Will AI kill the Asian entertainment industry, or reinvent it?

Singapore marked its 61st birthday with two AI-generated films: Bersama Majulah, set during a zombie attack, and Trace Project, about a young man becoming Singapore’s first astronaut on Mars. Neither feature human actors; all elements, except the scripts, were produced by AI. This marks a significant disruption in the industry, with 95% of Chinese microdramas in Q1 2026 created by AI, compared to nearly none just a year prior.

The technology has now expanded to more established media. In September 2025, Hong Kong broadcaster TVB launched a 10-episode short drama, You, and Only You, featuring AI-generated characters. The network now uses virtual actors in advertising campaigns, emphasizing AI's pervasive role in video production.

Danming Xie, a senior AI scientist at Chinese streaming platform iQiyi, sees AI as ubiquitous: "It's everywhere, and it's increasingly difficult not to use AI in video production. The conversation is shifting towards how deeply creators employ it." Chinese video-generating models like Kling AI, launched by Kuaishou in 2024, have gained traction, claiming 100 million users with 70% of revenue from overseas markets.

Other players include TikTok owner ByteDance's Seedance 2.0, Alibaba's open-source model HappyHorse, and U.S.-based startup Higgsfield AI.

While AI-generated films are seen as democratizing storytelling, concerns arise about losing the industry's human essence. China's Hengdian, dubbed "China's Hollywood," now has vacant studios due to this shift. Chris Shaw, head of the Puttnam School of Film and Animation at Singapore's Lasalle College of the Arts, notes a wave of redundancies in China, with many actors and studios disappearing. The ultimate challenge lies in audience acceptance of AI-produced feature films, even when human direction is involved.

Pax Chen, behind the AI-generated film Trace Project, believes AI can address Hollywood's diversity issues, as Asians may not often see themselves in Hollywood films. In terms of costs, AI filmmaking in China is significantly lower. Joel Boh, founder of Edenstone film studio and producer of the 8,000 Singapore dollar ($6,315) short film, believes AI makes filmmaking tools accessible, arguing that working with evolving technology is preferable to not making a film at all. Chen's short film and iQiyi serve as examples of how rapidly AI is transforming the industry.