AIが変える仕事の質 米ベストセラー著者が示す磨くべき人間の力

In a recent report, it was noted that AI-generated short dramas, such as "The Girl Who Lost Her Job," have gained significant popularity in China. The video of Will Smith eating spaghetti was once a viral meme, but it eventually became a standard benchmark for measuring AI performance. As new AI models emerge, people are increasingly seeing such scenes as natural. Three years later, these once-impossible scenarios have become relatively routine.

Short dramas are a genre AI can explore effectively. They typically run 1-2 minutes long, with a vertical screen format and cliffhanger endings. According to the China Internet Broadcasting Association, in the first quarter of this year, 95% of new short dramas featured AI usage. "The Girl Who Lost Her Job," starring virtual actress Pan Tao, had a production cost of only ¥110,000 (approximately $230,000), far less than traditional short dramas, which usually cost around ¥150,000 for a 10-minute production.

Media scholars David Nibor and Thomas Pull offer insights into this change through the concept of "cultural platformization." As content production becomes increasingly dependent on platforms' data and infrastructure, the conditions for creation are reshaped to align with platform logic. "Pan Tao" began as a drama character, grew into a social media figure, and became an independent intellectual property (IP) that could be monetized through advertising and fanbase businesses.

The core change lies in the movement of value and control from human labor to something more akin to the 'scarcity of value.'

As production becomes more expensive and quicker, what becomes scarce is not the ability to produce but the verified IP, character fanbases, data, distribution networks, and most importantly, human attention. As Nobel laureate Herbert Simon pointed out, the more information is abundant, the more scarce human attention becomes. However, the shift is not entirely democratic as the benefits of this change primarily accrue to platforms and verified IP holders, not necessarily actors and writers.

A troubling trend in this landscape is "face theft," where the faces and voices of ordinary people are used without consent in AI-generated content. This issue became prominent when Hup play, a Chinese short drama platform, removed the June 2022 drama "Face Theft" due to allegations of unauthorized use of general public faces. The market for providing faces to AI content has also emerged, with licensing platforms charging from $15 (around ¥12,200) to $700 (around ¥990,000) for such use.

While AI is not yet replacing human workers, there are still limitations. For instance, maintaining consistent character faces, clothing, and natural dialogue remains challenging, and the cost increases with each regeneration.

Despite these advancements, the role of human labor is clearly shifting. Technology has always anticipated human imagination, but we must reflect on the implications of cloned faces and stories. As we enjoy the conveniences brought by technology, we must also consider who benefits from the efficiency gains and who will bear the risk of human dignity and labor being marginalized.

We should approach the benefits of AI with a sense of caution, recognizing that while technology can make our lives easier, it also raises questions about the nature of our relationships with it.