Recently, a relevant official from the National Radio and Television Administration, while outlining efforts to advance high-quality development of micro-dramas during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, stated that live-action dramas are the main force of premium creation and should be strongly supported. This message drew widespread attention, with positive responses from both inside and outside the industry.
At a moment when artificial intelligence is bringing dramatic changes to audiovisual art, supporting live-action dramas strikes at the confusion and anxiety in people's hearts, and also reflects audiences' expectations for good content and good works. There is no doubt that live-action dramas are the undisputed main force in premium creation today.
AI-generated dramas are mainly concentrated in the micro-drama sector, with tens of thousands produced monthly, accounting for over ninety percent of the total. The scale is considerable, but most are fast-moving consumer goods that audiences forget immediately after watching, and works that achieve both critical acclaim and broad influence remain few. Whether it is the already mass-produced AI micro-dramas or the newly emerged AI long-form dramas and AI web storytelling films, they still fall short compared with live-action productions. The "AI flavor" in facial expressions, body movements, and scene lighting makes it difficult for viewers to truly immerse themselves.
Just as AI drama production capacity is surging while quality struggles to meet expectations, premium series such as "Taiping Nian" and "The Leading Role" have been released one after another. These major productions, carefully crafted following traditional production paradigms, transform genuine insights and deep reflections on history, the times, and life into solid scripts and vivid characters, painstakingly crafting the weight that premium works deserve, inch by inch. Meanwhile, the recurring phenomenon of "old dramas regaining popularity" on social media also testifies to the vitality of excellent series. The laughter and tears that live-action dramas bring to audiences are so real, and the spiritual impact they deliver is so lasting, that AI dramas currently cannot replace them.
Alongside the rapid growth of AI dramas comes a brand-new challenge: the protection of live-action creators' rights and interests. Since the beginning of this year, cases of actors having their faces swapped or voices cloned have repeatedly drawn attention. Among the massive training corpora used by large AI models, live-action drama works are also abundant, yet how to determine the relevant rights and interests still lacks clear rules. Some researchers have raised concerns that if AI-generated content continues to explode, and subsequent large models iteratively train on AI secondary content, the risk of homogenization and flattening of the entire online content pool may intensify.
Relevant regulatory and guidance efforts have already begun: the National Radio and Television Administration recently held symposiums on AI micro-drama "face fusion" and "voice fusion," reaching consensus that explicit authorization from rights holders must be obtained for such practices; the "Sword Net 2026" special action by the National Copyright Administration and three other departments also specifically proposed promoting the resolution of copyright compliance issues in large model training corpora.
The positive feedback from both inside and outside the industry regarding support for live-action dramas vividly confirms people's recognition of the value of premium creation and their respect for the talent, dedication, and legitimate rights of live-action creators. People do not want to see content lacking sincerity and mediocre in quality causing an aesthetic decline, nor do they want to see live-action dramas full of breath and warmth becoming scarce.
Of course, supporting live-action dramas does not mean denying the significance and value of technology. Audiovisual art was born from and thrives because of technology. As a leading and strategic technology in the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, AI has opened up entirely new possibilities for audiovisual art. For example, it allows ordinary people to break through financial and equipment limitations and transform their ideas into images. Data shows that 180,000 creators have independently completed story films of over one minute using AI, and a group of aesthetically savvy, expression-loving "AI super creators" is emerging. Another example: AI helps reduce costs and improve efficiency for high-cost, high-difficulty scenes. The impressive stormy sea battle scene in "Taiping Nian" used AI to generate wave fluid dynamics, compressing shots that previously took two months into two weeks. With AI, "Post-Journey to the West" can frequently present mythological scenes and fight sequences, allowing boundless imagination and exhilarating action to no longer be constrained by budget.
The fact that live-action dramas are the main force of premium creation does not mean live-action dramas automatically equal premium works. With AI as a reference point, creators should more earnestly examine themselves and spur themselves on—whether they are truly integrating the professional capabilities and life experiences unique to real humans into their creations, and whether they can form emotional exchanges with audiences that technology cannot replace. Whether live-action or AI-generated, dramas are created for real people, to satisfy audiences' spiritual and cultural needs, and to enhance people's sense of cultural fulfillment and happiness. This will not change because of technological iteration. What matters is that all parties work together synergistically, fully unleashing the positive value of AI, and making this "new variable" become a "new increment."