The Challenges of Manual Fan Creation in the Age of AI

Authors

  • Mochen Gao International Division, No. 2 Affiliated High School of Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100192, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54691/vky8a058

Keywords:

Fan creation, generative AI, participatory culture, creative ethics.

Abstract

The rapid development of generative AI technology is greatly changing landscape of creative production. As a core practice of participatory culture, fan creation—defined by “work created with passion” and co-created communities is facing many difficulties brought about by AI intervention on the front line. This study on how generative AI technology intervenes and changes fans creation ecosystem, and it shows the problems creators encounter in four areas dimensions: creative value, Right-Defending Mentality, Community Ecosystem, Bottom line Ethics.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Jenkins, H. (2016). Text poachers: Television fans and participatory culture (X. Zheng, Trans.). Peking University Press. (Original work published 1992).

[2] NetEase. (2023, July 1). NetEase LOFTER wins “Media Platform of the Year” at the 2023 TopDigital Innovation Marketing Awards.

[3] Archive of Our Own. (2025, August 17). AO3 Chinese (Mandarin) works exceed one million.

[4] Jin, G. Z., Kim, S., & Lee, E. (2025). Does generative AI crowd out human creators? Evidence from Pixiv (NBER Working Paper No. 34733). National Bureau of Economic Research.

[5] Global Times Technology. (2023, March 8). NetEase LOFTER responds to "AI drawing feature under fire": Will compensate 10,000 RMB per image if infringement is confirmed.

[6] 36Kr. (2023, March 8). NetEase LOFTER’s official Weibo account issues statement regarding controversy over LOFTER’s “Avatar Generator”.

[7] Huxiu. (2025, December 26). Musk’s X platform launches AI image editing feature, sparking global protests from artists.

[8] Toy People. (2026, February 19). pixiv revises its terms of use; abuse of tags, AI generated content without disclosure, and abnormally large volumes of submissions will all be prohibited.

[9] State Internet Information Office, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, & National Radio and Television Administration. (2025, March). Measures for the identification of AI generated and synthetic content.

[10] Creative Bloq. (2023, May 8). What can be done to stop generative AI art.

[11] Futurism. (2023, May 19). Writers furious when fanfiction site won’t ban AI generated work.

[12] Science and Technology Daily. (2026, April 27). Xiaohongshu unveils AI governance principles for the first time, setting clear boundaries for AI creation.

[13] National Business Daily. (2026, April 23). Douyin: Over 538,000 AI infringing videos removed, more than 4,000 violating accounts penalized.

Downloads

Published

2026-09-20

Issue

Section

Articles