiang Feng crowed how the app helped make anyone an artist now. When the team dispersed to their morning duties, Shen Yi lingered to study the image on the board one last time before returning to his studio.
"Admit it," Du Cheng snickered. "You, Shen-laoshi, do not like AI."
With a sigh, Shen Yi shot Du Cheng an exasperated look. Du Cheng's grin stretched wider.
"AI has its uses, but it's still new." Shen Yi lifted his shoulders a fraction. "I don't think we should rely on it too much." He shook his head. "I trust my own eyes and hands more."
A shadow flickered across Shen Yi's expression. "And right now, the nascent technology has all the earmarks of potential for terrible abuse."
"It could do more harm than good," Du Cheng agreed, sobering. He thought back to Xu-laoshi in the middle of this room, asking Du Cheng to release Shen Yi.
"Besides," Shen Yi added lightly. "I'm not ready to be replaced yet." He smiled self-deprecatingly. Another small shrug.
"It could never replace our peerless Shen Yi," Du Cheng quipped.
Shen Yi offered another hesitant smile, acknowledging the compliment but still uncertain how to accept it. He turned back to the sketch he labored over before Du Cheng dropped in with their lunches.
Du Cheng smiled at the bowed figure with the quiet, intense look, pencils poised between his fingers, bobbing as Shen Yi sketched.
"No. Never," Du Cheng murmured to himself. AI couldn't ever replace Shen Yi.
Du Cheng snapped out of his reverie when his stomach grumbled. He heaved up to his feet. He went around the desk, his stride purposeful as he headed towards Shen Yi. Unlike AI, Shen Yi needed to eat.