AI video tools are displacing Chinese actors and influencers. Short-drama actor Greg Wollner saw work vanish after Byte Dance’s Seedance 2.0 launched. In May, 89 of the top 100 Douyin animated dramas were AI-made.

The industry employs 690,000 people directly. AI hosts cost 10% of human ones; JD.com uses them for 70,000 merchants. A digital Luo Yonghao outsold the human in one session, earning Rmb55mn ($7.7mn).

Production time fell from five people over three months to one person in two days, at 10% of cost. Some performers are forced to train AI replicas or lose jobs. Labour lawyer Jiang Xiaotong notes rising disputes; one case in Hangzhou may be the first involving AI replacement.