Chinese streaming giant iQiyi has ignited a firestorm in the entertainment industry following the launch of its “Nadou Pro” AI platform and an associated AI actor database. At the iQiyi World Conference on April 20 and 21, CEO Gong Yu proudly announced that more than 100 actors had joined the company’s AI talent library, a system that enables creators to generate content using the digital likenesses of established stars. However, as reported by TechNode and Yicai Global, the announcement was immediately met with fierce public denials from several top-tier celebrities, exposing deep tensions over AI rights and consent.
The Nadou Pro platform is an ambitious attempt to overhaul iQiyi’s content strategy. It integrates nearly 70 AI agents covering scriptwriting, directing, visual design, and editing. To incentivize adoption, iQiyi is offering a 20 percent subsidy for AI-generated mid-form series through the end of 2026. Gong Yu predicted that AI efficiency would lead to an “at least a hundredfold” increase in creators and content, transforming iQiyi into a non-centralized, social media-like ecosystem where creators own their IP assets. The AI actor database, which Yicai noted listed 117 artists at launch, was intended to be the crown jewel of this new ecosystem.
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The Celebrity Backlash
The narrative of seamless technological integration collapsed within hours of the announcement. The studio of Zhang Ruoyun, a highly popular actor, issued a swift denial, stating they had never authorized iQiyi to use his AI likeness. This was quickly followed by similar denials from the studio of Yu Hewei (known for his role in the 3 Body Problem adaptation) as well as actors Wang Churan and Li Yitong. The public pushback highlighted a massive disconnect between the platform’s technological ambitions and the legal realities of portrait rights in the AI era.
Faced with mounting criticism, iQiyi was forced to issue a clarification. The company stated that inclusion in the Nadou Pro talent library merely indicated a “willingness to discuss” potential collaborations, not a blanket grant of rights for AI generation. iQiyi emphasized that each specific project would require a separate, signed agreement with the artist. “There is no situation where an artist has been included in the Nadou Pro talent library without their consent,” the company’s official statement read, attempting to walk back the implication that these digital likenesses were freely available for creators to use.
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The “Last Half-Kilometer” Problem
The controversy underscores what Gong Yu described during the conference as the “last half-kilometer” problem in AI narrative generation. That is the gap between generating impressive technical outputs and creating genuinely compelling, legally cleared stories. While iQiyi released more than 350 new titles at the conference, the backlash demonstrates that the human element remains the most complex variable in the AI supply chain.
Chief Content Officer Wang Xiaohui acknowledged this reality, stating, “AI cannot change the reality that IP relies on premium content. Great stories will always command top value.” The iQiyi incident serves as a stark warning to China’s tech sector: while the infrastructure for AI-generated content is rapidly maturing, the legal and ethical frameworks governing human likeness and copyright are still deeply contested. Until these issues are resolved, the vision of a fully automated, AI-driven Hollywood remains legally precarious.