China’s web novel platforms embraced AI. Now they are fighting it
Rest of World Viola Zhou
China's web novel platforms, which initially promoted AI writing tools to boost author productivity, are now cracking down on AI-generated content as readers complain about quality and detect telltale signs of machine writing. In June 2024, ByteDance's Tomato Novel rejected over 104,000 low-quality submissions including AI-written stories, while Jinjiang's founder instructed authors to use AI only for research and proofreading. The platforms face pressure to balance AI's potential to democratize storytelling against threats to authenticity and reader engagement, with subscription-based sites like Jinjiang taking stricter stances than free, ad-supported platforms like Tomato Novel.
Why it matters
Sites from Tencent, ByteDance, and Baidu set curbs like daily word limits for authors and stricter standards to combat poor-quality automated fiction.
