China’s AI technology can produce 95% of short dramas — People are losing jobs

China published 128,000 short drama videos in Q1 2026, triple the whole-year 2025 volume; 95% were created by AI, reported by China Netcasting Services Association: AI video is $90/min vs $1,000 live performance; 690,000 direct employees and 15 million live streamers affected. China Netcasting Services Association reported that there are 128,000 short dramas published in Q1 2026, which is 3x of whole year 2025. 95% were created by AI. An AI video costs between 90 to 120 USD per minute, compared to 1000 USD using real performers. In addition, ByteDance launched Seedance 2.0 and 2.5, Alibaba launched Wan 3.0. 690,000 direct employees and 15 million people whose main income comes from live streaming affected.

This is the first time that AI has taken over a major industry by orders of magnitude in both efficiency and price — while other content genres previously claimed they were only marginally outperformed by AI, the shift in performance arts and live streaming is happening now. Some actors are being requested to move their appearances and voices into AI systems before being let go, as reported by the FT.