For creators, AI is much less about hype and extra about financial savings: chopping out the necessity to rent further assist they might have as soon as wanted.
AI has change into a key instrument within the inventive processes of digital content material creators throughout genres and platforms, with over 80 % of creators utilizing it in some a part of their workflow, in line with analysis by the AI audio era firm Wondercraft, which analyzed creators’ use of AI instruments.
Some creators are utilizing generative AI to create audience-facing content material — sparking an increase in so-called low-effort and high-volume “AI slop” content material, a priority for some entrepreneurs — whereas others are utilizing AI brokers to work together with their followers.
However whereas some creators churn out AI slop within the identify of scale, others are utilizing the tech extra pragmatically — to carry out back-end duties they beforehand needed to pay a human to do.
“I take advantage of AI for lots of various stuff,” mentioned video creator Max Schneider. “I consult with ChatGPT as ‘my assistant’ to all my mates.”
Digiday spoke to 4 creators to listen to how they’re utilizing AI instruments as a substitute of hiring further assist — or placing within the further hours.
Analysis assistant and sounding board
Schneider’s enterprise is primarily a one-man present, with Schneider writing, filming and modifying his humorous movies earlier than posting them on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. To get second opinions through the inventive course of, he makes use of ChatGPT as a sounding board for potential ideas and concepts.
“It’s completely one thing you’d do with an assistant,” mentioned Schneider, who makes use of the paid model of ChatGPT. “Think about your assistant was actually good, however generally out of contact, or not precisely dialed into the tone you need. That’s how I deal with ChatGPT.”
Schneider’s use of ChatGPT goes past spitballing concepts. He additionally treats it as a analysis assistant, utilizing it to fact-check his movies and do market analysis to see if totally different ideas is perhaps well-liked.
“If I’ve a random query — like, ‘how massive was the most important child ever born?’ — that’s one thing I’d ask,” he mentioned.
Schneider mentioned that he had thought-about hiring an assistant previous to his adoption of ChatGPT, and that he was nonetheless open to doing so for an individual with the correct expertise, corresponding to video modifying. Nonetheless, utilizing ChatGPT has to date helped him keep away from paying for a human assistant — a job whose common annual wage within the U.S. is roughly $53,000, in line with the pay monitoring web site Wage.com.
Copyeditor
Some creators are discovering that AI can enhance their pre-existing content material by performing as a copyeditor, cleansing up copy or giving strategies to assist streamline the tone of written copy. It is a distinct use case from creators who’re utilizing generative AI to create “AI slop” content material from the bottom up; on this case, creators are utilizing AI to edit and revise content material whose first draft was totally human-made.
LinkedIn creator Elvi Caperonis, who usually makes use of Grammarly’s AI instruments to copyedit her written posts, credited the service for serving to enhance her following on the platform to just about 250,000 — however cautioned that there are potential pitfalls to utilizing AI as a copyeditor as properly. When the corporate Favikon launched an “Authenticity Rating” instrument rating creators based mostly on their use of AI instruments to generate content material, her posts had been flagged as AI-generated, regardless that she had written the entire unique copy herself. She mentioned that she had requested Favikon to take away her from the rating as a result of she felt it inaccurately described her inventive course of.
“The algorithm has to have the ability to determine what’s human-written, no matter leveraging AI, versus one thing that’s one hundred pc generated by AI,” she mentioned, “and I don’t suppose we’re one hundred pc there but.”
Grammarly’s head of training Jenny Maxwell identified that false positives are at present commonplace in AI detection software program, citing a latest Stanford research that flagged the Declaration of Independence as written by AI.
“It has nothing to do, essentially, with any instrument that was used, as a lot because it has to do with the speed of false positives on the aspect of the detection instruments,” Maxwell mentioned. “Most AI detectors usually are not educated to determine grammatical correctness as a sign of AI use.”
Along with utilizing AI as a copyeditor, each Caperonis and her fellow LinkedIn creator April Little have began to make use of ChatGPT as a social media analyst and marketing consultant. To achieve a greater understanding of how one can greatest develop their engagement and following, they persistently add their top-10 performing posts to totally different AI instruments, asking the AI to research the posts and supply recommendation about the best days and occasions to submit, in addition to the precise matters that resonate most strongly with their followers.
Little — who makes use of the premium variations of each Claude and ChatGPT — didn’t share particular numbers to indicate the expansion of her following and engagement because of ChatGPT’s recommendation, however credited her rising engagement for serving to her obtain “nearly $20,000 in model offers” within the two months since she began importing all of her top-performing posts to ChatGPT.
“I feel I’m one of many few those that continually analyzes my final 10 to twenty posts, as a result of I’m all the time rising,” mentioned Little, who boasts a following of over 270,000 and was named a 2025 Time 100 creator earlier this 12 months. “I normally can get anyplace from 5,000 to 7,000 new followers each month.”
For ChatGPT Plus, Little spends $20 per 30 days. In distinction, social media consultants cost a mean of $50 to $250 per hour, in line with the social media administration platform RecurPost.
Contract reviewer
Creators are additionally utilizing AI instruments to assist sidestep among the authorized charges that include the model partnership course of, such because the reviewing of contracts.
“As a rule, I take advantage of it to overview phrases and circumstances — I’ll simply put within the contract, and I’ll say, ‘in your opinion, who does this contract favor extra?’” Schneider mentioned.
Some influencer advertising and marketing platforms have began to bake AI contract evaluations straight into their course of. Influencer affiliate platform Endlss, for instance, rolled out an “agreements” characteristic final week that makes use of AI to mechanically monitor phrases and circumstances mentioned throughout negotiations, corresponding to utilization rights, key dates and licensing phrases, then locations them straight into contracts for either side to signal.
“On the creator aspect, it creates your legalese, your Exhibit As and Bs. They might simply take the URL, pop it in ChatGPT, and ask for a fast overview to ensure there’s no publicity on their aspect,” mentioned Endlss CEO David Abbey. “ChatGPT will come again saying ‘nope,’ and so they simply hit signal, and it’s accomplished.”
Given the steep potential prices of authorized charges, utilizing AI instruments to overview and draft contracts might assist creators save 1000’s of {dollars}. Attorneys usually cost an hourly fee of between $100 and $750 to overview contract language, in line with the authorized consultancy UpCounsel.
AI could be an environment friendly instrument to overview contracts that pull closely from standardized or boilerplate language, in line with Laurie Selkowitz, a accomplice on the legislation agency Greenberg Glusker. Nonetheless, she cautioned that utilizing AI to overview contracts additionally comes with potential dangers, together with incomplete referencing of exterior insurance policies corresponding to model tips and FTC guidelines, in addition to a possible breach in confidentiality if an AI mannequin had been to retain and prepare itself on proprietary contract language.
“Not like attorneys who know their purchasers and their purchasers’ enterprise, AI can’t absolutely weigh the industrial context and account for leverage, relationships, or long-term technique,” Selkowitz mentioned. “What’s ‘unhealthy’ in a single deal could also be acceptable and even strategic in one other, and what’s ‘customary’ in a single trade could also be exterior the market in one other.”
