AI Avatars Outsell Real People | YMH Creator Roundup
Published about 9 hours ago • 2 min read
Top stories for bloggers, newsletter writers, and content creators.
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No. 1: AI Avatars Outsell Real People
Two digital avatars just pulled in over $7 million in 7 hours, outshining their human originals in a livestream sales session on Baidu's platform.
The AI versions of Chinese influencer Luo Yonghao and his co-host Xiao Mu joked, pitched, and sold nonstop—no breaks, no burnout.
The avatars were trained on five years of videos and performed very well.
For content creators, this isn't science fiction anymore. It's cost-effective, tireless, and scalable. The tech is raw but moving fast. A glimpse at the near future —selling at scale, 24/7, without ever turning on a camera.
President Trump is giving TikTok another lifeline—extending the deadline for ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. owner by 90 more days.
It's the third extension since the Supreme Court upheld the ban, and the White House says the goal is to keep TikTok online while locking in a deal that protects American data.
Meanwhile, Trump—now with over 15 million TikTok followers—isn't hiding his fondness for the platform or the role it's playing in helping him connect with younger voters.
For creators building audience and revenue, TikTok lives on—for now. But the clock keeps ticking.
Fake Instagram fans. Podcasts made by bots. Comments from people who do not exist. AI is flooding the content world—and creators are rightly uneasy.
But Nathan Barry, CEO of Kit, sees a clear path forward. Creators won't get replaced. They will get powered up.
AI can strip away tedious work—helping you repurpose content, brainstorm ideas, and draft emails—and free you to go deeper where it counts, like connection, trust, and voice.
Blogging isn't dead—it's just not what it used to be. Searches for "start a blog" have tanked since 2011, but the urge to share ideas hasn't gone anywhere.
It's just shifted. Folks now reach audiences through newsletters, podcasts, YouTube, and social media. What once required a WordPress setup now starts with a phone and a platform. The tools changed, the mediums expanded, and the opportunity grew. If you're creating content—regardless of what it's called—you're still in the game. Don't chase nostalgia. Follow attention. That's where the audiences (and the money) moved.
If you've been kicking around the idea of launching a Patreon, the clock's ticking. Starting August 4, new creators will owe Patreon a 10% cut of their earnings—up from the current 8%.
Lock in before that, and you keep the lower rate. The company says it has earned the bump, pointing to better tools, live video streaming, media hosting, and discovery features that drive over $200 million to creators each year.
Longtime users still enjoy their original rates, including some grandfathered into a 5% plan from 2019. If you plan to build there, now's the time to claim your slice before the house takes a larger share.