(Bloomberg) — IQiyi Inc. expects AI to create the bulk of its films and shows in five years, a monumental industry shift that spurred the Netflix-style streaming service to begin the biggest corporate overhaul since its 2010 inception.<\/p>\n
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The Beijing-based company plans to convert its video app and website into more of a social media destination that hosts mainly AI-generated content as video models mature, founder and Chief Executive Officer Gong Yu said in an interview at iQiyi\u2019s annual content showcase. As part of that transition, iQiyi officially debuted the Nadou Pro suite Monday \u2014 an AI toolkit it said can handle almost every aspect of filmmaking, from scriptwriting and storyboards to final rendering.<\/p>\n
IQiyi aims to become one of the entertainment industry\u2019s biggest adopters of and advocates for artificial intelligence \u2014 part of an internal effort to reverse a yearslong sales slump triggered by the rise of short-video platforms like ByteDance Ltd.\u2019s Douyin.<\/p>\n
Gong pledged to maintain investment in professionally produced content but said a portion of the company\u2019s capital will be reallocated to bolster iQiyi\u2019s AI services in the short term. That includes a new social-video app executives unveiled Monday, designed to capture the mass-market appeal of OpenAI\u2019s now-defunct Sora video generator. IQiyi also aims to release a commercially successful AI-generated film as soon as this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s once in a decade,\u201d Gong told an audience of producers and directors in the capital. \u201cWe have to take the tide as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n
IQiyi, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. together dominate video streaming in China, though audiences are more fragmented than in the US because of short video formats.<\/p>\n
The Baidu Inc. subsidiary\u2019s moves coincide with an AI debate raging in Hollywood, which is grappling with widespread layoffs and questions over how the technology will reshape the industry. From Netflix Inc. to Amazon.com Inc., major studios are increasingly experimenting with AI technology to cut production costs. Amazon has created an in-house team to deploy AI across its film and TV work.<\/p>\n
The Chinese company\u2019s Nadou software relies on AI models from competitors including Alibaba, ByteDance and Kuaishou Technology. IQiyi is betting its deep ties to professional filmmakers will create a more seamless, industry-specific workflow. The company also plans to launch an international version of the tool, powered by models including Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google Veo 3.1, Gong said.<\/p>\n
The Nadou suite also features an IP library, allowing creators to tap iQiyi\u2019s catalog of virtual assets and signed talent to generate new content. To showcase the tech, the Beijing-based streamer is flooding its platform with AI-generated titles, starting with a debut slate of 16 Nadou-produced films spanning sci-fi and anime. And to encourage more AI content creators, iQiyi plans to pay those producers an additional 20% cut of advertising and membership fees, Gong said.<\/p>\n
IQiyi\u2019s revenue is estimated to have slumped 13% in the first quarter of this year. The company, which is listed in the US, filed for a Hong Kong listing last month, joining a wave of Chinese internet peers seeking to tap capital closer to home.<\/p>\n
To offset the squeeze, iQiyi is also pivoting toward high-growth niches and physical entertainment. Overseas membership revenue surged more than 30% last year, though it remains a sliver of the company\u2019s topline. It\u2019s also monetizing its library in the real world, having opened an indoor theme park in the Chinese city of Yangzhou.<\/p>\n
Gong sees China\u2019s film industry trapped in a vicious cycle, where ballooning production costs and investment risks are stifling output just as users migrate to rival entertainment formats, he said. He believes AI will break the shackles of this stagnation by powering a surge in new content.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m confident this is the right call \u2014 we\u2019ll have our answer in a year\u2019s time,\u201d Gong said.<\/p>\n
(Updates with CEO interview throughout.)<\/p>\n
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\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Bloomberg) — IQiyi Inc. expects AI to create the bulk of its films and shows in five years,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[345,343,344,1877,190145,16739,190143,85,46,1730,125,190144],"class_list":{"0":"post-401562","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-bloomberg","12":"tag-company-plans","13":"tag-entertainment-industry","14":"tag-gong-yu","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-streaming-service","18":"tag-technology","19":"tag-video-models"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}