AI is writing, acting and producing China’s minidramas. It’s shaking a $14 billion industry.

Artificial intelligenceAI is writing, acting and producing China’s minidramas. It’s shaking a $14 billion industry.“AI is changing everything,” Gao Qingge, a microdrama director based in Beijing, told NBC News. “Because AI can save a lot of money.”Listen to this article with a free profile00:0000:00An online minidrama shown on video-sharing platform Douyin, on a phone in Shanghai, China.VCG via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJuly 20, 2026, 11:15 AM EDTBy Janis Mackey Frayer, Dawn Liu, Erin Tan and Larissa GaoZHENGZHOU, China — Chinese microdramas — known for hyperemotional stories about torrid love affairs, time-traveling revenge and explosive family secrets — are facing drama of their own as AI transforms an industry that is also rapidly expanding in the United States. Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Shot vertically for China’s mobile-first audience, microdramas — also called minidramas or short dramas — have captivated hundreds of millions of Chinese for years with fast-paced, addictive stories told in episodes that usually last between 60 and 90 seconds. But technology has upended the way they are written, produced and performed.“AI is changing everything,” Gao Qingge, a microdrama director based in Beijing, told NBC News in an interview. “Because AI can save a lot of money.”Add NBC News to GoogleHow AI is transforming the way China’s microdramas are made04:32Out of about 100,000 microdramas released in the first three months of this year, about 95% were entirely produced by AI, according to the state-run People’s Daily newspaper, leaving many actors and crew members in the $14 billion industry in limbo.Though Chinese viewers are watching artificial intelligence microdramas in huge numbers, the shift has also created anxieties similar to those in Hollywood, where a full-length feature film starring controversial AI “actor” Tilly Norwood was criticized by a major actors union as “deval...