A fundamentally new market segment has emerged in China, related to the licensing of biometric data for content creation by artificial intelligence. Specialized platforms such as ActID from Shenzhen and New Claw from Chengdu provide citizens with the opportunity to legally rent out images of their faces for use in micro-dramas, commercials and video games. Copyright holders independently determine the permitted areas of application of their digital counterparts and set the cost of use, which ranges from $ 15 to $ 700 per series or individual image. About 800 users are registered on the ActID platform, of which 300 have officially agreed to license their biometric data, and the service's commission is 10 percent.

The scale of the emerging industry demonstrates a steady shift towards automated video content production. According to the Chinese Association of Network Audiovisual Software Services, about 128,000 microdramas were released in the first quarter of 2026, of which 122,000, or more than 95 percent, were created using artificial intelligence technologies. Representatives of the platforms note that producers are looking for both attractive types for the main roles, as well as specific characteristic appearances, for example, elderly people. At the same time, traditional acting skills are not required from biometric data providers, since their faces serve solely as the source material for neural network generation.

The development of this market is driven by the need to overcome the "sinister valley" effect, when fully synthetic faces cause subconscious rejection among viewers due to unnatural facial expressions. Using real photos as the basis allows algorithms to preserve microexpressions that cannot yet be generated from scratch. However, experts warn of the serious risks of unauthorized cloning of appearance outside of licensing agreements. Digital rights protection technologies are lagging behind the speed of development of generative models, which creates new vulnerabilities in the field of personal data security and requires the development of reliable mechanisms for monitoring the use of biometric information.