Online Literature in the AI Age: Evolving Practices,Contested Values,and Power Dynamics Between Creators and Platforms

Abstract

This research explores the transformative impact of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the creative and business practices within China’s online literature industry, which presents a unique intersection between creator economy, disruptive innovation and platformed cultural production. This study first maps AI integration across major platforms through two case studies: China Literature’s ‘AI + IP’ synergy, rooted in a subscription-based, IP-driven entertainment ecosystem, and Tomato Novel’s aggressive yet recalibrated approach for balancing economic efficiency with creative authenticity under a free content model. Discourse analysis further reveals a complex tension: while corporate platforms seek to expand creative capacity and achieve economic scalability, with an optimistic narrative of AI empowerment, authors exhibit widespread distrust and resistance, rooted in concerns over AI’s disruptive potential and regulatory ambiguity. This article conceptualises AI integration and resistance as a reflection of persistent power asymmetries and contested values between platforms and creators in Chinese online literature, while highlighting creators’ potential to renegotiate agency and governance in the AI-driven transformation.

Keywords

Chinese online literature generative AI digital publishing platform ecosystem China literature precarity creator economy Tencent ByteDance

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