TRENDING: Who are the Sterling and Moretti families taking over your feed?
Do you know the Mafia Queen of the Morettis? What if you're the long-lost heir of the Sterling family?
While some are hooked on K-drama and C-drama, others are getting completely caught up in a different kind of series: short dramas featuring fictional families like the Sterlings and Morettis.
These stories, created with artificial intelligence, have been making their way across social media, drawing viewers into the worlds of wealthy heirs, powerful families, romance, rivalries, and crime.
The Sterling family is usually portrayed as a wealthy and influential dynasty, with its heirs at the center of stories involving family businesses, relationships, inheritance, and rivalries. The Morettis, meanwhile, are often depicted as a powerful mafia family with its own hierarchy, succession battles, and complicated relationships.
While the Sterlings and Morettis have recently become the most recognizable names online, other wealthy fictional families are also featured prominently in AI-generated dramas. These include the Romanovs, who are often portrayed as being connected to Russian aristocracy or the underworld, as well as families with names like Whitmore, Blackwood, Vance, and Grey.
You can find these dramas on TikTok, Facebook Reels, YouTube, and Dailymotion, as well as short-drama platforms like ReelShort.
AI-generated dramas started becoming popular in China early this year. Citing Chinese state media, CNN reported that over 120,000 microdramas were released from January to March 2026 alone, and 95% of those were AI-generated. According to Variety, the sudden popularity of AI short dramas "is rapidly reshaping both production and monetization logics." The entertainment outlet reported, "As global acceptance grows, these formats are giving rise to a parallel content economy defined by speed, scalability and lower production thresholds."
