China’s Netflix, iQiyi, is making one of the biggest bets in streaming history. The company wants AI to create the bulk of its films and shows someday soon, and it’s already restructuring its 16-year-old business to make that happen.
At its annual content showcase in Beijing, founder and CEO Gong Yu announced that iQiyi is pivoting its popular streaming platform into a social media destination built around AI-generated content.
Alongside the announcement, the company debuted Nadou Pro, an AI tool, which, according to the company, is capable of handling almost every aspect of filmmaking, from scriptwriting and storyboards to the final video delivery.
Can AI actually save a struggling streaming giant?
According to Bloomberg, IQiyi has been bleeding revenue for years, thanks to the explosion of short-form video platforms like Douyin eating into its audience. Its revenue is expected to drop 13% in the first quarter alone. Gong sees AI as the antidote, and he’s not being subtle about it. “It’s once in a decade,” he told the audience. “We have to take the tide as it comes.”
The company wants to release a commercially successful AI-generated film as early as this summer. And to sweeten the deal for independent creators, it is offering an additional 20% cut of ad and membership revenue to those who create AI content on the platform. It’s also debuting a standalone app that will let users interact with characters from its shows.
What about professionally made content?
Gong promised to keep investing in professionally produced shows, but admitted that kind of content will shrink as a share of the platform over time. AI-generated content is clearly the priority.
I do not mind the rise of AI content on the internet, but when it starts replacing human talent, that’s when I start having problems. AI has become the gravy train everyone wants a ride on, and IQiyi has become the latest company to join the trend.
The more I see this, the more I believe that AI is going to be yet another bubble. I mean, even a shoe company recently pivoted from making shoes to creating AI infrastructure, and its stock soared almost 600%.
It will be interesting to see which companies survive this AI trend once the bubble bursts and the dust settles.
