With no marketing budget and no star-studded cast, Jiang Lan has accomplished what once seemed impossible: he created a 21-episode science fiction epic entirely on his own.
Working solo from his desk, the 35-year-old former game artist handled every element of Guixu — an AI-generated post-apocalyptic drama.
From worldbuilding and scriptwriting to image generation, editing and scoring, Jiang turned his lone vision into an internet sensation.
Since its launch in March, the series has racked up over 100 million views. On Bilibili, a video platform popular with young people, viewers marveled at the cinematic camera work and seamless visuals, with many commenting that it was hard to spot any telltale AI flaws.
Jiang said achieving a single cinematic shot lasting just a few seconds often required complex prompt engineering running over 1,000 characters. Across its eight-minute episodes, the project consumed more than 200,000 yuan ($30,000) in raw computing power.
In summer, another hit AI short drama proved that Guixu was not a one-off. The historical time-travel series Chixie Rusong (Armed into the Song Dynasty), launched in August without spending a single yuan on paid traffic. Relying purely on word of mouth, by Nov 7, total views had exceeded 12 billion across 10 seasons and some 1,000 episodes.
Behind the phenomenon was an unlikely core team of just six people collaborating remotely across China, including a stay-at-home mom, a ride-hailing driver and a wholesale delivery worker. None had met in person, yet they meticulously cross-referenced historical Song Dynasty (960-1279) garments, and even composed an original soundtrack for the show. After the show went viral, the team made the unusual decision to cut output, instead focusing on polishing narrative depth and quality.
Though visually worlds apart, Guixu and Chixie Rusong mark a pivotal turning point: China's AI short drama industry is evolving from a volume-driven spam machine into a quality-focused movement.
However, this is not a spontaneous turn by the market. Administrative measures on the development and management of micro short dramas, implemented by the National Radio and Television Administration on Sept 1, set bottom lines including filing, labeling and tiered classification while explicitly encouraging public participation in creation, technological and business model innovation, and support for outstanding AI-generated short dramas.
Lin Qiwen, vice-president of research institute DataEye, said the measures will put AI short dramas on a quality-driven path. "Innovation will shift from the extensive model of 'competing on capacity and piling up volume' to a quality-driven model led by tool-based compliance and efficiency," he said.
Lin said that cost reduction will no longer focus on mass output but move upstream to multiple auxiliary stages such as script evaluation, compliance and duplication checks for materials, post-production editing, dubbing and rendering. Next comes differentiated content innovation: deepening niche vertical genres and winning through the competitiveness of story and characters.
He Biao, deputy director of the NRTA, said quality is the foundation of micro short dramas, and efforts should focus on enhancing their cultural content, artistic quality and social value.
He said AI can generate images but not life; it can assist creation but can't fully replace thinking. The soul of AI short dramas ultimately comes from human emotion and human creation. "Technology itself has no values; the people who use it do," he added.
For creators like Jiang, whose post-apocalyptic plot grounded its mutant ant ecology in actual entomology research, the message is clear.
"It seems everyone can use AI to generate images, but creators with a true personal style, a complete worldview and the ability to tell stories over the long term will become even scarcer," he said.
Jiang said AI is not about making cheap things cheaper, but about making expensive imagination within reach.
