AI-Generated Boy Draws 600 Million Views in China Product Sales Scam
AI-generated videos featuring a virtual boy named Xiaohai garnered 600 million views on Chinese short-form platforms, exploiting viewer sympathy to sell health supplements and other products. This occurred despite China's regulatory framework, which has required AI-generated content to be labeled since September 2025 and includes recent enforcement actions against misleading information.
Videos depicting a virtual character, Xiaohai, leveraged a consistent storyline of poverty and hardship to appeal to middle-aged and older female viewers, leading to significant product sales. The widespread belief in the character's authenticity was evident when a 79-year-old woman attempted to travel to meet Xiaohai, only to be convinced by police that the boy was AI-generated.
This incident highlights the challenges of content regulation amidst the rapid expansion of AI-generated video. China's AI short-drama market reached 22 billion yuan in the first half of this year, with Kuaishou reporting a 321% increase in AI video views by July. The sheer volume and emotional resonance of such content can make it difficult to police effectively.
Despite China's Cyberspace Administration (CAC) penalizing over 13,000 accounts for unlabeled AI content and removing more than 543,000 posts, and a concurrent crackdown on internet advertising misuse, the Xiaohai videos still accumulated 600 million views. This suggests a gap where emotionally targeted AI-generated content can achieve substantial reach and impact, even with existing rules and enforcement efforts in place.
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