Even ancient industries keep up with the times. According to media reports, AI-generated short dramas have recently gained popularity again. However, a short video featuring an AI character named "Xiao Hai" promoting products on short-video platforms has recently sparked collective backlash among young netizens.
In the video, a young man named Xiao Hai appears haggard. He tells the camera that his father is ill and in debt, forcing him to sell goods to repay the loans. He affectionately addresses viewers as "Auntie" and "Mom."
Even more absurdly, this isn't just one "Xiao Hai." A quick online search reveals dozens of accounts named Xiao Hai, Xiao Tao, Xiao Yu, and others. While they look different, their stories are largely the same, all following the same pattern of playing the victim to drive sales.
According to reports, these are actually mass-produced AI actors for product promotion, specifically targeting our mothers, aunts, and other elders. This represents another new tactic in AI-driven sales.
Investigative journalists found that tutorials for creating digital humans like "Xiao Hai" are openly sold on some social media platforms, with prices ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan.
After mass-producing "AI Xiao Hai" accounts, operators input scripts and copy focused on eliciting pity and claiming familial ties to gain sympathy from middle-aged and elderly users, ultimately directing traffic to their product showcases. The prices of these products are often higher than those on other e-commerce platforms; the more they sell, the higher the commission they earn.
Some account operators stated that the model and scripts used for "Xiao Hai" are publicly available and accessible to everyone. By targeting the middle-aged and elderly demographic, earning two to three thousand yuan a day is considered modest.
In fact, such tactics are not new. A year ago, a batch of middle-aged "AI Wang Jianguo" characters, dressed formally and speaking warmly, were precisely targeted at middle-aged and elderly women lacking companionship.
Back then, "AI Xiao Hai" was merely a supporting character beside "AI Wang Jianguo": "Wang Jianguo's son, Xiao Hai," once confided to aunties about being bullied at school due to having no mother, inviting them to bring true happiness to his father.
At that time, "Wang Jianguo" was the main character. His supposed goal of happiness was to get "older sisters" to place orders, allowing him to cover household expenses and his son's education costs.
As the government intensified efforts to crack down on the misuse of AI technology, major short-video platforms gradually shut down some "Wang Jianguo" accounts and removed related videos.
Subsequently, operators brought "Wang Jianguo's" friends, brothers, bosses, and even daughters and sons into the spotlight, attempting to recreate another traffic hub similar to Wang Jianguo.
Among them, the son "Xiao Hai" became the most popular. He took over his father's script and the same audience of "aunties and moms," beginning another round of carefully orchestrated exploitation.