Will Audiences Watch AI Actors? In China, the Answer Is Yes

Until a few months ago, Zhang Xiaolei was one of the most reliably employed actors in China. Over about two years starting in late 2023, he appeared in roughly 200 microdramas, usually playing some kind of domineering billionaire cruel to everyone except the woman he loves.

By this past March, roles had become so scarce that he turned to farming to make ends meet. 

He now sells chilies he grows in a greenhouse for about 4 yuan a kilo — around 59 cents. In theory, he’s still working as an actor, he told local outlets. So far this year he has had one booking.

He blames AI. The numbers support that view.  

China released about 128,000 new microdramas in the first quarter of 2026. More than 95 percent of them are AI productions, Caixin, a Chinese financial-news magazine, reported in June. 

Hollywood should be watching. The disruption in Chinese microdramas isn’t simply AI actors replacing real ones. It is also AI taking over production. The traditional approach involves a crew, a cast and a shooting schedule; the AI version could require a single person, a laptop and an AI-software subscription. Once producers see that the newer approach actually works, they can hardly afford to stick with the old one, and if microdramas can work in this new paradigm, it may only be a matter of time before all formats in Hollywood face similar challenges.

What happens once audiences stop caring whether the actor is human? I break down:

• Why viewers appear more willing to watch AI actors than Hollywood expected
• How a $100,000 live-action shoot becomes a $2,800 AI one
• How “digital human” dramas went from 7 percent of China’s top titles to 38 percent in a year
• Why China’s own Tilly Norwoods are already booking roles — and are already in legal trouble
• How TikTok owner ByteDance is building the AI production, distribution and ad machine behind the boom
• What happens to human actors when a licensed face can cost as little as $15 an episode