Embodiments of this application disclose an artificial intelligence-based (AI-based) animation character control method. When one animation character has a corresponding face customization base, and one animation character has no corresponding face customization base, the animation character having the face customization base may be used as a driving character, and the animation character having no face customization base may be used as a driven character. The method may include: obtaining an expression base corresponding to the driving character and an expression base corresponding to the driven character; determining a mapping relationship between expression parameters according to the expression base corresponding to the driving character and the expression base corresponding to the driven character; and driving the driven character according to the mapping relationship by using the known expression parameter of the driving character and the foregoing mapping relationship, so that the driven character is driven to make an actual expression identified by the known expression parameter. Therefore, a new animation character may be directly driven by using a known expression parameter of another animation character without performing processing to obtain a face customization base corresponding to the new animation character, thereby increasing the speed of launching the new animation character.