The future of the creator economy is powered by AI
In 2023, Ollie Forsyth, the founder of New Economies, found that 33 percent of creators used AI. This year? 80 percent of creators use AI.
The creator economy is relatively new, so predicting how it might develop and shift is tricky — but it's also expected to become a nearly $500 billion industry, making accurate forecasts fundamentally important. During Forsyth's talk "Mapping the Modern Creator Economy: Trends, Tensions, and What Comes Next" at VidCon 2025, he argued that the future of the creator economy lies almost entirely in AI.
Every creator is going to have to be AI focused, Forsyth argued, because AI agents will be able to allow creators to be truly flexible and more efficient. It'll help them free up the time they spend on admin, finances, brand partnerships, marketing, and more as startups use AI to solve these problems.
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Beyond the flexibility, AI also allows creators to be "global from Day One," Forsyth said. Just look at MrBeast: The creator speaks only English but, thanks to AI dubbing services, has huge audiences in Spain and India while also dubbing his most popular videos in nearly a dozen languages.
More people than ever want to be creators, and more media companies are relying on creators to get the job done — just look at all the creator-led podcasts that interviewed presidential candidates in 2024 in comparison to traditional media outlets.
"It's a great time to be a creator," Forsyth said.
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
