Hollywood fears an AI future. China is already living it

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Set us as preferred Chen Yilong has racked up plenty of film and TV credits in his two decades as an actor, but with work getting scarcer he signed a contract in August to license the image of his face to a Chinese production studio.Chen’s role will be to sit in front of a video camera and make facial expressions at the prompt of a director.A neutral stare.

An angry glare.A look of surprise.

Using artificial intelligence, the studio will use images of Chen’s face to generate an avatar, also known as a “digital human,” to star in an AI-generated movie.“If you can’t beat it, join it,” said Chen, 38, who works in Beijing.The Chinese film and video industry is being transformed by AI-driven storytelling, fueled by rapid advances in video generation software, and at ground zero are the so-called micro dramas that play out on millions of smartphones.Business The former majority owner of TikTok has quietly continued to court filmmakers, independent artists and executives who are eager to learn more about the AI video generation model called Seedance.Typically just a minute or two in length, the videos are devoured by Chinese audiences at breakfast, on their morning commutes, during their lunch breaks and on their free time after work — and almost any time in between.More of a snack than a meal, micro dramas are fleeting and don’t demand the same top-notch acting and high quality resolution as movies, making them an ideal vehicle for AI-generated content.

And the cost of producing them has been cut drastically through the use of AI software developed by Chinese technology juggernauts including Kuaishou Technology and TikTok’s global owner, ByteDance.The number of Chinese-made micro dramas surged in the first three months of this year to 128,000, according to the China Netcasting Services Assn.More than 95% of th...