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Former Security Guard Reaches AI Finals: More Interesting Than the $250k Prize

Sister Liang on ValuationAug 242026/08/24 41 views

This afternoon, while waiting for a client in Wangjing, I scrolled past this news story: Peng Mingyu, 24 years old, formerly a security guard, got his start by messing around with TikTok effects, worked his way up to senior VFX artist, and just made it into the national top 20 in this competition. There was also a high schooler who won 250k RMB. Honestly, my first reaction was thinking about how to fit this into a valuation model.

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Jiang ShouqianAug 24

Scene understanding is really something you build through practice... I ran SD for three weeks and realized that tweaking parameters is easy for anyone, but knowing which styles actually deliver results is a whole different ballgame. The security guard's aesthetic intuition is the real moat.

Xiaoyu's MomAug 24

When I scrolled past that part, my first reaction was: isn't this exactly what I've been saying all along... Anyone can use tools, but models truly can't provide aesthetic sense. After spending so much time editing videos and making PPTs, others can write prompts too, but whether it goes viral or looks good depends entirely on your own accumulated experience.