A2O LITE's "NEON" challenge goes viral — but AI deepfake parodies of Lee Soo-man, Park Myung-soo raise alarm

A2O LITE's debut challenge catches fire

Rookie girl group A2O LITE released their debut track NEON. The challenge spread fast. Members Aichin (아이찡) and Siri (시리) perform the opening two-person choreography — that's the sequence everyone wants to copy.

It didn't stay in fan spaces for long. Celebrities jumped in. Not all of them with their own faces.

When the challenge becomes a deepfake

Girls' Generation's Sunny posted a video on her SNS with synthesized faces of producer Lee Soo-man and producer Yu Young-jin (유영진) dancing to the challenge. Broadcaster Jung Joon-ha followed with a clip using synthesized faces of Park Myung-soo and himself. PD Na Young-seok (나영석) posted an AI dance video titled Married Man, 50 Years Old and explicitly disclosed it was produced with AI.

Parodies using the faces of Oldboy actors Choi Min-sik and Yoo Ji-tae circulated. Versions featuring The Glory stars Song Hye-kyo and Lim Ji-yeon did too. (The range of faces pulled into this — from veteran producers to drama leads — shows how quickly these tools move once a challenge format takes off.)

Government flags personality rights concerns

The fun has a legal shadow. The Knowledge Property Office announced on the 14th that it will push to strengthen sanctions on personality rights infringement, specifically targeting the unauthorized reproduction and misuse of celebrities' images and voices through AI.

The NEON challenge landed in the middle of a live policy debate. Bad timing or very good timing for A2O LITE's name recognition.