--- title: "Chinese Netflix Competitor Opens Floodgates to AI Slop" description: "It may be the beginning of the end for the global legions of C-drama fans." date: "2026-04-24" modified: "2026-04-24" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/chinese-netflix-competitor-ai-slop" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # Chinese Netflix Competitor Opens Floodgates to AI Slop ![A red and white striped popcorn container overflowing with popcorn, with some popcorn spilled around it, set against a bright blue background. The image has been altered to make it look like AI slop.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images* It may be the beginning of the end for the global legions of C-drama fans. iQIYI, the Chinese streaming service known for its massive library of Asian films and TV shows, is anticipating that AI will create the majority of its content in just five years, [*Bloomberg* reports](). In an interview at iQIYI's annual content showcase, CEO Gong Yu presented a sweeping AI vision so divorced from the company's roots as a Netflix-style service that it has shades of Mark Zuckerberg's aborted pivot to building an entire "Metaverse." Per *Bloomberg*'s paraphrasing of Yu's remarks*,* the Beijing-based streamer plans to convert its website and video app into a "social media destination that hosts mainly AI-generated content" — content it hopes will be made using its own model. On Monday, the service launched its Nadou Pro suite, an all-in-one AI toolkit designed to handle every aspect of filmmaking, from screenwriting to storyboards and video generation. The company says Nadou Pro has already been used to make films during internal testing, but that's not the extent of its vision. iQIYI is also planning to release an AI-generated film this summer, one it hopes will be a genuine box office success rather than an overlooked experiment. A version of the facelifted iQIYI app was unveiled on Monday. Striking when the iron is hot, executives hope to capture the mass appeal of OpenAI's video generator app Sora, which [unexpectedly shut down last month](). "It's once in a decade," Gong said of the opportunity to an audience of producers and directors at the content showcase, per *Bloomberg*. "We have to take the tide as it comes." In the meantime, iQIYI will release 16 Nadou-produced films on the platform — the opening salvo before its anticipated onslaught of AI content. iIQIYI will even pay filmmakers that use its AI tool an additional 20 percent cut of advertising and membership fees, Gong said. iQIYI's expansive AI vision comes amid a swell of unrest in Hollywood over how the tech could disrupt the industry, sparked by the impressive capabilities of the latest video generating models like Google's Veo 3 and ByteDance's Seedance 2.0. Some [insiders say AI is already pervasive in the industry]() and others [fatalistically claim that an AI takeover is inevitable](), though many examples of movie-like AI footage [have turned out to be misleadingly presented](). There're also nagging questions about the economic feasibility of AI video generation. Sora, OpenAI's app that iQIYI is hoping to eat the lunch of, was [reportedly losing]() over $1 million per day before being shut down. It also comes during a less-than-outstanding year at the Chinese box office, with the runaway success of "Ne Zha 2," which released on the first day of the Chinese New Year holiday in 2025, proving a tough act to follow. Domestic sales during this year's Chinese New Year week [plunged by nearly 40 percent](), with one report suggesting it was [the lowest figure since 2018](). iQiyi’s own revenue is estimated to have fallen by 13 percent in the first quarter of this year, *Bloomberg* reported. **More on AI:** [*Fury Erupts as Val Kilmer’s Estate Announces Starring Role in AI Film Made From Beyond the Grave*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()