Author | Xia Xia

Disclaimer | The featured image is sourced from the internet. This original article by Jingzhe Research Institute may not be reproduced without permission.

"Hi, let's engage in some role-playing! Please adhere strictly to these guidelines. [Your Character] Name: (Randomly generated if left blank), Identity: Royal tutor in the current dynasty, Personality: Extremely principled, aloof to strangers..." This text, which appears to be a character introduction, is actually a set of role-playing instructions for an AI.

From aristocratic sons with charming yet calculating demeanors to virtual lovers who seem cold but are secretly obsessive, from fictional characters in otome games and fan creations to pure fantasies conjured up in users' minds. By sending specific commands to an AI via a chatbox, users can receive a character portrayed by the AI, immersing themselves in an interactive story experience through back-and-forth dialogue.

As this form of gameplay gains popularity, social media platforms have witnessed the rise of sellers specializing in AI persona commands. From bundled templates priced at a few yuan to custom services tailored to buyers' preferences, what was once a self-explored AI role-playing experience is now transforming into a niche business with clearly defined pricing.

Create Your Own Unique AI Character for Just 5 Yuan

Early this year, Xiao Xuan was immediately captivated when she first stumbled upon AI role-playing. To discover character settings that better aligned with her tastes, she joined multiple related discussion groups, amassing hundreds of persona commands over time. She experimented with characters boasting diverse backgrounds, personalities, and interaction styles.

*Custom outline received by Xiao Xuan

"At first, everything felt novel. I wanted to try every new setting I came across. But after a while, I realized that most popular personas were quite standardized and lacked uniqueness," Xiao Xuan remarked. She aspired to preset the story background, character relationships, and plot direction while fleshing out details like the character's personality and speaking style to immerse herself more effortlessly during interactions. Thus, she decided to venture into custom AI personas.

For Xiao Xuan, the greatest allure of AI role-playing lay in the unpredictability of the plot. "Compared to reading novels or playing otome games with preset storylines, AI sometimes provides unexpected responses," she shared with Jingzhe Research Institute.

To achieve a participatory and adjustable interactive experience, Xiao Xuan experimented with different models like DeepSeek, Doubao, Gemini, and ChatGPT, as well as some role-playing products. "I find DeepSeek's interpretations to be the most human-like. That's one of the main reasons I'm willing to continue paying," she explained.

Due to limitations in large models, players often need to prepare relatively complete character instructions in advance to maintain stable persona settings, which has become the cornerstone of "AI persona trading."

*Interactive content of an AI role-playing according to instructions

"When customizing, sellers usually first confirm any special requirements, such as whether to specify the protagonists' names, include psychological descriptions, or require text beautification. Some sellers even assist in optimizing the opening scene to make the entire setting feel more novel-like," Xiao Xuan revealed. The cost of trying this interactive experience is relatively low. "I've followed several bloggers offering custom commands. Prices generally range from 5-8 yuan, with finished products delivered in 2-3 days. Rush orders or buyouts cost twice as much. It's much cheaper than commissioning artwork or stories beforehand," she said.

For those unfamiliar with the OC community (Original Character, referring to creator-conceived original characters), paying for a virtual character setting might seem perplexing. But in OC circles, where original character creation and exchange are the main activities, paying for beloved characters is already a fundamental norm.

Unlike directly using IP characters from anime or games, an OC's appearance, identity, personality, backstory, and even the world they inhabit can all be decided by the creator. After a character is born, new content can continuously be added. For instance, commissioning an artist to draw character illustrations or hiring a writer to craft stories for the character. These creative needs form the longstanding commission consumption within the OC community. Influenced by factors like customization complexity, number of characters, and creative requirements, related commission prices range from tens to tens of thousands of yuan.

However, OC players in the past mostly unilaterally refined their characters' images and stories. Even with complete personality, background, and relationship designs, what the characters would say or do usually still required the creator's own design. The emergence of AI large models has added an interactive dimension to unilateral character creation.

Niche "Small Businesses" Born from Passion

As AI role-playing spreads on social media, more players hope to obtain character settings that align with their personal preferences. Jingzhe Research Institute has observed the emergence of creators offering AI persona services, who take user requests through group chats, comment sections "orders," and other methods.

However, unlike traditional entrepreneurs, this field has not yet developed a mature professional system. Some creators do not rely on this as their main source of income but rather as a service ecosystem spontaneously extended by players based on interest and creative ability.

Xiaoyue, a Xiaohongshu blogger, told Jingzhe Research Institute that she initially tried using persona commands shared by others before gradually attempting to create her own character settings. "Usually, when I come across interesting settings or get inspired by novel plots, I'll write my own version. Only if the interaction feels smooth will I share it," she said.

*One of Xiaoyue's AI character settings

There exists a demand gap between sharing gameplay and providing services. Some players are not satisfied with existing templates and hope for assistance in completing more comprehensive character settings and plot designs. While browsing social media platforms, as well as the group chats and comment sections of custom bloggers, Jingzhe Research Institute discovered that some players already have their own OCs and hope to make them truly interactive through AI. Others have no prior experience "raising OCs" but simply want to experience a character-driven plot that suits their preferences.

"I think AI personas both create new interactive demands and have certain connections with traditional OC creation," said another custom blogger, YesNo. In her view, commissioning artwork, writing stories, and AI interaction are not mutually exclusive but rather meet user needs for character creation and companionship at different stages.

Compared to Xiaoyue, who focuses more on sharing her interests, YesNo has started offering custom persona command services through orders. She introduced that her current services mainly include basic persona design, character background refinement, and complete plot settings, with pricing based on content complexity, production difficulty, and time investment. "Overall prices are still quite affordable."

Regarding pricing, after consulting multiple related bloggers, Jingzhe Research Institute found that the AI persona customization service market is still in a low price range, with single command prices typically under 10 yuan per thousand characters. Actual quotes adjust based on factors like persona complexity, world-building, number of character relationships, delivery time, and whether services like buyouts or subsequent revisions are included.

Low barriers also mean this business faces a more chaotic market environment. For example, AI lowers the threshold for persona creation, making popular settings easier to replicate. Xiaoyue said, "Many similar themes have already appeared on platforms, such as Hong Kong triad leaders, post-apocalyptic backgrounds, and ancient political intrigue. As similar types increase, the market might become increasingly saturated."

*AI persona commands for different themes

Moreover, due to differing understandings among creators regarding the boundaries between inspiration, reference, and plagiarism, issues like overlapping tropes and character ownership may become points of contention during transactions. "Some creators prohibit modifications or secondary distributions, while others dislike BL content. Everyone has different rules," Xiaoyue told Jingzhe Research Institute. She said she hasn't encountered many disputes so far, but as participants increase, issues surrounding setting ownership and the boundaries between inspiration and originality may gradually arise.

Additionally, Jingzhe Research Institute found that some AI persona commands involve suggestive content or directly request AI to engage in explicit interactions. However, under stricter regulation of generative AI, such borderline persona content may not fulfill users' expectations.

How Far Can the AI Persona Business Expand?

The introduction of AI, an emerging technology, into the niche OC cultural circle has also sparked controversy.

On one hand, AI continuously lowers the threshold for character creation, allowing more ordinary users to quickly generate character settings. On the other hand, there is the OC circle, which has long relied on original expression and creativity to establish itself. As AI increasingly participates in character creation, questions like "Does AI-generated content count as a pet peeve in the OC community?" have begun appearing in some player communities.

Supporters argue that AI lowers the barrier to character creation, enabling those without drawing skills or writing experience to quickly build their own virtual characters. However, some creators believe that the value of OCs lies in the creator's long-term investment of imagination, expression, and emotion, and that AI-generated content squeezes out the emotional value imparted during human creation.

When character backgrounds, personalities, and even story worlds can be quickly generated through AI, questions about original ownership and creative value are sparking new discussions.

However, for creators trying AI persona command services, AI is seen more as an auxiliary tool rather than a replacement for creation itself. Xiaoyue said, "I rarely use AI assistance when creating personas. I usually just write whatever comes to mind and don't really need AI's help." In contrast, YesNo uses AI to assist in completing parts of the content during creation but also modifies it based on character settings and actual interaction effects. "Relying solely on generation speed doesn't create competitiveness. What truly matters are personal aesthetic, creative ability, and understanding of characters and stories," she said.

*Posts seeking AI persona recommendations

Regarding this, Jingzhe Research Institute also found while browsing related social media platforms that some users show strong willingness to pay for publicly released personas. Some players actively inquire about purchasing specific AI persona commands and even hope to obtain exclusive usage rights. Additionally, in promotional posts sharing AI role-playing experiences, it's common to see netizens directly tag AI command bloggers and praise them for "doing certain settings well" or having "relatively complete character logic."

This means that after AI lowers the barrier to character creation, users still focus primarily on the creator's ability to shape character backgrounds, relationships, and story logic. This pursuit of character completeness and long-term value is not new to the AI era.

In traditional OC creation, players' sustained investment in a single character has long existed. In recent years, OC culture has gradually moved from niche interests to broader content communities. On platforms like Xiaohongshu, "OC"-related content covers multiple scenarios, including character setting sharing, artwork creation, and commission exchanges, gradually forming a content ecosystem centered around original characters.

Taking Mihuashi, a commission platform, as an example, demands surrounding OCs already cover multiple links like character design and illustration drawing. Players might first commission a basic illustration or avatar, then further supplement clothing, expressions, interactive images, and even entrust creators to refine the character's story.

*Screenshot of the Mihuashi platform

A character's journey from birth to becoming fully fleshed out is inherently a process of continuous investment. AI persona commands are more like an extension of OC consumption. However, for now, this business is still far from a mature commercial model. On one hand, services remain in a low price range; on the other hand, how to continuously provide differentiated character experiences remains a challenge creators must face.

In the OC community, characters are born through creation and live through repeated enrichment of their settings. From hand-drawn sketches to digital illustrations, from handwritten settings to AI commands, the creative medium has constantly evolved, but the desire of community players to create, express, and "raise" their own characters has never changed.

As long as the demand to invest emotions in virtual characters persists, the AI persona business will have room to grow.

*Xiao Xuan, Xiaoyue, and YesNo are pseudonyms