Creators Are Getting Caught in the AI Crosshairs

The AI bubble hasn’t burst, but it’s releasing some air. That’s playing out everywhere, from the stock market to the creator economy.

Take the latest earnings season: Big tech companies posted strong second-quarter results, but their stocks still fell.

Investors are growing frustrated, largely because AI hasn’t yet proven to be as transformative as these companies have promised—or as their hefty spending on the technology suggests. 

For example, Meta’s stock dropped about 10% on Wednesday despite reporting second-quarter revenue growth of 28% year-over-year. (One exception is Snap, whose stock popped on Monday after reporting that its revenue rose 19% compared to a year ago. It also raised AI infrastructure costs for the year.)

At the same time, consumer backlash toward AI seems to be reaching a fever pitch, especially as low quality or fake AI-generated content continues to proliferate online and data centers take over people’s backyards. 

Some of that criticism is now extending to creators themselves.

Longtime creator Hank Green, who has more than 3 million YouTube subscribers, is in hot water with his fans for using AI. He apologized after viewers speculated he’d used ChatGPT to help write a script for a video. “I'm mortified that I have let so many people down,” Green wrote in a lengthy Reddit thread. “I have been relying too heavily on AI as a research aid.”

Complexly, the educational media company he co-founded, has a strong stance against using AI in its work. (Earlier this year, Green and his brother John sold their shares in the company and turned it into a nonprofit.)

Meanwhile, creators who attended OpenAI’s luxury brand trip in the Hudson Valley were also dragged online. “Selling your morals for less than 100 likes lol,” one person wrote on creator Grace McCarrick’s video from the trip. McCarrick largely brushed off the critiques, instead noting the commenter’s own post got little engagement. 

Even so, it’s the companies who will bear the brunt of the consumer backlash. This is causing some of them to rethink how they approach AI before it affects their businesses.

Last week, Snap said it will no longer recommend “wholly AI-generated” content in Spotlight, its short-form video feed. The company is following in the footsteps of Reddit and LinkedIn, both of which have also recently cracked down on AI slop.

LinkedIn announced a new button last week for reporting posts that seem like they could be AI generated. Similarly to Reddit, it has also rolled out tools to help block spammy content in comments, which is where a lot of the platform’s engagement growth is coming from. Time spent on LinkedIn comments was up 18% year-over-year in the second quarter, according to LinkedIn CEO Daniel Shapero.

What struck us about Snap’s policy is that it isn’t prohibiting videos edited or “enhanced” by the company’s AI tools. While this is a clear way for Snap to promote its own features, it also shows how nuanced these policies are, and how difficult they are to enforce. If a video was color corrected or auto-captioned using CapCut’s tools, rather than Snap’s, does that count as “AI-generated” or “AI-enhanced?” And how do you implement these rules at scale?

Plus, Snap’s policy assumes that all AI-generated content is bad, but plenty of people enjoy watching it. Just look at the AI fruit version of “Love Island” which went mega viral on TikTok or the AI dog podcast that’s racked up 1 million followers and signed with WME last year.

Meta, meanwhile, is singing a different tune. The company mentioned AI nearly 30 times during the prepared remarks in its second-quarter earnings call. That followed head of Instagram Adam Mosseri posting a slickly produced video that put a positive spin on AI’s potential and Meta’s role in promoting it. 

AI, of course, has been a big boon for Meta’s core ad business, but it still needs to convince skeptical investors that its larger bets are worth it: Meta said it expects to spend up to $145 billion, largely on AI, this year.

The company also needs to convince consumers. Not surprisingly, Mosseri’s post was flooded with negative comments in response. “Y’all AI is replacing people. Who wrote this script,” one person wrote. Another wrote in all caps: “Nobody wants AI here.” 

One thing Meta might be betting on is that people’s feelings about AI, like stock prices, are volatile: Meta’s stock was already climbing again Monday as investor panic over its AI spending started to cool. It’s likely that people’s angst will also eventually settle.

OpenAI may be betting the same. We wouldn’t be surprised to see them host a second influencer trip.

Spotify is testing a new feature in its app called “Skip Ahead,” podcast newsletter PodNews reported. It allows Premium users in select markets to skip parts of a podcast, including ads. While good news for consumers, it could introduce challenges for podcasters, such as hurt their future deals with advertisers.

At the same time, as the number of ads in podcasts has increased, the effectiveness of those ads has reportedly declined. Podcast ad load was around 10.9% in the first quarter of 2026, per Podscribe, but those rates vary significantly by genre.

A Spotify spokesperson said the feature is a limited test and is not designed specifically for ads.

Patreon is requiring employees to be in its offices three days a week, up from two days. The company recently laid off 20% of staff.  

Fairground Entertainment, an AI media startup, is launching a FAST channel focused on AI shows and films from AI-focused creators including Kelly Boesch and Ryan Phillips.

Carney, an independent journalist, argues that Substack’s subscription model has “maxed out.” 

Taylor Lorenz, an independent journalist covering the creator economy, also recently wrote that her paid subscriptions on Substack have “fallen off a cliff” even as her follower count on the platform has risen to 200,000. 

“It feels more and more like this app is becoming another social media feed,” Lorenz wrote. 

We recently did a deep dive about the newsletter industry and how things are getting more crowded. As we’ve previously argued, there’s only so many people who are willing to pay for newsletters. (We host this newsletter on Beehiiv and don’t offer currently paid subscriptions.) 

• RFK Jr. launched a cooking show on YouTube called “The Real Food Show.” Through the effort, he aims to show how to make healthy meals that cost less than $5 per serving. Read: The US Secretary of Health and Human Services is a YouTuber now.

• Top right-wing influencers are seeing their views crater, including Benny Johnson and former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, The New York Times reported. The decline comes amid infighting among some conservative influencers and growing Republican frustration over the Iran war and rising costs. 

• Politicians including Maryland Governor Wes Moore are trying a new approach to appeal to young voters: Debating them on YouTube. These debates take place on Jubilee Media’s YouTube show “Surrounded,” where politicians try to win over a group of non-voters or people who disagree with them.

Legal pressure over teen safety continues to mount for social media companies. 

• Four families whose teenagers died by suicide are suing Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube claiming the companies knew they were causing harm to younger users and that platform use resulted in their deaths, according to the AP.  

• TikTok agreed to settle three lawsuits from young people claiming that social media apps design their platforms to be addictive and harmful to their ​mental health, Reuters reported. A trial against other social media platforms including Meta and YouTube is scheduled for October. There are still thousands of similar lawsuits in California. 

MrBeast was charging about $2.5 million for a 30-to-45 second sponsored segment on his main channel in early 2024, according to documents revealed as part of an ongoing lawsuit with his former MrBeast Burger partner. At that time, he had about half the number of subscribers he has now, Business Insider noted. 

Persephonica, one of the UK’s top podcast companies, signed an exclusive partnership with Acast to monetize its existing and future shows, which include “Bad Chat” with Greg James and Alice Levine and “Miss Me?” co-hosted by Miquita Oliver and Jordan Stephens.

Cherie and Jean Luo, the sisters who co-host The Tiger Sisters podcast, signed with WME. We spoke to the duo about their strategy and business earlier this year. 

John Taylor, a baseball bat reviewer on YouTube, is now a legitimate prospect for the Texas Rangers and close to getting into the majors. 

Windsor Hanger Western was named CEO of Her Campus Media, a media brand for college students, which she co-founded 17 years ago. Her co-founder Stephanie Kaplan Lewis was the most recent CEO, but stepped down last week and became a board director.  

Rishi Garg is Substack’s new chief financial officer. The newsletter publisher is also hiring for a director of business operations and a head of strategic finance. Garg previously was CFO of sports firm Underdog and worked at Twitter and Square.

Adeline Poris is now vice president of film, TV and content strategy at The Team, formerly known as Wassermann. Before that, she spent a decade at WME. 

Matt Stein is now vice president of marketing and franchise at Pocket.watch, a kids and family-focused creator media company. He previously worked at streaming service Philo, Discovery and BBC.

The Highest-Paid Podcasters of 2026

A Self-Help Influencer With Troubles of Her Own

The Weird State of the Influencer