China Gave AI Influencer Yuri an Official ID. What It Unlocks for Creators
A Beijing district issued the virtual idol an identity record in January, then a licence to perform in June. It lets her…
Creator Economy
Platforms, algorithms and the business of making things online. Led by columnist Casie Stewart, this desk covers how AI and platform policy are changing who gets discovered, who gets paid and who sets the terms.
9 stories
Can You Sell AI Music or a Cloned Voice? A Creator’s Licensing Guide
Suno, Udio and ElevenLabs each grant different rights on different plans, and a US$9 billion label lawsuit hangs over Suno. What the…
TikTok’s AI Shopping Assistant and Buy Direct: What Changes for Creators
TikTok's new one-tap checkout and shopping agent are US-first and in testing. The quieter change is GMV Max now counting affiliate commissions…
Mark Rober, Kurzgesagt and 60 Other YouTubers Want AI Slowed Down
#TeamHuman counts 62 creator channels and about 315 million subscribers behind a call for international limits on frontier AI. The Center for…
Higgsfield’s $1 Billion Run Rate Is Real Math. Here’s What It Leaves Out.
The AI video company got to a billion by multiplying four weeks of revenue by 13. The refunds, deepfakes and creator backlash…
The Best AI Video Generators Now That Sora Is Gone
OpenAI shut the Sora app in April and its API on Sept. 24. Here are eight places to take your prompts, what…
Japan’s Courts Say Your Voice Is Yours. The TikTok Clone Still Got Away
A Tokyo court recognized voice as a publicity right in anime star Kenjiro Tsuda's AI-clone suit against TikTok, then dismissed his takedown…
TikTok Will Pay Creators in 30 Days — and Own the Pipe
TikTok One Pay gets creators paid in 30 days with no cut. It's a good deal, and the clearest sign yet TikTok…
YouTube Will Let You Prompt Your Own Feed. Creators Should Read the Fine Print.
YouTube's Gemini-powered Custom Feeds let viewers describe the videos they want, moving discovery out of the algorithm's hands and past the creator's.