Baidu-backed iQiyi revamps app, website for AI content

iQiyi, a Beijing-based streaming company backed by Baidu, said at a content event in Beijing that it is reshaping its app and website to host more AI-generated and social content.

The move comes as it seeks to counter a years-long sales slowdown driven by short-video rivals such as Douyin.

The company also launched Nadou Pro, an AI production tool that it said can help with scriptwriting, storyboarding, and video rendering.

CEO Gong Yu said iQiyi wants to release a commercially successful AI-generated film as soon as summer 2026.

iQiyi, Alibaba, and Tencent are China’s main streaming platforms, but the market is more fragmented than in the US, while studios from Netflix to Amazon are also testing AI tools in film and TV production.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

iQiyi is pushing AI while financial strain grows

iQiyi is rolling out new AI tools, yet its stock fell to a 52-week low of US$1.25 on March 17, 2026. Its price-to-earnings ratio was -40.59, which means it remains unprofitable 1.
Its balance sheet looks tight. The current ratio was 0.47, which leaves little short-term liquidity, while the debt-to-equity ratio stood at 1.17 1.
Management is trying to reassure investors and draw capital through a US$100 million share buyback approved for up to 18 months. It also made a confidential filing for a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listing of its Class A shares, though timing and completion remain uncertain pending approvals and board decisions 2.

iQiyi’s AI plans run into copyright and likeness rules

China’s regulators are moving quickly against illegal AI-generated content, creating risk for production tools like Nadou Pro.
The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator, issued draft rules that require consent before using a person’s likeness. An actors’ association also condemned scraping film and TV data to train AI models without consent 3.
That risk is already real. Hongguo, ByteDance’s micro-drama platform, removed “Peach Blossom Hairpin” after it drew more than 40 million views amid claims that AI copied people’s facial features without consent. ByteDance is the parent company of Douyin and TikTok 4.