In China, individuals are leasing their facial likenesses for AI-generated dramas.

      In China, the surge of AI technology that displaced actors and models has now found a new application: leasing their faces. An increasing number of platforms are compensating individuals between $15 and $700 for the rights to their likenesses for AI-generated content, as reported by Rest of World. Producers can explore catalogs of faces categorized by gender, age, and types such as “girl-next-door” or “supermodel,” and further refine their search by genre.

      The demand is largely driven by China's microdrama sector, which involves ultrashort vertical series designed for mobile phones. In the first quarter of 2026, China released 128,000 of these series, with over 95% incorporating AI in their production processes.

      Explaining the face rental process, ActID, a platform based in Shenzhen that started in March, has around 800 registered users, with about 300 consenting to license their images. To date, two AI productions have utilized approximately ten faces, paying between 99 to 500 yuan ($15 to $74) per episode, with ActID taking a 10% commission. The company's approach is quite pragmatic. “Producers seek attractive leads, but they also require unique features, such as older individuals,” said marketing chief Camille Yan. AI dramas, she added, “do not necessitate acting skills; the faces are primarily used as source materials.”

      Meanwhile, New Claw, a Chengdu-based platform, transitioned into this business after AI disruption affected its former role as a production house. They set a minimum fee of 500 yuan ($74) per image to prevent users from underpricing one another. Operations lead Long Lyu noted, “With traditional drama production on the decline and advertising budgets tightening,” even luxury brands are turning to AI. Licensing photo rights offers individuals a means to earn.

      However, platforms are unable to address existing issues. Unwitting individuals often discover their faces appearing in AI dramas without their consent. Two influencers have accused ByteDance’s Hongguo of using their likeness for a drama that garnered over 40 million views, prompting the platform to pull it. ByteDance claims to have eliminated over 85,000 videos featuring unauthorized AI reproductions of faces and voices since early 2026.

      The courts are becoming increasingly crowded with such cases, with the Guangzhou Internet Court handling around 700 in three years. In March, a Beijing court determined that unauthorized AI face-swapping violates the law, even after the images have been edited.

      A legal marketplace is intended to navigate around these issues. Yile Deng, a Beijing lawyer managing these cases, described it as a move towards more structured regulations but pointed out a significant drawback. Once a face is entered into an AI marketplace, the owner essentially loses long-term control over it, as platforms cannot prevent unauthorized face-swapping, illegal data collection, or future model training using these images. “The licensing terms are frequently so ambiguous that it’s difficult to ascertain who will ultimately use the likeness, or for what purposes,” she added.

      Individuals with the most pertinent knowledge are choosing to abstain. Xu Fang, a 21-year-old model from Shanghai, is suing a fashion brand for using his face on products he did not model. Despite the availability of payments from platforms, he refuses to sell the rights to his face. “Licensing my face means I cannot predict how AI may alter it or if it might depict me negatively,” he expressed.

      Chinese law mandates consent before any biometric data is processed and prohibits creating likenesses without permission, according to Digital Trends. However, enforcement poses challenges. Similar patterns of non-consensual AI imagery are occurring across various other platforms, including Grok images and footage captured by smart glasses.

      There is an additional irony: the marketplace may never fully establish itself because the underlying economics that prompted its formation also restrict its growth. One director observed that most AI minidramas continue to utilize entirely synthetic faces, as acquiring real faces is often optional. “Ultimately, cost control is the primary concern,” he remarked.

      This same calculation is what keeps China’s AI industry ahead of the regulations designed to govern it. A face has now become a quantifiable commodity: priced, licensed, and, once uploaded, no longer entirely the property of its original owner.