A market for renting human faces for content created using artificial intelligence has emerged in China. According to several media reports citing 'Rest of World', citizens, actors, and models provide platforms with the right to use their appearance for micro-series, advertisements, and video games.
The ActID and New Claw platforms create databases of appearances, allowing producers to select individuals based on age, gender, and appearance. Individuals can set their own usage restrictions and determine the amount of licensing fees.
The cost of a license to use an appearance on ActID ranges from $14.50 to $74 per episode. New Claw has set a minimum price of $74 for a single image.
“Producers need attractive faces for leading roles, such as elderly people. Acting skills are not actually necessary; the faces serve as raw material,” said Camille Yan, marketing director at ActID.
In the first three months of 2026, over 95% of the 128,000 micro-dramas released in China were created using artificial intelligence technologies.
At the same time, the number of legal disputes related to the unauthorized use of a person's appearance is increasing: in the last three years, the internet court in Guangzhou has examined about 700 similar cases. Lawyers warn that after uploading personal photos to any platform, individuals may lose control over their biometric data for a long time.
Contractual terms often make it impossible to determine which companies will be able to use the licensed image, in what content, or for what purposes.
