China’s actors written out of dramas as AI doubles ready to take their roles

New AI-powered video tools have led to a surge in AI dramas in China. According to DataEye, 89 of the top 100 animated dramas on Douyin in May were AI productions. This has resulted in online performers losing their jobs as new video-generation programmes sweep the industry.

Chinese AI companies are leading the way in video generation, surpassing their US rivals. They have achieved this by leveraging vast short-video ecosystems, looser copyright rules, and aggressive pricing. According to industry evaluation platform Artificial Analysis, Chinese models from companies such as Alibaba Group Holding, MiniMax, and ByteDance dominate benchmark rankings. Alibaba's Wan 3.0 ranks first on the text-to-video leaderboard with audio.

Industry analysts attribute China's video AI momentum to proprietary training data, rapid iteration cycles, and strong domestic demand for short-form videos. Chinese models occupy eight of the top 10 positions in benchmark rankings, and also lead in related categories such as image-to-video and video editing.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, SCMP Tech, South China Morning Post — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.