Chinese AI short dramas produced in 'sweatshop' factories amid labor concerns

The burgeoning market for AI-driven short dramas in China is facing growing criticism over its production practices, with allegations of exploitative labor conditions and 'sweatshop' factories emerging.

While AI technology has significantly reduced production time and costs, making short dramas a new growth area in the video industry, workers and smaller production companies are reportedly suffering from overwork and declining profitability. A prime example is 'Aqing' (a pseudonym), an editor at an AI short drama company in Hangzhou. He described working 15 consecutive days with only one day off, including 14 days of overtime until 11 p.m. His team of three was responsible for editing 70 short drama episodes weekly, earning a monthly salary of around 5,000 yuan (approximately $1130 USD).

"It's literally burning my life away," Aqing stated, expressing thoughts of quitting. The industry's success formula relies heavily on a 'quantity-over-quality' approach, producing a large volume of content in hopes of a hit. The production cycle for a single short drama is typically only five to seven days. "If we start a new project on Monday, we have to deliver the finished product by Sunday," Aqing explained, adding that overtime is essential to meet these tight deadlines.

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It's literally burning my life away. I'm thinking of running away.

This high-volume production has resulted in a flood of content, with 1,200 AI short dramas registered in China between January and February alone. However, only about 150 have surpassed 100 million views, according to the Lianhe Zaobao report. Fierce competition among companies has led to a sharp decline in profitability. The number of AI short drama companies registered in China has exceeded 2,100 this year. Production costs per minute have reportedly plummeted from an initial 4,000 yuan (about $900 USD) to as low as 800 yuan (about $180 USD).

Furthermore, the immaturity of AI technology requires dozens, even hundreds, of prompts to generate desired scenes, increasing both labor costs for editors and computing expenses for the production companies.

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If we start a new project on Monday, we have to deliver the finished product by Sunday. We can't make it without working overtime.