AI will replace actors in one of Hollywood’s fastest-growing genres

Hannah Lowry expected to lose her acting job to a rival, but AI didn’t.

Earlier this year, the 19-year-old Los Angeles-based actor was thrilled to learn he would be starring in a new show about the cutthroat world of ice skating. Then came the bad news. The project was transitioning completely to AI. She and the other humans were out.

“It’s unfortunate that the amount of work that everyone was supposed to do on that film and the creativity that everyone brought to that story is now completely gone,” she told Business Insider.

Lowry’s experience shows how actors’ AI nightmare scenarios are becoming a reality in some corners of Hollywood. The industry is a rapidly growing $1.3 billion “micro-drama” industry: short-form series designed for mobile viewing.

The field had become a rare bright spot for actors, especially in Los Angeles as they navigated a years-long slump in film and television production. It is now becoming ground zero for the replacement of human actors by AI.

Blake Manning, a 21-year-old actor who grew up in Orange County, was cast to play the rebel hockey star in April, before learning the project would be switched to AI. Actor Faith Alter, who starred in six short series this year, said she lost her role to AI less than two weeks before filming began. Rebecca Berg, another star of short-form dramas, said she is seeing fewer audition calls. In the past week, she has received five calls, down from the usual 20 to 30.

A major driver of this change is cost reduction. TrueShort, a new AI film startup backed by Khosla Ventures and Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo, announced that it can produce 20-30 minute shows for $1,000-$3,000 each. This is a fraction of the typical cost of $100,000 to $300,000 when using human actors. StoReel, a Beijing-based startup, said it can produce a one-hour series using AI for $20,000 to $40,000.

In China, where microdramas, also known as “verticals,” first gained popularity, a significant portion of productions have already been moved to AI. According to state media, these AI works are expected to bring in about $3.5 billion in revenue this year. Last year, China’s overall microdrama market reached more than $14 billion.

What comes next could be Hollywood’s broader film and television industry. Members of the actors union SAG-AFTRA are voting on a proposed contract that would introduce some restrictions on AI actors but would allow producers to negotiate the use of synthetic performers as long as they bring “significant added value.”

This technology is already making its way into mainstream film production. The movie “As Deep as the Grave” attracted attention. Hell Grind, a primarily AI-generated action movie produced by startup Higgsfield AI, which was accused of using an AI replica of the late Val Kilmer in March, premiered at Cannes’ Marché du Film in May.

“Actors have existential anxiety about AI,” says acting coach Zach Barnett, who has spent decades training Hollywood hopefuls. “It feels like vertical industry is the first real testing ground.”

“A lot of people use this in their work.”

Microdramas, which feature melodramatic plots like “Fake Debutantes and True Millionaires,” grew rapidly in the United States last year. Major streamers like Paramount+ and Peacock are starting to consider the format. Issa Rae, the actor and co-creator of HBO’s “Insecure,” launched a microdrama series earlier this year.

The show has become an important source of work for Los Angeles actors as many productions move from Hollywood to tax-advantaged locations such as London, Vancouver, Georgia and New Mexico. In the first half of May, nearly a third (28%) of LA casting opportunities posted on the Actors Access job portal were for roles in the industry.

Luke Dodge, a 20-year-old actor who followed his parents into the entertainment industry, said he earns $1,200 to $2,000 a day on nine- to 10-day micro-drama shoots.

“They keep coming in. It’s like a 9-to-5 job. It’s very rhythmic,” he said of the vertical. “I was able to quit my job and actually make a little bit of a breakthrough in this industry, which is great.”

Like other young actors, Dodge noticed AI creeping into his work this year. Recently, the production company sent him an approval request asking for permission to include an AI version of him in additional scenes.

Dodge is concerned that microdramas will shift entirely to AI actors.

“A lot of people rely on this for their jobs,” he said. “If AI were introduced, it would definitely be very disruptive. We would all lose our jobs.”

Horta, a 26-year-old actor who regularly appears in short dramas such as “Prisoner’s Marriage” and “Room with the Devil,” said he was cast in the lead role in February. She said the producers then told her that the series was moving to AI and that they could make 60 AI shows for the same budget.

She said the decision came at the expense of other opportunities she had passed up for the rare opportunity to play a strong female lead role.

“You don’t get to play roles like this very often,” she said. “She was very strong. I was sad that she was taken away.”

The sudden change brought chills to the vertically divided community. Short dramas provided a steady source of income and a platform for unproven actors who had to settle for behind-the-scenes work.

“This is 100% my income,” Berg said. “My hope is to make a TV show or film, but I’m not yet established as a TV or film actor.”

Reviews…mixed pros and cons

Film producer Guy Chachikus said he had seen about 15 films featuring AI characters and felt the acting was fake.

“The problem is that they’re emotionally unbelievable, and as humans, we’re very good at pointing out really small details that feel like lies,” Chachikus said. “Time will tell whether that matters. Acting is not meant to imitate real, real human emotions.”

Darcy Smith, an acting and vocal music professor at the University of Cincinnati, said AI actors’ faces and voices are becoming more consistent from scene to scene, but their eyes can appear blank and their voices don’t always match their facial expressions, body language or context.

“When the emotions change so much in a movie, that character can end up sounding like a different character,” he said.

Stephen Diamond, owner of Lumovex, a studio that produces AI-generated microdramas, said his company has devoted a lot of effort to humanizing synthetic characters.

“We noticed that any characters generated by AI looked soulless,” he said. “We worked really hard to understand what the life force is behind the eyes, how we can create it, and how we can recreate the character believably.”

Some viewers prefer AI characters.

On TikTok’s PineDrama app, one commenter described the AI ​​actors in “Sorry Ex-Wife, I’m a Hidden Millionaire” as “better than human actors.”

Others are less sure.

A commenter on “There’s a Luck Hidden in a Hoodie” wrote that AI-generated stories are “really getting out of hand these days.”

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

“I’m there for the humans.”

Ultimately, viewers will decide the future of AI in programming.

Of the 1,670 short-form drama fans surveyed in November by industry consultant Jen Cooper, 93% said stars were the biggest factor in deciding what to watch.

“The current audience in the West exists for humans, and people are aware of the impact of AI on employment,” she says.

Several of the actors Business Insider spoke to said their loyal fan bases have given them job security even as studios try to cut costs.

“They watch the show because we’re on the show,” Lowery said. “I’ve seen incredibly talented actors and actresses move people in ways that robots and AI can never replicate.”

Some performers, like Manning, have millions of followers on social media, allowing them to promote their shows in a way that synthetic actors cannot. The actor regularly posts behind-the-scenes photos and videos previewing the show from the set via TikTok and Instagram.

“It’s so great to see how many people are on our side who want us to succeed and push us every day,” Manning said.

Microdrama producer Isabelle Dorrian said she receives requests from the app to make AI-generated films “every day.” He said the industry’s biggest challenge is the high cost of marketing microdramas, which cannot be solved with AI actors.

A sign of things to come in Hollywood

Will movie stars be the next target for AI destruction?

Hollywood studios are struggling with how to leverage the benefits of AI without upsetting the creative community or alienating audiences. Some companies are using the technology in limited ways, such as de-aging characters, while others are making bigger bets in areas such as animation.

Nikola Todorovic, an artist and co-founder of VFX studio Wonder Dynamics, said his company uses AI and other tools to generate natural-looking crowd scenes and design realistic non-human characters that don’t exist in real life (think “Planet of the Apes”).

Todorovic said the technology has limitations. AI-generated videos, for example, don’t allow prompts to make the necessary fine-tuning for difficult movement or emotional details.

If the technology improves to the point where it can more effectively mimic an actor’s performance, it is likely to spark a new backlash. When the AI ​​character Tilly Norwood emerged in 2025 through a short film and Instagram account, SAG-AFTRA and several of its prominent members condemned her creation.

Still, the actors’ anger may not be enough to slow down Hollywood executives eager to cut costs.

Bryn Muser, CEO of AI-driven film studio Asteria Films, said she expected the use of synthetic humans to “grow exponentially,” noting that AI avatars that sell goods online are popular in China. He sees Hollywood using AI to create supporting roles and faceless characters, but he doesn’t think the industry is ready to replace movie and TV stars.

“We’re a world away from having Tilly Norwood in an Avengers movie,” he said.

In some areas, it’s AI or nothing.

Andrew Pearce, an LA-based vertical producer, said he has been told in recent weeks that at least three platforms are pausing live-action production and moving to AI.

“My clients tell me, ‘We don’t do any shows other than AI,'” he says. “We can’t compete.”