AI’s Role in the Film Industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving and deeply integrating into the entire film industry chain. From content creation to marketing operations, and from production models to industry ecology, unprecedented restructuring is underway. In this technological wave, AI brings productivity iteration and model innovation, yet the core essence and value orientation of the film industry should not and will not change.

The most direct transformation brought by AI is addressing long-standing pain points in the film industry. High production costs and lengthy production cycles are among the most significant factors hindering the industry’s development. Traditional film production models have high entry barriers, leading to the neglect of many quality ideas and making it difficult for talented individuals to stand out. With the launch of large video generation models like Seedance 2.0, AI film production has shifted from “single-point technological breakthroughs” to “multi-point blossoming across the entire chain,” pushing the film industry into a new development phase. We predict that in the future, successful commercial blockbusters can be produced within 3 to 6 months using AI technology.

Technological innovation will lead to significant changes in both quantity and quality within the film industry, which we refer to as the “1-1-2 Law”: a one-order-of-magnitude reduction in unit content production costs, a one-order-of-magnitude increase in the number of creators, and an explosive two-order-of-magnitude growth in the number of works produced. This represents a comprehensive reconstruction of content production logic—when AI can efficiently handle tedious tasks such as script evaluation, scene design, and post-editing, production costs will significantly decrease, creative tools will become more accessible, and the vitality of a vast number of creators will be fully unleashed, resulting in richer content supply that attracts more audience attention. Under this “flywheel effect,” the landscape of the film industry will also change, creating explosive new job opportunities while providing the public with a more diverse and exciting array of film works. This aligns with the advocacy in the 14th Five-Year Plan for the “prosperity of new mass arts under internet conditions.”

The deeper transformation brought by AI to the film industry is the shift of film media platforms from centralized to decentralized models, reconstructing the industry ecology. Over the past decade, long video platforms have primarily operated under centralized models, focusing on content procurement and production. With the widespread adoption of AI, content production will break the “monopoly of the few” and shift towards “mass co-creation,” ultimately transforming platforms into decentralized public service providers. This transition is an inevitable path to align with technological trends and achieve open and win-win industry outcomes.

The decentralization transformation will accelerate the construction of new content ecosystems on film platforms, giving rise to new creator and user communities. This will bring about four changes: first, creators will have more content brands and copyrights, with their rights fully protected; second, creators will have more private traffic, establishing more direct trust relationships with audiences and enhancing their influence; third, interactions between creators and audiences will be more direct, with feedback like comments and bullet screens reaching creators directly; fourth, the income model for creators will gradually shift from being platform-dominated to being consumer-driven, aligning more closely with market and user demands. This transformation will also change the collaborative relationships on the content production and supply side. Cooperation between platforms and production companies will gradually migrate to a revenue-sharing model, which is the inevitable development direction in the era of massive film content. The proportion of self-produced content by platforms will decrease, but this does not mean a reduction in investment; rather, it will focus more on high-quality content creation.

To adapt to these changes, film platforms need to strengthen their public service attributes, building a full industry chain support system for creators and creating a comprehensive service system covering content production, operations, distribution, and monetization. In the content production phase, they should launch professional production AI agents and AIGC (AI-generated content) creator operation platforms to lower the creative threshold. In the operational phase, they should provide mid-platform services such as IP authorization and script evaluation to help quality ideas materialize. Additionally, platforms should balance “hard services” for viewing and “soft services” for promotion, helping quality content reach a broader audience, ensuring reasonable returns for creators, and stimulating creative motivation.

Currently, AI has been widely applied in various film segments, including online short films, dramas, and animations. Major content categories like theatrical films, series, and variety shows, which require deep creativity and emotional expression, will be the last strongholds for AI to conquer. It is important to emphasize that regardless of how technology develops, IP remains the most valuable asset in the industry, and creativity and artistry are the soul of creation—elements that AI cannot replace. In the future, content will become significantly richer, but only high-quality IP that combines depth of thought and artistic standards can transcend industry cycles. In February of this year, the first iQIYI Paradise officially opened in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, integrating film and television IPs like “Tang Dynasty Ghost Stories” and “Lotus Tower” with cutting-edge technologies like AI and XR (extended reality), bringing IP out of the screen and into life, providing consumers with immersive cultural tourism scenarios. This is also our exploration of creating cross-media IPs that link film and tourism.

As a mainstream video platform, we are committed to the development philosophy of “empowering culture through technology” and are seizing the opportunities presented by the technological revolution in AI. We focus on the key track of AI film creation, striving to build a decentralized social media platform that elevates creation, unleashes creativity, and supports the prosperous development of new mass arts.