People are not moved by perfection but by authenticity

Dear You and Niu Lai seem completely different.

One touches audiences through family, relationships and authentic human emotions. The other is crude and imperfect, yet its very imperfections helped it attract enormous attention.

But their success points to the same important truth:

People are not always moved by perfection. They are moved by authenticity.

The power of Dear You comes from Care, Courage and Connection — the 3Cs of Love Intelligence.

There are no larger-than-life superheroes. Instead, we see ordinary people showing love, sacrifice, perseverance and Qing Yi (情义).

Because the emotions feel real, audiences don't just see the characters.

They see themselves.

Niu Lai demonstrates the same principle from a completely different direction.

It isn't polished. In fact, its crude and imperfect presentation became part of its appeal. In a world increasingly filled with technically perfect content, imperfection can sometimes make something feel surprisingly human.

This is what I call Love Intelligence, or LQ:

It is not about being perfect. It is about understanding people.

In the AI era, beautiful images, videos, articles and even movies are becoming easier and cheaper to produce.

When perfection becomes cheap, what becomes valuable?

Human feelings. Trust. Authenticity. Real connection.

So perhaps the competitive question of the future is no longer simply:

“Who has better AI?”

It is: 

“Who understands people better?”

AI gives us capability.

LQ gives that capability humanity.

When people feel something, they remember.

When they connect with something, they act.

And when they care enough to share it, value multiplies.

That may be the biggest lesson Dear You and Niu Lai offer us for the AI era:

Technology can create content. Love Intelligence creates connection.

Note: Niu Lai, an animation movie, will open in Singapore on 1 Sep 2026. Dear You is available in both Teochew and Mandarin versions.