文 | 文娱先声
AI艺人还没学会稳定赚钱，倒先学会了“退团”。
10月中旬，虚拟女团BABYQUEEN宣布成员Mity因“怀孕”暂停活动，一度引发热议。随后，创作者承认，这只是虚构的退场理由：同时运营多个AI角色，工作量实在吃不消。几名爱好者的尝试，意外戳破了一个想象——AI能轻松生成艺人，却未必能轻松经营艺人。
几乎同一时间，芒果TV官宣程渡、方屿、林恩娜、戚许、展颜五位原生AI艺人，并上线了“他们”主演的《了不起啊朋友》。独立人设、社交账号、真人编剧和经纪团队一应俱全，平台试图把AI角色当作长期艺人资产来运营。
近年来，从初音未来等依托用户创作生态成长起来的虚拟偶像，到Yuri尤栗等由生成式AI参与形象和内容创作的AI原生艺人，再到方桃子等从AI短剧中走出来的AI演员，AI艺人逐渐探索出不同的发展路径。
如今，国内AI艺人走到了哪一步？它们又能否将流量转化为真实的商业价值？
AI艺人，走到哪一步了？
按照打造路径，目前国内AI艺人大致可分为短剧衍生型和原生艺人型两类。
前者依托AI短剧建立人物认知，再通过独立账号、剧外内容和人物互动延续热度；后者则一开始就以独立艺人的身份进行打造，再通过持续的内容创作和人设经营，逐步建立辨识度。
两者都在借用传统艺人经纪的方法，但出发点不同。
目前更容易跑出声量的，仍是类似于长剧的“先火剧、再火人”模式。
今年6月，AI短剧《被裁掉的女孩》在抖音走红，女主方桃子迅速出圈。她顺势开通个人账号，持续更新生活、时尚类内容，将人设延伸至剧外。不到两个月，她便收获40万抖音粉丝，成功实现商业变现。
据悉，方桃子官抖单条商单报价一度达25.8万元/60秒，对标百万、千万粉丝真人网红。截至10月22日，其已积累55.8万粉丝，累计获赞3590万，成为国内AI艺人中最具代表性的案例之一。
与此同时，同剧男主周以衡也开设个人账号，更新做饭、健身等生活类内容及《被裁掉的女孩》番外故事。目前累计粉丝27.5万。虽然暂无明确商业化动向，但两人通过联合Vlog、账号互动等方式持续经营CP关系，反向为剧集引流，也为后续内容拓展提供了空间。
类似的运营方式，在AI艺人中很常见。以AI短剧《予你深情侵入余生》里的段宴和容寄侨为例，两人不仅开通个人账号，还开设了情侣账号，持续更新CP向内容、新剧开机信息和片场花絮等。不过，相比方桃子，两人介于AI角色与独立AI艺人之间，与剧集的绑定更深，由此产生的同款手链等消费，也更接近影视IP衍生品。
这类AI艺人通常高度仍依赖原作，一旦剧集退热，账号能否独立生长仍是未知数。
如果说短剧衍生型遵循着一套相对成熟的运营逻辑，更容易获得观众青睐，那么原生艺人型则更受行业关注，背后是对AI艺人未来商业模式的探索。为此，不少平台和影视公司纷纷入局，试图抢占先机。
今年3月，耀客传媒率先官宣签约AI艺人秦凌岳和林汐颜，并为两人量身定制AI短剧《秦岭青铜诡事录》。但与“剧带人”的逻辑不同，这样的路径多少显得有些因果倒置。更要命的是，前期关于两位AI艺人的讨论集中在他们的脸像哪位真人艺人和肖像权侵权等负面内容，等到剧集上线时更是早已没了热度。
此外，还有聿潇传媒的“真人数字分身”路线。不同于耀客传媒的从零打造原生AI艺人，其公布推出的六名AI演员的相关形象，均基于真人建模、获得本人授权，其中还包括徐志滨、韩安冉等网红。然而，这一尝试依旧引发舆论争议，未能形成持续热度，配套AI短剧也没了后续。
可以看出，在缺少成熟作品时就推出AI艺人，依然面临着较大的市场风险。
相比AI演员，AI歌手和AI偶像或许更适合走原生艺人的发展路线。
比如汗青工作室旗下AI.TALK打造的Yuri尤栗，是国内早期出圈的原生AI歌手。去年，她发布的首支MV《SURREAL》全网播放量超过1200万，后续先后与岚图、欧莱雅、自然堂等品牌达成共创合作。今年9月，她在2026外滩大会举办国内首场AI艺人线下音乐会，将内容场景从线上延伸至线下。
华纳音乐推出的AI虚拟说唱歌手吴爱花则主打复古武侠人设，首支MV《吴爱花》播放量破千万。她还与哈尔滨啤酒合作打造定制说唱MV，将品牌内容植入音乐作品之中；百度联合杜华孵化的HeyDream，则尝试将真人女团与AI漫剧内容相结合。成员本身仍是真人偶像，AI则用于批量生成漫剧、短视频等视觉物料，项目曾推出宝露兹品牌联名，并落地线下快闪活动。
这些案例说明，AI角色已经不满足于在一部作品里“演完即走”，而是开始争取独立账号、长期人设和持续经营的机会。只是从被看到，到被喜欢，再到被付费支持，中间还有很长一段路。
AI艺人，真实商业价值如何？
尽管外界关于“AI艺人代替真人艺人”的讨论不断，但从实际表现来看，AI艺人的真实商业价值仍有待验证。
以目前商业化最成功的方桃子为例。7月底，她在发布首条美瞳广告后，其60秒以上视频报价25.8万元的消息成为行业热议话题。短短一个多月，她便从AI短剧中的一个角色走到了独立网红，看上去已经完成了真人网红需要几年才能走完的变现路径。
然而，这条广告实际在8月初就被下架。其中的核心争议在于，视频中方桃子以第一人称表示“美瞳戴了一天都很舒服”，引发消费者关于“虚拟角色没有眼睛”的吐槽。事件随后引发AI艺人广告真实性和责任归属的讨论，相关事项转交属地市场监管部门处理。
同时，所谓25.8万元并不是真实市场成交价。9月，方桃子运营方负责人CQ CHAN接受南方都市报采访时透露，团队最初报价7万元，角色走红后，他将价格调高至25.8万元，是希望“通过高价拦截商务需求，避免商业化干扰内容创作”。
也就是说，把这笔报价直接当作AI艺人的吸金能力，本身就是误读，更不用说得出AI艺人超过同体量真人艺人的变现能力的结论了。
与此同时，在首单广告引发争议后，团队公开表示，将暂时拒绝所有广告商务合作，把精力放回内容创作。8月底，她登上《时尚COSMO》旗下栏目COSMOCRUSH电子刊，运营方也在采访中明确说明，这次合作是“零报酬”。
从这个案例来看，曝光、商业报价和实际收入，显然不能画等号。
当然，这不是对AI艺人商业价值的全部否认。
比如段宴参与天猫七夕广告，Yuri尤栗和吴爱花也有实际品牌合作，说明企业确实开始尝试把AI艺人纳入营销投放范围。尤其是Yuri尤栗与岚图的合作，品牌并非只看虚拟形象够不够新鲜，也考虑了账号流量、粉丝画像和品牌定位的匹配度。
但目前这些AI艺人目前的影响力更多集中在文娱产业、品牌与媒体圈层，尚未真正进入大众视野。公开的商业化案例仍以定制短片、品牌共创为主，距离持续代言、稳定带货还有差距。
同样，AI艺人在线下演出方面的号召力，目前也有待验证。以Yuri尤栗为例，她在外滩大会的演出虽被视为国内首场AI艺人线下音乐会，但运营方并未将其定义为传统演唱会。创始人赵汗青表示，这场演出更接近一场人机共创的现场实验或行为艺术，而非面向市场的售票演出。
此外，角色热度可以带动衍生消费，却不意味着运营方能够直接从中获益。今年七夕，标注“段宴同款“的手链在短视频平台卖出超过1万件，按最低售价计算，销售额超过100万元。但据《北京日报》调查报道，这款商品并未获得剧方授权，连宣传图片都是商家自行生成的AI图片。制作方表示，没有参与相关商品的设计、生产和销售，也不会从中获益。
对AI艺人而言，如何通过正版周边、授权联名等方式开发角色价值，并建立清晰的授权机制，将市场关注转化为自身收入，也是商业化过程中需要探索的问题。
因此，判断AI艺人能不能赚钱，不能只看报价、品牌合作数量或关联商品的GMV，还要弄清楚收入由谁获得、实际结算了多少，以及运营方是否拥有相应的授权权益。
眼下，AI艺人的赚钱方式已经有了雏形，但离可复制、可持续的盈利模式仍有距离。
AI艺人商业化，卡在了哪里？
虽然AI艺人能借助作品快速涨粉，但粉丝数量并不能完全反映受众的黏性与价值。
对品牌来说，数十万粉丝更像是一个门槛，粉丝是否愿意主动互动、受众画像是否与品牌匹配，才是评估合作价值的重要依据。而要让关注转化为持续的商业价值，AI艺人首先要解决长期热度问题。
毕竟，对艺人来说，一部作品爆火只是起点，想要维持热度，还需要后续作品加持、持续的话题输出，以及不断强化观众对自己的认知。真人艺人尚且如此，缺乏真实生活经历和线下活动支撑的AI艺人，更难维持观众的兴趣。
同样，持续产出有吸引力的内容，本身就不是一件容易的事。
曾批量打造林海声 Hysen、花妖乱弹等AI虚拟歌手的小旭音乐负责人卢小旭在采访中透露，其团队判断AI歌手的成功率约为25%至30%。在他们的运营经验中，如果一个账号连续制作十条内容后，抖音播放量仍未达到5万，就可能需要快速迭代甚至放弃。
这也说明，AI降低了内容生产门槛，也让同质化内容更容易扎堆，要打造一个能持续获得关注的AI艺人，并非易事。
其次是被低估的运营成本。以方桃子与《时尚COSMO》的合作为例，运营方透露，整套AI时尚大片耗时约15天，需要反复调整提示词、光影、服饰、饰品与人物形象，最终还要完成后期处理。
尽管AI可以减少摄影棚、造型师等传统拍摄环节，但内容创作、形象维护、账号运营等仍需要持续投入。对于AI艺人而言，制作成本的降低只是起点，只有当持续投入能够通过商业合作等方式获得回报，项目才有可能实现盈利。
此外，AI艺人的虚拟身份并不能免除内容与版权风险。段宴的广告曾引发配音演员对AI声线授权的质疑；方桃子的美瞳风波也说明，虚拟身份不能成为广告真实性要求的豁免理由。角色可以是假的，合同、消费者和法律责任却都是真的。一旦出现争议，不仅可能中断合作，也会增加后续运营压力。
归根结底，AI降低了生成角色的门槛，却没有让造星变成一键完成的生意。能否持续被喜欢、被选择，并让创造者获得合理回报，才是AI艺人从“出圈”走向“赚钱”的分水岭。
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Wen, wee, wee, wee.
The Ai artist has not learned to make steady money, but has learned to quit.
In mid-October, BABYQUEEN, a virtual group of women, announced that Mity, a member, had been suspended for “pregnancy” and had at one point given rise to debate. Later, the creators acknowledged that this was only a fictional reason to leave: the workload was overwhelming because of the multiple AI roles that were operated simultaneously. Several lovers have tried, unexpectedly, to break the imagination that AI can easily generate artists but not necessarily operate them.
At almost the same time, Mango TV officials traveled, Zhang, Linna, Zhi, and displayed five original AI artists, and launched their "The Great Friends" feature. The platform attempts to operate the role of AI as a long-term artist ' s asset.
In recent years, artists have developed different paths of development, ranging from first-sounding futures in which users create virtual icons that grow ecologicalally, to first-born artists like Yuri, who are involved in the creation of images and content, to first-born artists like Fan Peach, who come out of the Ai short play.
Now, where's the national AI artist? Can they translate flows into real commercial values?
Ai Artist, where are we?
According to the path of construction, the country ' s AAI artists are now broadly divided into short play derivatives and prototypes.
The former is based on the creation of a person's perception of the Ai short play, which continues the heat through independent accounts, external content and person interaction, while the latter is built from the outset as an independent artist, and gradually through continuous content creation and humanization.
Both are using traditional artist brokers, with different starting points.
It is still easier to outrun volume than the long play-like “first-fire, second-fire”.
In June of this year, the Ai short show " The Detached Girl " went red in Douyin and the hostess peach went out of the loop quickly. She keeps her personal accounts open and keeps her life, fashion and content updated, extending people outside the theatre. Less than two months later, she had reaped 400,000 Douyin fans and succeeded in commercializing.
According to the information received, a single bid of 258,000 yuan/60 seconds was made by Fan Peach officials for millions of fans. As of 22 October, it had accumulated 558,000 fans and received a cumulative award of 35.9 million, one of the most representative cases among the country ' s AI artists.
At the same time, Concertary Men's Week also runs personal accounts, updates the life-styles of cooking, fitness, etc., as well as the story of the girl who was cut off. There are currently a cumulative number of 275,000 fans. While there is no clear movement towards commercialization, they continue to operate the CP relationship through joint Vlog, account interaction, and vice versa, providing space for subsequent content expansion.
Similar ways of doing business are common among AI artists. In the example of the festivals and the hosting of immigrants in the Ai short play " Deep Incursions for the Life ", they opened not only their personal accounts, but also their couple's accounts, updating the content of the CP, the news of the new play and the show's flowers. However, they are more closely tied to the drama than Fan Peach, and the resulting consumption of the same money chain is closer to video IP derivatives.
This type of AI artist usually remains highly dependent on the original, and once the drama is reheated, it remains unknown whether the account number will grow independently.
If the short play derivative follows a relatively mature business logic and is more popular with the audience, the original artist is more industry-oriented, behind which is the exploration of the future business model of the AI artist. As a result, a number of platforms and video companies have entered the market in an attempt to take the lead.
In March this year, Qin Ling-Yin and Lin Ta-Yang, the first member of the Qin media, signed the Ai artist, and tailored the Ai short play, " The Qin Ling Gang Scraps ". But, unlike the logic of the playmate, this path seems to be somewhat causally reversed. Even worse, earlier discussions about the two AI artists focused on negative aspects of their faces, such as which real artists and portrait rights abuses, which were already out of heat by the time the show came online.
In addition, there is a “human digital divide” route for the media. Unlike the non-voor media, the original AI artist, who created the six AI actors, was published on the basis of real-life modelling and his/her own authority, including Hei Chibin and Han Anzhen. However, this attempt continues to cause controversy in public opinion, has failed to generate sustained heat and has failed to follow up on the AI short play.
As can be seen, the introduction of AI artistes in the absence of mature works continues to face greater market risks.
It's probably better for Ai singers and Ai idols than for AI actors to follow the path of original human development.
For example, Yuri, created under the banner of the Khanqing studio, is a native AI singer from the early days of the country. Last year, her first publish, the MV SURREAL, was broadcast over 12 million people online, followed by co-creational partnerships with brands such as Nautilus, Oréa and Nature Hall. In September of this year, she organized the country ' s first Ai Artist-based Concert, extending the content scene from line to line.
The first video, "U Ai-hwa", produced by Warner music, is replaying the ancient martial arts. She also worked with Harbin's beer to create customized rap MV to embed brand content into music works; and Baidu, the United Duval hatched HeyDream, tried to combine the real women's group with the Ai comic. The members themselves are still human icons, while AI is used to generate a bulk of visual material such as comics, short video, a project that introduced the Boluz brand name and placed it under the horizon.
These cases show that AI's role is no longer satisfied with “exact and leave” in a work, but has begun to seek opportunities for independent accounts, long-term humanization and business continuity. Just from being seen, to being liked, to being supported by paid, there's still a long way to go.
What's the real business value, Al Artist?
Despite ongoing discussions about “AI Artists instead of Human Artists”, the real commercial value of AI Artists remains to be tested in terms of actual performance.
Take, for example, the most successful peaches currently commercialized. At the end of July, after publish's first student ad, her video offer of $258,000 for more than 60 seconds became the subject of industry debate. In just over a month, she moved from one of the characters in the AI short play to the independent Net Red, which appears to have completed a realization path that takes years to complete.
However, the advertisement was actually dropped in early August. At the heart of the controversy is the fact that, in the first place, the Chinese peaches say that “the pupils were comfortable for a day”, which triggers a consumer's spat about “virtual roles without eyes”. The incident then led to a discussion of the authenticity and attribution of the AI artist ads, which were referred to the territorial market regulator.
At the same time, the so-called $258,000 is not a real market offer. In September, during an interview with the Southern Metropolitan News, CQ Chan, head of the Fan Peach Operator, revealed that the team had initially offered $70,000 and that after the role had been red, he raised the price to $258,000 in the hope of “stopping business demand through high prices and avoiding commercial interference with content creation”.
In other words, the fact that the offer was directly considered to be an AI artist ' s ability to take money was per se misinterpreted, let alone concluded that the AI artist exceeded the liquidity of a human artist of the same size.
At the same time, following a dispute over the first one, the team publicly stated that it would temporarily reject all commercial cooperation in advertising and concentrate on content creation. At the end of August, she entered the COSMO electronic publication, under the banner of Fashion COSMO, and the operator made it clear in an interview that the cooperation was “zero pay”.
It is clear from this case that exposure, commercial offers and actual income cannot be equated.
Of course, it's not a complete denial of the commercial value of an AI artist.
For example, the fact that Yuri and U Aihua were involved in the 7th Night Cat Ad and that Yuri and U Aihua were working together on a real brand suggests that businesses are actually beginning to try to include AI artists in marketing. In particular, Yuri's collaboration with the map is not only new enough for a brand to look at virtual images, but also for matching account flows, fan images and brand positioning.
However, the current influence of these AI artists is more concentrated in the entertainment industry, brands and media circles than in the public view. Open commercial cases continue to be dominated by customized short films and brand co-creation, with gaps remaining from sustained advocacy and steady delivery.
Similarly, the appeal of the AI artist for online performances is still to be validated. In the case of Yuri, for example, her performance at the Outer Beach Concert, which was considered to be the first of its kind in the country, was not defined by the operator as a traditional concert. The founder of the show, Zhao Haqqing, said that the show was closer to a live experiment or behavioural art created by human beings rather than a market-oriented ticket show.
In addition, role heat can drive derivative consumption without implying that operators can benefit directly from it. On the afternoon of this year, the bracelets marked “Six of the same treats” sold over 10,000 items on the short video platform, at a minimum price of over $1 million. However, according to a survey by the Beijing daily newspaper, the commodity was not authorized by the theatre, and even the propaganda pictures were self-generated by the business. Producers indicated that they would not benefit from not being involved in the design, production and marketing of the relevant commodities.
For AI artists, how to develop role values through formal perimeters, delegation of names and the establishment of clear authorization mechanisms to translate market concerns into their own revenues is also an issue to be explored in the commercialization process.
Thus, it is important to determine whether AI artists can earn money, not only the price price, number of brand partnerships or GMV associated with the commodity, but also how much income is received and actually settled, and whether the operator has a corresponding authorized interest.
At the moment, the way in which the AI artist earns money is in its infancy, but it is still far from replicable and sustainable.
Where's the Ai Artist commercial?
Although AI artists are able to use their work rapidly to pollute, the number of fans does not fully reflect the stickiness and value of the audience.
Hundreds of thousands of fans are more like a threshold for brands, and the willingness of fans to interact proactively and to match audience images to brands is an important basis for assessing the value of cooperation. To translate attention into continuous commercial value, AI artists first have to address chronic heat problems.
After all, for artists, a work is just a starting point, and in order to maintain the heat, it requires follow-up work, continuous topic output, and constant awareness-raising. This is still true for human artists, and it is even more difficult to sustain audience interest for those AI artists who lack real life experience and are supported by online activities.
Similarly, the attractive content of sustained output is not an easy task in itself.
In an interview, Lu Xiao Xuu, the director of music, who used to be an avid singer, such as the squalling of the sea, Hysen, the vagabond, revealed that his team judged the Ai singer ' s success rate to be between 25 and 30 per cent. In their operational experience, if the number of Douyin players does not reach 50,000 after a single account has produced 10 items in succession, it may need to be quickly inverted or even abandoned.
It also means that AI has lowered the threshold for content production and has made it easier to collide content and that it is not easy to create an AI artist who can receive sustained attention.
The second is undervalued operating costs. In the case of Fang Peaches ' collaboration with the Fashion COSMO, the operator revealed that the full set of AI fashions took approximately 15 days and required repeated adjustments to the image of prompt, light, clothing, accessories and characters, leading to the completion of post-production processing.
Although AI can reduce traditional photography links such as studios and modelers, continuous input is needed for content creation, image maintenance, account operation, etc. For AI artists, the reduction in production costs is only the starting point, and the project will be profitable only if sustained inputs are rewarded, for example, through commercial cooperation.
Moreover, the virtual identity of an AI artist does not exempt content and copyright risks. Advertisements for the festival had triggered a challenge by voiceover actors to the voice of AI; the beauty of the peaches had also made it clear that virtual identity could not be an exemption from the requirement of authenticity of the advertisement. Roles can be fake, but contracts, consumers and legal responsibilities are real. In the event of a dispute, not only could cooperation be interrupted, but subsequent operational pressures would also increase.
In the final analysis, AI lowered the threshold for role creation, but did not turn star making into a one-inch business. It is the watershed where AI artists move from “circles” to “profits” that they can sustain being liked, selected and given a reasonable return to their creators.
Auto-fetched and translated by AI Atlas. All rights belong to the original author.