Chinese streaming giant iQiYi has launched a database of AI-generated avatars of real actors for possible upcoming films. In a country where AI is already very integrated into the film industry, this new initiative seems to have been the last straw.

Published on: 04/25/2026 - 09:04 Modified on: 04/25/2026 - 12:26

Chinese Netflix has just got its feet wet with AI. During its annual conference, Monday April 20, iQiYi announced the establishment of a platform presented as a catalog of AI avatars of Chinese actors... to the great displeasure of a majority of Internet users.

Nearly 100 actors have agreed to collaborate on this initiative, iQiYi proudly announced. This database of “artificial actors” is part of a set of AI tools – called Nadou Pro – assembled by the largest Chinese streaming service and offered to content and film creators.

“iQiYi has gone crazy”

This new step in the adoption of AI “is presented by iQiYi as good news for everyone,” underlines Xiaoning Lu, specialist in Chinese cinema at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Aspiring directors who do not have the means of the big studios, but are brimming with ideas, would be more able to propose and create works by relying on these AI assistants and actors.

As for the actors, they “work very hard, and often cannot have a private life. [With Nadou Pro], it will be more like a white-collar job, giving them time for themselves,” enthused Gong Yu, CEO of iQiYi during the presentation of these new features.

Not everyone shares this optimism in China. Far from it. “iQiYi has gone crazy,” became one of the most viral phrases on the social network Weibo in the days following the streaming service’s annual conference. “What if we instead replaced the CEO with an AI,” several Internet users mocked on Weibo.

Several actors, presented as volunteers to provide their virtual double to iQiYi's new AI library, have distanced themselves from this announcement. “We never signed an authorization to this effect,” reacted the agent of Zhang Ruoyun, a television actor.

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Faced with this blowback, iQiYi officials began an operation to “save Nadou Pro” by asserting that it was only an initiative to “start the discussion” on greater integration of AI. The associated actors will have to give their consent for each use of their avatars, assured the streaming platform.

This “made in China” controversy recalls more Western precedents such as the case of Tilly Norwood, the first AI “actress” to have signed a contract with a talent agency, or the famous fight scene on a roof between AI versions of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

On each occasion, these new examples of the prowess of AI in cinema have sparked lively debates and criticism.

Chinese micro-dramas boosted with AI

In China, the adoption of artificial intelligence by the cinema world seemed to be going without major hitches until now. “AI is already much more integrated into this industry in China,” assures Patrick Nicchiarelli, specialist in this country at the International Team for the Study of Security (ITSS) Verona.

The vice president of Chinese media giant Tencent, Sun Zhonghuai, predicts that nearly a third of films and cartoons produced in China in 2026 will use AI. “Artificial intelligence is already found at all stages of the production of a film, from the script to editing,” adds Patrick Nicchiarelli.

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Another very Chinese cultural phenomenon has also promoted the adoption of AI by the entertainment sector: micro-dramas. These series made of very short vertical videos (30 seconds to two minutes) designed for consumption on smartphones have exploded in recent years. This industry is expected to be worth 120 billion yuan (or 15 billion euros) in 2026, “which would make it a more important sector in China than cinema or television,” assures Giulia d’Aquila, specialist in Chinese cinema at the Lau Institute at King’s College London.

Nearly 40% of the 100 most popular micro-dramas in January 2026 were made using AI compared to only 7% a year earlier. The parody micro-drama “Saving a Fox on a Snowy Mountain” – entirely generated by AI – has been viewed more than five billion times. This crazy story of a lumberjack who saves an injured fox in the snow by giving him a roast chicken to eat and who is then haunted by the spirit of the sacrificed bird has given rise to countless pastiches.

If in this case AI makes you smile, it above all allows you to save money. “The manufacturing time of these works can be reduced to a few weeks or even a few days,” says Giulia d’Aquila. Help with writing scenarios, creating special effects or even editing: artificial intelligence intervenes at all stages of creation. Not to mention the works already produced 100% by AI.

Nadou Pro and the catalog of AI avatars of the actors are only the extension of this logic. The iQiYi platform “wants to use techniques similar to those used for micro-dramas in more traditional feature films,” summarizes Giulia d’Aquila.

“It’s the same logic of reducing costs to be able to increase the quantity of content produced,” adds Xiaoning Lu.

The actors relegated to the rank of relics?

Except that this invasion of AI, which does not seem to bother spectators of micro-dramas, is shocking when it comes to more traditional films. “Perhaps this is due to the fact that we are less emotionally invested in a micro-drama, watched on public transport, on a small screen while scrolling,” says Giulia d’Aquila.

Read alsoCannes 2025: AI in cinema, “a wave impossible to stop” despite reluctance

The traditional film broadcast on iQiYi represents more of a human adventure than a micro-drama... and if we remove the human aspect to save money, “it comes down to asking what it means to be human today,” believes Xiaoning Lu.

Especially since during his presentation, the boss of iQiYi saw fit to affirm that human work in cinema would join “intangible cultural heritage”. It is an expression loaded with meaning in Chinese, recognize the experts interviewed. In China, “it’s a way of celebrating relics of the past, like traditional Chinese embroidery for example,” emphasizes Xiaoning Lu.

The use of this expression, in addition to the establishment of this database of AI actors, “made it clear to a part of the population, rather enthusiastic towards AI when it is practical, that it is also ready to replace real human actors today and perhaps them tomorrow”, summarizes Patrick Nicchiarelli. For Giulia d'Aquila, "it is possible that this affair has given rise in China to what we already know in part in the West: a certain fatigue with AI."

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