About 200 titles into his microdrama acting career, 28-year-old leading man Zhang Xiaolei’s script these days is filled with chilli peppers. The actor has, he tells local platforms, swapped his days in front of the camera for life on a farm in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai. 

Blame AI, which he says has decimated his once-lively, if short-lived, earnings as a CEO/boss in microdramas. These days, he sells his chillies at a rural market for RMB4/US$0.59 per kg.

AI remains microdrama production’s hottest topic. Some think AI will be able to do everything, from idea to final product. Others aren’t so sure. No one says some use of AI to increase speed and efficiency is unwelcome. 

And then there’s the animated Fruit Love Island which, copyright violations aside, attracted global attention and millions of views. 

“I’m happy to use AI,” FlareFlow executive producer told ContentAsia for a recent episode of podcast “Greenlights & Ground Truths”. “But not totally AI. AI is a tool… you teach the AI. It can’t do everything”.   

In Qinghai, Zhang says AI has replaced him. From a full calendar, he had one booking this year.  

Zhang describes 2023 to 2025 as the golden age of microdramas, according to reports in mainland publications and Hong Kong daily news platform, the South China Morning Post (SCMP). 

“I slapped people while acting but I was slapped in the face by reality,” the SCMP quoted his Chinese social media as saying.