Generative AI transforms from experimental tool to core infrastructure in the creator economy, but consumer enthusiasm cools as “AI slop” floods social feeds, according to new research from Billion Dollar Boy’s innovation unit, Muse.
The Muse report, surveying 4,000 consumers, 1,000 creators, and 1,000 marketing executives across the U.S. and UK, reveals a widening divide between industry optimism and audience reception two years after AI’s emergence as a disruptive force.
Spending Surge Defies Consumer Skepticism
Marketers increased ad spend on generative AI creator content by 79% over the past 12 months, with three-quarters planning to divert budgets from traditional creator marketing to AI-generated content. Some 74% of marketers agree AI creator content delivers better cost-efficiency than traditional approaches, with U.S. marketers showing particularly strong investment at more than $1 million annually.
Yet consumer preference for AI-generated creator content dropped sharply to 26% in 2025 from 60% in 2023, signaling the end of the technology’s novelty phase. Opinion on AI’s role as a disruptor fractured, with 31% viewing it positively, 37% negatively, and 32% unsure. The collapse reflects growing audience discrimination against low-quality, repetitive content, with 73% of marketers and 78% of creators believing AI content “performs better,” while only 26% of consumers now prefer it.
“Content is being digitalized, whether we like it or not. But AI is not a magic button we just push, and then something fantastic comes out. It’s a tool,” says Katrine Rasmussen, CMO of Pixelz. “And for that tool to work, we need really skilled people behind it, creative people.”
Creators Adopt Technology Amid Burnout Concerns
Creators show stronger adoption patterns, with 87% increasing AI-generated content output over the past year. 79% report that AI alleviated their workload, while 78% say it increased their potential earnings. The technology addresses creator burnout: 52% have experienced career-related exhaustion, and 37% are considering leaving the profession. However, 62% worry about increased competition from virtual influencers, while 59% fear oversaturation of consumer feeds.
Consumer perception of content quality improved modestly, with 38% agreeing that AI enhanced creator content quality, up from 35% in 2023, while diversity perceptions rose to 41% from 35%. Among professionals, sentiment remains stronger, with 82% of creators and 77% of marketers agreeing that AI improved quality. The uplift reflects accessible production tools that raise baseline creator capabilities and enable broader storytelling unconstrained by traditional production limits.
Platforms Implement Safeguards as Scrutiny Intensifies
Major platforms implement new safeguards as audience scrutiny intensifies. YouTube tightens monetization rules to block mass-produced, low-effort formats while allowing original AI work. Pinterest labels AI-modified images and provides controls limiting AI content visibility. TikTok auto-labels AI-generated videos and requires creator disclosure of realistic AI content. Meta rolls out “AI info” labels across its apps, though accuracy remains challenged, while also launching Vibes, a short-form AI video feed signaling platforms’ race to capture AI-native engagement.
Virtual Influencers Deliver Results but Face Ethical Questions
Virtual influencers – fully fictional AI personas – generate surprising consumer trust, with 76% trusting them to inform product recommendations and 68% for purchasing decisions. However, success depends on intentional use and clear purpose. H&M’s partnership with virtual influencer Kuki for its Innovation Metaverse Design Story collection delivered an 11x increase in ad recall and a 91% decrease in cost per person recalling ads. Conversely, Vogue Magazine and SheerLuxe faced backlash for featuring photorealistic virtual influencers, with critics arguing the practice risks displacing human talent while perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards.
Digital Twins Meet Consumer Resistance
Digital twins – AI-generated replicas of real creators – face significant consumer skepticism, with only 31% of consumers favoring such partnerships, while 57% believe the technology erodes trust. Despite audience resistance, 85% of creators remain open to creating digital twins with brands for marketing purposes, viewing the technology as potential career sustainability. Fashion brands pioneer adoption, with H&M partnering with 30 models to create AI-generated digital twins while allowing models to retain avatar ownership and licensing rights. TikTok’s Symphony Digital Avatars allow creators and brands to deploy digital characters for 24/7 livestream selling, with brands able to clone human streamers for approximately $1,000 with minutes of sample video.
Deepfakes and Governance Gaps Trigger Alarm
Deepfakes – AI-generated impersonations created without consent – represent the technology’s dark side, with 44% of marketers and 54% of creators seeing them as widespread challenges damaging trust. Among consumers, 65% say deepfakes negatively affect trust in creator content, while less than half (45%) feel confident identifying AI-produced content. Celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk, have had likenesses cloned for online scams. Beauty influencer Arielle Lorre discovered an Instagram ad from Korean skincare brand Skaind featuring an AI-generated replica of her in a fake podcast interview.
More than half of consumers (52%), creators (55%), and marketers (48%) agree that generative AI decreased consumer trust in creator content, while similar majorities agree that AI increased misinformation in the creator economy. Concerning regulatory gaps, 60% of creators admit their AI content breaches industry regulations, including 27% due to mislabeling or failing to label content correctly, and 27% due to misinformation. Only 45% of marketers and 57% of creators agree that adequate IP protections exist to safeguard creators against unauthorized use of their face and voice, prompting 58% of creators to express interest in exploring copyright protections.
“The problem is that it’s impossible to stop the tide of AI – technology moves faster than regulation,” says Mary Bekhait, CEO of YMU. “We are going to have to find a way to engage and not just rely on the platforms.”
Brands Balance Efficiency with Creative Expression
Diageo increased AI use throughout its marketing campaigns in 2024 to enhance efficiency across its £2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) marketing budget, launching a virtual content studio enabling asset production for 34 leading brands globally. Rather than building entirely new campaign concepts, Diageo applies AI tools including Pencil, Grip, CreativeX, and Vizit to adapt existing creative, fine-tuning background, lighting, local language, and cultural nuance. Between 2024 and 2025, the proportion of budget spent on development or production dropped to 14% from 21%, with Diageo aiming to push that figure down to 10%.
Strong majorities of marketers (82%) and creators (81%) agree AI allows them to explore a wider range of creative concepts, while 77% of both groups agree the technology helps combat creative fatigue. Importantly, 77% of marketers and 78% of creators say AI proves effective at crafting emotionally resonant content, with 80% of both groups agreeing AI effectively interprets and captures brand personality. However, only 33% of consumers agree generative AI effectively produces marketing assets resonating emotionally with them, compared to 27% who disagree and 40% who remain unsure.
The research identifies a five-layer “AI Content Stack” ranging from scaled AI-led functional assets to experimental innovation labs where brands and creators test new formats. The successful strategy balances automation powering volume, creators adding context, and emotional storytelling providing distinction, with some brands exploring “vibe marketing” – AI-powered storytelling capturing brand tone and feel to combat creative fatigue and connect with audiences emotionally.
Creator confidence in AI as a positive disruptor increased to 73% in 2025 from 68% in 2023, while marketer confidence dipped slightly to 70% from 75%, but remained strong overall. The divergence highlights growing professional-consumer splits as industry confidence holds while consumer sentiment cools and fractures.
Between June and July 2025, Billion Dollar Boy commissioned Censuswide to survey 4,000 nationally representative consumers (aged 16+), 1,000 content creators, and 1,000 senior marketing decision makers in the UK and US.
Image credit: Billion Dollar Boy The full report is available here
Dragomir is a Serbian freelance blog writer and translator. He is passionate about covering insightful stories and exploring topics such as influencer marketing, the creator economy, technology, business, and cyber fraud.
Generative AI transforms from experimental tool to core infrastructure in the creator economy, but consumer enthusiasm cools as “AI slop” floods social feeds, according to new research from Billion Dollar Boy’s innovation unit, Muse.
The Muse report, surveying 4,000 consumers, 1,000 creators, and 1,000 marketing executives across the U.S. and UK, reveals a widening divide between industry optimism and audience reception two years after AI’s emergence as a disruptive force.
Spending Surge Defies Consumer Skepticism
Marketers increased ad spend on generative AI creator content by 79% over the past 12 months, with three-quarters planning to divert budgets from traditional creator marketing to AI-generated content. Some 74% of marketers agree AI creator content delivers better cost-efficiency than traditional approaches, with U.S. marketers showing particularly strong investment at more than $1 million annually.
Yet consumer preference for AI-generated creator content dropped sharply to 26% in 2025 from 60% in 2023, signaling the end of the technology’s novelty phase. Opinion on AI’s role as a disruptor fractured, with 31% viewing it positively, 37% negatively, and 32% unsure. The collapse reflects growing audience discrimination against low-quality, repetitive content, with 73% of marketers and 78% of creators believing AI content “performs better,” while only 26% of consumers now prefer it.
“Content is being digitalized, whether we like it or not. But AI is not a magic button we just push, and then something fantastic comes out. It’s a tool,” says Katrine Rasmussen, CMO of Pixelz. “And for that tool to work, we need really skilled people behind it, creative people.”
Creators Adopt Technology Amid Burnout Concerns
Creators show stronger adoption patterns, with 87% increasing AI-generated content output over the past year. 79% report that AI alleviated their workload, while 78% say it increased their potential earnings. The technology addresses creator burnout: 52% have experienced career-related exhaustion, and 37% are considering leaving the profession. However, 62% worry about increased competition from virtual influencers, while 59% fear oversaturation of consumer feeds.
Consumer perception of content quality improved modestly, with 38% agreeing that AI enhanced creator content quality, up from 35% in 2023, while diversity perceptions rose to 41% from 35%. Among professionals, sentiment remains stronger, with 82% of creators and 77% of marketers agreeing that AI improved quality. The uplift reflects accessible production tools that raise baseline creator capabilities and enable broader storytelling unconstrained by traditional production limits.
Platforms Implement Safeguards as Scrutiny Intensifies
Major platforms implement new safeguards as audience scrutiny intensifies. YouTube tightens monetization rules to block mass-produced, low-effort formats while allowing original AI work. Pinterest labels AI-modified images and provides controls limiting AI content visibility. TikTok auto-labels AI-generated videos and requires creator disclosure of realistic AI content. Meta rolls out “AI info” labels across its apps, though accuracy remains challenged, while also launching Vibes, a short-form AI video feed signaling platforms’ race to capture AI-native engagement.
Virtual Influencers Deliver Results but Face Ethical Questions
Virtual influencers – fully fictional AI personas – generate surprising consumer trust, with 76% trusting them to inform product recommendations and 68% for purchasing decisions. However, success depends on intentional use and clear purpose. H&M’s partnership with virtual influencer Kuki for its Innovation Metaverse Design Story collection delivered an 11x increase in ad recall and a 91% decrease in cost per person recalling ads. Conversely, Vogue Magazine and SheerLuxe faced backlash for featuring photorealistic virtual influencers, with critics arguing the practice risks displacing human talent while perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards.
Digital Twins Meet Consumer Resistance
Digital twins – AI-generated replicas of real creators – face significant consumer skepticism, with only 31% of consumers favoring such partnerships, while 57% believe the technology erodes trust. Despite audience resistance, 85% of creators remain open to creating digital twins with brands for marketing purposes, viewing the technology as potential career sustainability. Fashion brands pioneer adoption, with H&M partnering with 30 models to create AI-generated digital twins while allowing models to retain avatar ownership and licensing rights. TikTok’s Symphony Digital Avatars allow creators and brands to deploy digital characters for 24/7 livestream selling, with brands able to clone human streamers for approximately $1,000 with minutes of sample video.
Deepfakes and Governance Gaps Trigger Alarm
Deepfakes – AI-generated impersonations created without consent – represent the technology’s dark side, with 44% of marketers and 54% of creators seeing them as widespread challenges damaging trust. Among consumers, 65% say deepfakes negatively affect trust in creator content, while less than half (45%) feel confident identifying AI-produced content. Celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk, have had likenesses cloned for online scams. Beauty influencer Arielle Lorre discovered an Instagram ad from Korean skincare brand Skaind featuring an AI-generated replica of her in a fake podcast interview.
More than half of consumers (52%), creators (55%), and marketers (48%) agree that generative AI decreased consumer trust in creator content, while similar majorities agree that AI increased misinformation in the creator economy. Concerning regulatory gaps, 60% of creators admit their AI content breaches industry regulations, including 27% due to mislabeling or failing to label content correctly, and 27% due to misinformation. Only 45% of marketers and 57% of creators agree that adequate IP protections exist to safeguard creators against unauthorized use of their face and voice, prompting 58% of creators to express interest in exploring copyright protections.
“The problem is that it’s impossible to stop the tide of AI – technology moves faster than regulation,” says Mary Bekhait, CEO of YMU. “We are going to have to find a way to engage and not just rely on the platforms.”
Brands Balance Efficiency with Creative Expression
Diageo increased AI use throughout its marketing campaigns in 2024 to enhance efficiency across its £2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) marketing budget, launching a virtual content studio enabling asset production for 34 leading brands globally. Rather than building entirely new campaign concepts, Diageo applies AI tools including Pencil, Grip, CreativeX, and Vizit to adapt existing creative, fine-tuning background, lighting, local language, and cultural nuance. Between 2024 and 2025, the proportion of budget spent on development or production dropped to 14% from 21%, with Diageo aiming to push that figure down to 10%.
Strong majorities of marketers (82%) and creators (81%) agree AI allows them to explore a wider range of creative concepts, while 77% of both groups agree the technology helps combat creative fatigue. Importantly, 77% of marketers and 78% of creators say AI proves effective at crafting emotionally resonant content, with 80% of both groups agreeing AI effectively interprets and captures brand personality. However, only 33% of consumers agree generative AI effectively produces marketing assets resonating emotionally with them, compared to 27% who disagree and 40% who remain unsure.
The research identifies a five-layer “AI Content Stack” ranging from scaled AI-led functional assets to experimental innovation labs where brands and creators test new formats. The successful strategy balances automation powering volume, creators adding context, and emotional storytelling providing distinction, with some brands exploring “vibe marketing” – AI-powered storytelling capturing brand tone and feel to combat creative fatigue and connect with audiences emotionally.
Creator confidence in AI as a positive disruptor increased to 73% in 2025 from 68% in 2023, while marketer confidence dipped slightly to 70% from 75%, but remained strong overall. The divergence highlights growing professional-consumer splits as industry confidence holds while consumer sentiment cools and fractures.
Between June and July 2025, Billion Dollar Boy commissioned Censuswide to survey 4,000 nationally representative consumers (aged 16+), 1,000 content creators, and 1,000 senior marketing decision makers in the UK and US.
Image credit: Billion Dollar Boy
The full report is available here