Lights, camera, algorithm: China’s AI microdramas go viral - but spark copyright fears

SINGAPORE: Up high on a massive snowy mountain, a Chinese Fengshui master battles a Japanese Shinto priest, as dark storm clouds gather.

Armed with a luopan, a traditional Chinese compass, he fends off giant snakes conjured by his opponent - but is ultimately overpowered and thrown off.

The dramatic showdown was not the work of actors, stunt crews or visual effects teams - instead, it was created using generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools by SocialTok, a Chinese digital marketing and AI company headquartered in Nanchang, Jiangxi. 

The two-and-a-half minute video is the first episode of a 61-part microdrama series titled Master of Feng Shui - and amassed 100 million views within 12 hours of its debut on Mar 18, according to local media reports.

It has since garnered more than 1.2 million likes on the short-video platform Douyin.

AI-generated microdramas are taking China by storm. From scheming imperial palace dogs to anthropomorphic fruits looking for romance, these surreal, algorithm-driven productions have been fuelling a booming domestic industry - now valued at around 100 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion) - nearly double the country’s box office revenue, according to industry observers.

Thousands of such productions have been released monthly since the start of this year - but behind their explosive growth lies a deepening concern among actors and creatives: that the same technology driving efficiency and scale is also eroding their rights - and, potentially, their livelihoods.

COPYRIGHT CONCERNS AND “DIGITAL DOUBLES”

Controversy has intensified in recent weeks over AI-generated performers bearing striking similarities to real-life actors.

Shanghai-based production company Youhug Media drew backlash after unveiling two AI-generated actors whose appearances were widely perceived to resemble Chinese film star Zhai Zilu and actresses Zhao Jinmai and Zhang Zifeng.

The incident reignited debate over whether generative AI systems are effectively “replicating” human performers without consent.

In March, a Beijing court ruled in favour of an unnamed actress whose image rights were violated after two companies had used generative AI to create a character resembling her in a microdrama.

The issue came to light when the actress discovered her likeness had been superimposed onto a character, according to Chinese media reports.

Citing China’s Civil Code, Judge Zhao Qi said that even if an AI-generated face differed slightly from the original, it still constitutes infringement if the person is recognisable by the public.

“The segments bore a strong resemblance to the actress and public comments identified the character as her,” Zhao said, adding that the streaming platform would also be held liable for not reviewing the content and “failing its duty to prevent infringement”.

Chinese legal experts said a key criterion in determining infringement is the “identifiability”.

If the public is able to recognise an AI-generated image as a specific actor, it may constitute infringement - whether it was the result of “deliberate imitation” or “technical coincidence”, said Li Zhenwu, a lawyer at Shanghai Lizhen Law Firm.

If circumstances were serious, they could even be considered a crime, Li said. 

Speaking to the state-owned Global Times news outlet, You Yunting, a lawyer from Shanghai Debund Law Offices, said that the use of personal data to train AI generative tools raises questions over whether it constitutes fair use. 

If a user inputs a person’s photo or likeness into an AI tool - resulting in the individual’s likeness appearing in a short drama, the user would then be infringing on portrait rights, You said.

In a statement released on Apr 2 - the Actors Committee of the China Federation of Radio and Television Associations condemned the growing misuse of AI technology, including the unauthorised use of actors' images and audio for AI model training.

But industry insiders said the issue is systemic. Generative AI models are trained on vast datasets scraped from the internet, often without clear consent from individuals whose faces, voices or performances are included.

“These large models rely on massive amounts of visual data,” said Niu Cong, project coordinator at Versatile Media, a Hangzhou-based virtual production company that produces AI-generated microdramas.

“But whether all of that data - especially human faces - has been properly authorised is still very questionable,” she said.

The company has only been producing AI microdramas for less than a year - but managed to release a “fully AI-generated” 12-episode fantasy microdrama series before the Chinese New Year.

Each episode is about a minute long and follows the story of male protagonist Xiao Jin and his white fox companion Bai Lu. 

The series has generated nearly 18 million hits on Hongguo - a short-form drama platform owned by Bytedance, Niu said.

The series was fully generated by AI and was “really a test piece for us - from scripting all the way to the final output”, Niu said, adding that overall production time was “very short”.

The team completed the entire series in 4 to 5 days, she said. “We worked intensively to finish it before the Spring Festival and launched it online on Douyin and Hongguo.”

With AI evolving so quickly, the company has also been developing its own AI production tool called MOKE.

“It’s a very important production tool for us,” Niu said. 

“It started out as something to assist our virtual production system for applications and shooting, but now it can complete a full-process content creation from a single platform - from script to visuals to video output,” she added.

“It’s very fast. We’re working on a Republican-era film using only old photos, and MOKE helps turn these flat images into 3D spaces.

“What once took a team of four to five people two weeks can now be done by two people in just three days.”

GLOBAL DEBATE AND INDUSTRY PUSHBACK

The concerns over generative AI in China reflect a broader global debate.

According to a global report released by UNESCO on Feb 18, creative workers - from actors to writers - risk having their work used to train AI systems without payment or credit.

“The shift toward digital production and consumption has created new opportunities but also intensified economic uncertainty,” UNESCO said, adding that “disruptions are occurring at a pace that outstrips current policy responses, exacerbating inequalities and threatening the livelihoods of millions of cultural workers”.

“Creators are experiencing heightened exposure to intellectual property violations and diminishing returns on their work as AI-generated outputs enter the marketplace.

For creatives in China’s film and television industry, the rapid adoption of generative AI is becoming a growing concern.

During a recent livestream, actor Yang Xuwen said the impact of AI was “extremely huge”, noting that many dramas can now be completed using the technology.

He added that investors are increasingly focused on production timelines and costs.

Veteran actor Jin Dong, speaking on the sidelines of China’s annual Two Sessions meetings, said AI-generated scripts alone cannot guarantee quality.

“The script is just one aspect of the whole project,” he said. “There are also rehearsals and filming. No matter how good a script is, if it's crudely produced, the final product may not be well done.”

Screenwriter Yu Zheng also weighed in, saying AI could “never fully replace” real human performance.

“Some people like 2D characters, others enjoy real people,” he wrote on Weibo, adding that while he is experimenting with AI dramas, skilled actors and creators “do not need to worry” and that “humans will prevail”.

AI AS A CREATIVE TOOL - NOT A REPLACEMENT

Experts said the rise of generative AI is inevitable, particularly given its efficiency gains.

“Think about the productivity of producing microdramas using generative AI - it can shorten the production cycle from a few months to a few weeks,” said Xiao Lu, an assistant professor from the Academy of Film and Creative Technology at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.

“This significantly changes the traditional workflow,” she said - also reducing costs and enabling new forms of “machine creativity” that can complement human ideas.

But challenges remain.

Niu pointed to the persistent “AI-feel” in generated content - where audiences can quickly tell something is artificial - as well as the difficulty of finding talent who understand both filmmaking and AI systems.

“The core is still people and their aesthetic judgement,” she said. “That hybrid skillset is hard to find.”

In Xiao’s view, while generative AI can be used for ideas and conceptualisation, the final artwork cannot be fully AI-generated.

“You need to have human input, and you need to revise and adjust the content generated by AI - so that’s a hybrid production mode usually adopted by China’s production companies,” she said.

She also pointed to challenges in maintaining quality, noting that AI-generated content can be inconsistent.

“For example, a character is shown as a young man at the beginning, but later he’s depicted as an old man - that’s the inconsistency of using generative AI for content creation, and a technical risk we need to consider.”