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China's online audiovisual association
counted about one hundred twenty-eight

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thousand micro-dramas in the first
quarter of twenty twenty-six,

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over ninety-five percent of them
artificial-intelligence productions.

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At Hengdian's studios,

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a director says live-action
short-drama starts

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fell by three quarters that quarter,

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and trade-group data put April
studio vacancy near eighty percent.

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Hengdian has registered more than one
hundred thousand extras,

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yet on an average day fewer than one
thousand of them get booked for work.

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One Xi'an producer prices
an eighty-episode drama

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at four hundred thousand
yuan or more with actors,

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and just over one hundred thousand
with artificial intelligence.

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Actors' casting groups began
posting offers for faces,

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five hundred yuan
for a one-year license and

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up to fifteen hundred
for a lifetime buyout.

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Many of these deals are non-exclusive,

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so one face can be licensed
to several studios and

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its owner may never see where it appears.

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A hit artificial-intelligence
drama was pulled

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from its platform after reports that

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it used the faces of a blogger
and a model without their permission.

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China's internet regulator has drafted
a rule barring digital humans that

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identify a real person without
consent, but it remains a draft.

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At the lunar new year peak,

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real-actor dramas numbered one
fiftieth of the artificial-intelligence

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ones yet drew twenty-five
times as many views,

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the association reports.

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In the second quarter the industry
association counted eighty-six

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thousand real-actor dramas among
two hundred thirty-nine thousand,

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and forty-four percent of May's releases.

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Among the second quarter's hit
artificial-intelligence dramas,

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nearly ninety percent
imitated real people,

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so the machines still depend
on a supply of human faces.

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So the ninety-five percent hides one
question, whose face is on the screen,

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and often the answer is a real
person who sold it cheaply.