'Not heartburn' line goes viral as AI short dramas fall into a copy-paste rut
In an article by Su Sinan of Economic Observer, republished by Huxiu AI, lines such as "it's a bit pricey, but it doesn't cause heartburn" and "better to earn less than break the rules" are said to recur across AI-generated short dramas featuring food-stall vendors, turning into a widely shared meme. The piece traces the meme to a fixed "honest shopkeeper beats the cut-throat rival" template that has spread from bun shops to noodle stalls and tea stores, with some low-cost teams reusing similar face models, prompts and character templates so that characters look interchangeable. It cites data showing about 46,900 AI animated dramas released in 2025 with over 70 billion views, and more than 221,900 new AI short dramas online in the first half of 2026, of which only 1,055 passed 100 million views — a 0.47% rate — while roughly 90% of projects industry-wide are losing money.
The viewership, cost and profitability figures cited suggest that after AI sharply cut production costs and timelines, homogenization and content quality remain the key variables for AI short dramas' commercial performance.
“贵是贵点，但吃了不烧心”之所以走红，是因为观众一眼就能识别这些反复复制的剧情套路。当“不烧心”变成新的流水线模板，观众对AI内容的耐心和信任，也在被一点点消耗。“贵是贵点，但吃了不烧心”“宁可少挣点，也不能坏了规矩”......这些在多个AI短剧餐饮摊贩口中都出现过的台词，正在成为全网热梗。“烧心”原本指的......
本文来自微信公众号： 经济观察网 ，作者：苏斯楠
“贵是贵点，但吃了不烧心”之所以走红，是因为观众一眼就能识别这些反复复制的剧情套路。当“不烧心”变成新的流水线模板，观众对AI内容的耐心和信任，也在被一点点消耗。