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Kevin BeaumontGossiTheDog@cyberplace.social
Nov 9, 2026, 10:59 PM
There’s a fascinating situation playing out in China.
- Massive boom in microdrama viewers, to the point where they established their own Hollywood
- AI bros arrived and flooded the market with GenAI made microdramas
- They all looked the same, people stopped watching microdramas
- The market instantly crashed - only 1 in 70 shows are now profitable
- The government is now trying to bail out the sector by paying them to rehire humans to make them
https://note.com/eichan_sh/n/nb8234902a133?hl=en
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Replies

Nicole ParsonsNpars01@mstdn.social
Nov 9, 2026, 11:35 PM
@GossiTheDog
Nice to know that AI is as loathed in China as elsewhere.
Interesting that a government all-in on propaganda is subsidizing it, just like elsewhere.
Authoritarian governments adore the AI industry for the same reasons; it rewards the energy industry for its political alliance with oppressive billionaires.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-08/what-are-ai-s-emissions-energy-use-what-we-know-about-claude-deepseek-openai
https://www.desmog.com/2025/09/24/us-doesnt-need-fossil-fuels-ai-arms-race-china-renewables/
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/pollution-ai-data-centers-severe
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/03/just-an-unbelievable-amount-of-pollution-how-big-a-threat-is-ai-to-the-climate
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Beijing-Bets-on-Fossil-Fuels-Even-as-It-Leads-the-World-in-Renewables.amp.html
https://theconversation.com/why-the-us-is-letting-china-win-on-energy-innovation-261109
https://www.ft.com/content/8f16a902-3e80-462c-add8-b841494d1808
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Eric Liknesscarpetbomberz@mastodon.online
Nov 9, 2026, 11:38 PM
@GossiTheDog This is more or less the template Sam AltmanCo are going for when the market tanks for LLM Agentic AI.
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Eric Liknesscarpetbomberz@mastodon.online
Nov 10, 2026, 12:46 PM
@GossiTheDog
Novelty, being the "first" will only get you so far. Soon everyone catches up, everyone has a better "frontier" model. And no one can choose one, they are all the same. So they stop using them, and the market collapses.
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Cyber Yukiyuki2501@masto.hackers.town
Nov 10, 2026, 12:15 AM
@GossiTheDog The proven failure of AI slop :blobcheer:
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grob (teeth era) 🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️grob@mstdn.social
Nov 10, 2026, 12:21 AM
@GossiTheDog das sieht mir nach was für euch aus, @netzpolitik_feed. Vielleicht fürs Feuilleton? :blobcatgiggle:
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Lady of Mystery and Sciencedemi@xeno.glyphpress.com
Nov 10, 2026, 12:21 AM
@GossiTheDog
Using “AI” in creative endeavors clearly cranks the supply of slop far, far beyond the demand, which craters the equilibrium price.
So, duh, “AI ruins everything”.
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Harald K.Harald_Korneliussen@mastodon.partipirate.org
Nov 10, 2026, 7:12 AM
@demi @GossiTheDog This is right - both that there IS a demand for slop, and that AI completely breaks the slop market. That's ... maybe a net positive, when I think about it?
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Babzy JournalBabzy@mastodon.social
Nov 10, 2026, 1:06 PM
@demi @GossiTheDog you are very right. Ai slop grows and proliferates at an exceedingly high rate..
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Allan Chowgrumpasaurus@infosec.exchange
Nov 10, 2026, 12:27 AM
@GossiTheDog yeah the ai shorts look horrible. On the flip side, quite a few shorts (with real people) are clearly demonstrating higher and higher production value.
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dynamite_readydynamite_ready@mastodon.gamedev.place
Nov 10, 2026, 12:44 AM
@GossiTheDog
It's interesting. It's clear these things, while useful, have no original ideas. They can definitely inspire and support creativity though. But the only people keen on this agentic, 'give me your soul and push this button to smash out a copy of x product' crap, have no imagination or scruples at all.
We definitely need laws on what data these companies can train their models on. They should only be allowed either data in the public domain, or stuff they obtain, contractually.
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Travis 'Nep' Smithnep@mstdn.ca
Nov 10, 2026, 12:58 AM
@GossiTheDog The microdrama market came into existence contemporaneously with AI and is particularly susceptible to AI replacement. It is therefore perhaps an excellent example of what can (will?) happen with other markets at a slower pace (but how much slower, really?)
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softicecreamlesleysofticecreamlesley@famichiki.jp
Nov 10, 2026, 1:10 AM
@GossiTheDog Thank you for the article, because the last time I heard about this, the narrative was, “In China, AI micro dramas are wildly popular and isn’t this wonderful?”
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Damon L. WakesDamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org
Nov 10, 2026, 9:30 AM
@softicecreamlesley @GossiTheDog Same. The Guardian put out a baffling review of some Chinese slop movie that summed it up as "Okay, THIS one's terrible but the short dramas demonstrate an appetite for better versions!"
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DenpaNeko:perfect:denpanek0@mastodon.social
Nov 10, 2026, 1:16 AM
@GossiTheDog our own Hollywood 😂😂😂
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~/bigiainbigiain@aus.social
Nov 10, 2026, 2:07 AM
@GossiTheDog … this is a post about YouTube.
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Lauramitten@social.lol
Nov 10, 2026, 2:09 AM
@GossiTheDog Great article - loved this bit at the end, where they talk about the fact that AI has eaten the boring same-same middle. The high end and low end are where it's at now.
"In the past, the volume zone of the content industry was supported by safe, reliable works finished with moderate budgets and labor. However, what AI has brought is the ability to infinitely generate average-scoring content. As a result, mid-scale content has lost its cost competitiveness and has been stripped of its very reason for existence.
As a result, the common denominator of the two remaining poles is the domain unique to humans that AI cannot replace. One side is expression through massive capital, top-tier direction, and the pinnacle of craftsmanship. The other is a domain where the absurdity, quirks of the creator, and incompleteness produced by humans become the value."
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Passwordsarehard4passwordsarehard4@mastodon.social
Nov 10, 2026, 2:19 AM
@mitten @GossiTheDog MS paint microdramas are the wave of the future
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telefreizeittelefreizeit@chaos.social
Nov 12, 2026, 7:26 AM
@mitten @passwordsarehard4 Bill Wurtz style? @billwurtz
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argv[-1]argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org
Nov 10, 2026, 2:44 AM
@mitten
Relevant trope: So Bad, It's Good
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoBadItsGood
@GossiTheDog
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Will Berard 🫳🎤🫶MrBerard@mastodon.acm.org
Nov 10, 2026, 5:24 AM
@argv_minus_one @mitten @GossiTheDog
My writing isn't shit, I just operate within a domain where the absurdity, quirks of the creator, and incompleteness produced by humans become the value
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Will Berard 🫳🎤🫶MrBerard@mastodon.acm.org
Nov 10, 2026, 8:39 AM
This was initially funny, but I realise it is getting truer by the page.
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Satrofe C.satrofec@mastoart.social
Nov 10, 2026, 2:18 AM
@GossiTheDog Naturally. Humans get bored very easily which is why there are a few people right now excited about AI videos and content since it is still fairly new. But since that "creativity" is just from a machine who only knows how to copy, people will get bored of it soon overall as copycats never last longer than originals.
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bkknutson_brain@sfba.social
Nov 10, 2026, 2:50 AM
@GossiTheDog
#ArtificialStupidity : Chinese microdrama edition
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Bogdan Buduroiubudududuroiu@hachyderm.io
Nov 10, 2026, 2:52 AM
@GossiTheDog
> Many production companies relied on the "minimum guarantee + performance-based" contracts offered by Hongguo Short Drama.
> Because a certain level of revenue is guaranteed by the minimum guarantee, the incentive for production companies shifted from "making a hit" to "how to cut production costs to the absolute limit and maximize the margin from the guarantee." As a result, it transformed into a business of skimming the difference through outsourcing.
How do you look at this quote and conclude that this is a story about AI? Yes, if you have a minimum guarantee, your incentive is to pump as much slop as you can, AI is a foregone conclusion.
Software was similarly positioned for a bubble burts way before Agentic coding really took off after November 2025, because literally every college student was goaded into a Comp Sci degree. Elon basically caused a correction in SWE hiring and the whole industry followed and said "AI AI AI" rather than "we overhired on ZIRP"
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NewkNewk@infosec.exchange
Nov 10, 2026, 3:52 AM
@GossiTheDog
Chinese microdrama is still booming at Nvidia though
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muddle 🥣muddle@infosec.exchange
Nov 10, 2026, 3:57 AM
@GossiTheDog Nice to see, but the same people who went all-in on slop shouldn't be getting bail-outs.
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alvin 👍 🥉alvin@curiously.legit.industries
Nov 10, 2026, 4:12 AM
@GossiTheDog they're busy following a longform drama right now. Concept: Taiwanese CEO falls for MSS spy!
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BunchydogBunchydog@mastodon.social
Nov 10, 2026, 5:17 AM
@GossiTheDog The AI short drama market hasn’t crashed at all… You can hear people watching them at full volume everywhere in China. The 1 in 70 stat is likely not due to reduced viewers but a result of too much people expecting to earn money out of no investment at all. I am in the wrong bubble but I haven’t seen a lot or anyone against AI in China. Money is still being invested for more AI slop and the bubble is still expanding
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BunchydogBunchydog@mastodon.social
Nov 10, 2026, 5:21 AM
@GossiTheDog AI is huge in China unfortunately. Chinese people never had a proper search engine as baidu is known for being shitty while western ones are banned. Ai is one of the only sources of information for people now
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Oliver Schafeldoliver_schafeld@mastodon.online
Nov 10, 2026, 5:21 AM
Will Musk's Odyssey mockery ever become longer than 7 minutes?
https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/25/grok-releases-the-first-seven-minutes-of-its-ai-generated-odyssey/
🤔😏
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Joel Truherjoeltruher@sfba.social
Nov 10, 2026, 5:41 AM
@GossiTheDog This whole story is, indeed, an insult to life itself.
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GrumpyDad 🇺🇦🇵🇸grumpydad@infosec.exchange
Nov 10, 2026, 5:45 AM
@GossiTheDog Someone said recently that "if you want human attention, demonstrate human effort" or something thereabouts.
I think that sounds like something that's happening here.
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Frank Quednauflq@freiburg.social
Nov 10, 2026, 6:19 AM
@GossiTheDog for my understanding, micro drama = telenovela?
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Zeborahzeborah@mastodon.nz
Nov 10, 2026, 8:52 AM
@flq More or less comparable except that each episode is just a minute or two, and it's shot in vertical format specifically for viewing on a smartphone.
@GossiTheDog
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Frank Quednauflq@freiburg.social
Nov 10, 2026, 9:09 AM
@zeborah right, thanks!
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radioactivestardustbookstardust@bildung.social
Nov 10, 2026, 6:20 AM
@GossiTheDog microdramas are also bound to fail with humans.
It's as worse with humans as with AI.
i do believe the chinese governement ist bailing the companies out, because it's part of the 5 year plan to raise consumption, so it's not a headless decision, but going according to their economic plan.
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Hak Foo :verified_blobcat:hakfoo@mstdn.party
Nov 10, 2026, 6:32 AM
@bookstardust @GossiTheDog Remember when American media giants vapourized a mountain of cash building Quibi? Wasn't that the prototype for microdramas?
The thing is that a 5-10 minute entertainment product makes perfect sense when sold to an audience of public transport commuters. The focus groups in the US just missed there wasn't the audience HERE, and then Covid/WfH slashed it further. China might find a place for it.
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Kg. Madee Ⅱ.kgMadee2@mathstodon.xyz
Nov 10, 2026, 6:44 AM
@GossiTheDog so that's what the TikTok ads are trying to sell me ...
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Disisdeguey2🇵🇸🍉PalestineActiondisisdeguey2@spore.social
Nov 10, 2026, 8:52 AM
@GossiTheDog Not surprise that a movie made by two people, using paint about two cows, became a huge success.😄
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rzeta0rzeta0@mastodon.world
Nov 10, 2026, 9:03 AM
@GossiTheDog
People sometimes say I/we are "Luddites".
✅ The industrialisation of printing presses had a net positive impact on human cognition.
✅ The commoditisation of pen and paper had a net positive impact on human cognition.
✅ The electronic calculator had a net positive impact on human cognition.
❌ AI has not has a net positive impact on human cognition.
#ai #cognition
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MikeStokMikeStok@mstdn.ca
Nov 10, 2026, 2:12 PM
@GossiTheDog @david_chisnall is there anything those talented AI bros can’t wreck?
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The Fulcrum 🏴‍☠️ ⛓️‍💥 🛠️ thefulcrum@thefulcrum.dev
Nov 10, 2026, 5:01 PM
GenAI will literally fuck up any and everything.
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