AsAl toolsbecomemoreaccessible than ever，China'sbusinesssavvy merchantsareusing them to better sell their products overseas-but questions remain about where the line lies between fair playand deception，artistryand theft

中國商家的AI出海之旅

W among Chinese exporters，whose biggest market， despite ongoing diversification efforts，remains the United States.As companies scrambled to navigate retaliatorytariffsandanuncertainfuture，Xu Kaijie，a Gen Z from the small city of Tongxiang in Zhejiang province，kept his cool. His Etsy store hasconsistently brought in around 30，Oo0 US dollarsa month， thanks to a product that’s proven immuneto tariffs：AI-generated，watercolor-style pet portraits，sold as digital files to customers around the world， including in theUS.

“AIhasalready revolutionized traditional industries like cross-border e-commerce.In the past，you couldn't even enter the game withouthundreds of thousands in capital，\"Xu tells TWOC.“You'd have to spend money on inventory，hire designers，and finda factory to produce the goodsbefore you can sell them.By the time everything wasready， the opportunity had alreadypassed—you'd missed thewave.\"

Xu is hardly the first，and certainly won't be the last， to figure out ways to profit from AI in theoverseasmarket.Whenthefree-to-use，Chinadeveloped large language model （LLM）DeepSeek launched in early 2O25，itfurtherdemocratized the country's e-commerce landscape，enabling sellers to quickly generate sales pitches and promotional videosinmultiple languages，witharaft of success storiesmaking domestic headlines.Many AI tools created by Chinese developers， like Manus， Flowith，andHeyGen，arealso eyeing the global market.Somearealreadywidelyusedand even majority-funded by overseasinvestors.According to marketing intelligence platform Sensor Tower， two of the 10 most downloaded AI apps worldwide in 2024 were from China：ByteDance'sDoubao chatbot and the AI companion app Talkie developed by Shanghai-based companyMiniMax.

However， for the average Chinese，tapping into overseasmarketsremainsanuphill climb，filled withrisksand pitfalls thatAIalonecan'tnavigate. And as AI tools become increasingly powerful and accessible，questions regarding the ethical nature of their use are only growing more urgent.

WhenAIsells

Just over a year ago，Xu's life looked nothing like it does today.Having just quit his sales job due to health issues，he was scrapingbyas a mobile game booster—someone paid by other users to improve their gaming performance-unsure of what would come next.Then，in January 2024， he met his mentor， who opened the door to an unexpected frontier：generativeAI.

Despite havingbarely any English language skills and never having worked in tech—or even used a computer seriously， having grown up in China'smobile-first Gen Z culture-Xu plunged intotheworldofAIheadfirst.Fromhissmall

rental room，he navigated a steep learning curve through15-hourworkdaysinfront of the computer， even during Chinese New Year.

Feeling the domestic marketwasalready saturatedwithcontentcreators，hefirsttried postingAI-generated videos on overseasplatforms like Instagram and TikTok. From aggregated news reels to cute pet videos，Xu experimented with it all.Whilehe managed to attract around 80，000 followersacross theseplatforms，aswell as decent traffic， there was no clear path to monetization， aside fromabout1，Ooo yuan inad revenue overall

“The early stage was like a black hole of despair. FromJanuary to July[of 2O24]， it was all expenses with no income.It really felt like there wasno light at theend of the tunnel，\"Xu tellsTWOC.

Max Deng （pseudonym），a Beijing native recentlyrelocatedtoSingapore，echoesXu's experience. Outside his office day job，he posts AI-generated videos of anime characters.The 28-year-old also only receivesad requests，which payaround 3oo yuan per video.“Some of the inside jokes in the videos also only resonatewith the Chinese audience and don't translate well on international platforms，”Deng adds.He has， for now， paused posting to figure out his next steps.

Xu，on the other hand，didn't give up，instead switchinglanes to focus on e-commerce.After doing some market research，he found thatartists who provide hand-drawnartworksusually have a long waiting list，as they can takea long time to produce.A single painting can also be sold forthousandsofdollarsto buyersinAustraliaor North America.Given the significant traffic his AI-generated animal videoshad experienced，he decided to tryoffering similar，watercolor-style pet portraits on the craft-leaning e-commerce site Etsy， selling them for as little as1O to 13 dollars each.Lacking any substantial investment， he decided to sell only the digital file-or， if requested，send the design toa third-partyprinting platformlikePrintify thathandlesproductionand shipping—to minimize thefinancialburdenof operatingan online store.

While relatively simple and with minimal overhead，suchabusinessmodel is certainly nota guaranteed path to success.Clipart like thisisalreadya“multimillion-dollarmarket，” making competition fierce and hard for individual sellers to stand out，according to The Atlantic.From product selection to operations， Xu still had to experiment at scale，review sales \"I'll input things like ‘You're an American'or ‘You're from Sydney， Australia，'and ask the Al to respond the way customer service from that region would.\"

andpromotional resultsdaily，andconstantly refine hisapproachbefore findinga sustainable workflow.To accuratelyreplicate the petphotos provided by clients，Xu estimates thathe created approximately 5，0oO samples with the AI image generation programMidjourney， fine-tuning his prompts and formulas.“Ithasbasicallybecome a styleI developed myself.Ican now make one with AIinabout two minutes，”he says.“Plus some final tweaking in Photoshop.\"

He has since expanded his product line to include AI-generated custom figurine designs， following the same digital-file-only model.

To this day，Xu still doesn'tknow much English.Heuses Google Translate to read messages from customers，and when the results seem confusing，he takes screenshots of them andasksLLMs，suchas ChatGPTorClaude， to explain themforhim.“Replying would takea few extrasteps.Id have to train ChatGPT to be an English translator，”Xu explains.“I'll input things like‘You're an American’ or‘You're from Sydney， Australia，'and ask the AI to respond the way customer service from that region would. Once the reply sounds good enough，I just copy and send it to the customer.\"

Xuhas since turned his experience into a series of course packages aimed at others looking to break into the industry.Prices range from a basic 299-yuan text-only instruction package to apremiumone-on-onebusiness-launch guideat 4，980 yuan.With around 2OO subscribers，teaching hasnow becomea significant part of his income.

In AI， an inhuman touch

Not everyone isas luckyasXu.As the world's largest manufacturer， China still relies on seling and shipping physical products overseas. And among its sellers，AI is still primarily used togenerateproductimagesfortheir online storeandads.

T-shirts and mugs with AI-generated illustrations are among the easiest products to create.Aquick search on Chinese social media reveals countless posts sharing experiences of selling such items overseas through platforms like SHEIN， Temu，and Shopify-but many of these ventures fall short. There are still numerous challenges that AI can't solve，from determining what illustrations might sell to managing inventory， logistics，and addressing negative

reviews.Even on Chinese e-commerce platforms， many complain about receiving products that don'tmatch the AI-generated pictures showcased in their description pages.

For companies offering higher-end products withunique designs，AI-generated photos have limited value. Shen Ying （pseudonym）， the social media manager of an accessory company primarily targeting theNorth American and Australianmarkets，firstproposed the ideaof usingAI to generatemodelimagesfeaturing the jewelry two yearsago，but the resultsat the time were underwhelming.

“Our products must clearly showcase their fine details，which vary from item to item.For example，every ring needsto bephotographed from different angles，depending on its design. There are just too many variables，and right now， AI isn't capable of providing truly customized servicesat that level of precision，”explains Shen.

Fornow， the only way Shen's teamuses AI is to check the grammar of engraved messages on their jewelry and the sentences printed on accompanying gift cards.She has made a point not to use AI to generate social media content after finding thatit lacks originality.“If you really want to write something that resonates with people something that makes a gift feel thoughtfulthen，of course，it'sbetterwhenit’swrittenby a real person，” says Shen.“It’s like when you

receivea package fromabrand：a handwritten， original note always feels more sincere than a printed one.\"

Drawing the line

While Shen is sticking with original content， Dragos Cacio，founderof the Beijing-based marketing consultancy Crelong Media，finds that his clientsnow demand such high volumes of content that only AI can keep up.

“Unfortunately， AI [has enabled] a lot of people to create alot of content very fast.So，if acompanycannotgeneratethesameamountof contentinthe sameamountof time，itbecomes very difficult for them to stand out. That’s why you have started to see a lot of AI-generated content on social media，\"explains Cacio.“You still need to have the creative input to build yourstrategyaroundthat contentfirstbefore generatingit，butthat'sdisregarded bymostof the clients.\"

As AI makes mass content production more accessible than ever， questions about how far it should be used in product development and serviceprocesses continue to loom.Content creators，writers，and artists have long protested theirwork being fed into large AI models without their consent—but for now， it remains up to individual users to uphold their own

standards，asplatformslike TemuandAmazon currently offer no clear regulations on AIgenerated content.

\"Etsy launched a function a while ago thatallowsmerchantstolabelwhethertheir listing is AI-generated.But no one is doing thatvoluntarily，”saysXu.Before this function launched，many would tag theirAI-generated work as“hand-drawn”but would still only provide printing of digital files.“Evenif you tag it as AI-generated' now， the sales are still not bad，\" Xu confesses.“Virtual customization just offers everydayusersawayto experience something that once felt like a luxury.\"

To stay afloat in an increasingly competitive market，CaciohasintegratedAI intohisworkflow to boost efficiency， such as usingit to generate SEO titles and asking ChatGPT to write blog postsbased on detailed outlines，but he's also setsome firm boundaries.‘Anything that feels likea direct copy-paste from a competitor is my hard line.Alot of companies use [AI-generated] examples forinspiration，whichis fine，but some [clients] would say， ‘just copy it and change the name.'That'sa massive hard line， [especially]in terms of music and web design，”he says.

One tool that Cacio has been usingis HeyGen， a Chinese-developed AI platform thatlets users generate videos froma script.Byuploading a two-minute video of yourself speaking， the AI can create a version of “you” saying anything the script dictates， even in a foreign language you don't actually speak.

“You can basically generate a video with next to zero effort，” says Cacio.“That’s what regular companies are competing against.\"

For those who prefer to stay offcamera， the platform also offersa range of stock avatars. For now， though， Cacio is sticking with his own likeness.“Icould've used someone much prettier，” he jokes.“ButIprefer to use my own [face]，so it's myimageand my responsibility forwhatI say.\"

Where the future leads

With AI evolving at an incredibly fast pace， no one knows the limits of its capabilities or what new roles it will take on in commerce or everyday life.

While Xu’sstores have been pulling in a steady income，and his course packages are selling well， he still feels the pressure to keep up.“It's just prety unstable—once this business trend fades or a new AI tool suddenly replaces what you do， and you don't respond quickly enough，your income can fluctuate wildly， like ridinga roller coaster. The mental pressure ishuge，\"saysXu.

WheneveranewAI model launches，Xu feels compelled to try it out， spending around 1，000 yuaneach month on subscription fees alone.

Shen，on the otherhand，doesn't see her company，a long-time overseas e-commerce player， incorporating more AI into their workflow any time soon.“Trade companies generally have a fixed process that’salready working.IfIwant to adopta very powerful AI tool to help better these processes，the time spent figuring out how toimplementitoftenoutweighstheimmediate benefits it can bring，”she says.

ScantheQRcodetowatcha streetinterviewonwhatAl meansto everydaypeople in China