VidCon showcases the pros and cons of generative AI for creators

The news: Generative AI was a big topic at last week’s VidCon conference in Anaheim, California. YouTube touted Aloud, its AI-powered video dubbing tool, OpenAI took to the stage to woo creators, and startup Rembrand showed off its AI-driven virtual product placement tool.

• Still, the buzz about generative AI among attendees was polarizing.

YouTube speaks Aloud: YouTube product management exec Amjad Hanif announced during the company’s keynote session that Aloud, an AI-driven dubbing platform from Google’s Area 120 incubator, is coming to YouTube. Aloud can transcribe an English-language video and then translate and dub it into Spanish or Portuguese, with more languages coming soon. Creators can review and edit the transcript before the video is dubbed.

• More YouTube AI: Hanif also said AI will be able to automate content summaries and help creators generate ideas, scripts, and settings for their videos. “AI can supercharge the entire creative journey,” Hanif said.

OpenAI pitches creators: Generative AI can help creators with brainstorming and storytelling, Andrew Mayne, science communicator at OpenAI, said during one session.

Rembrand touts ‘AdWords for product placement’: Advertisers can incorporate their products into creator videos digitally by using Rembrand’s Generative Fusion tool, founder Omar Tawakol explained, likening the product to Google’s groundbreaking native advertising tool.

Pro and con: VidCon attendees had mixed feelings about AI: .

• GenAI is a benefit. Some spoke enthusiastically about the potential for AI to help creators make content more quickly and easily, helping them test what works and what doesn’t.
• GenAI is a threat. Others said AI will lead to a flood of low-quality, undifferentiated content across social media. They fear that AI will lower consumer trust in creator content—and by extension, the branded content produced by creators.

Our take: The depth and breadth of generative AI tools will expand exponentially on social platforms in the coming months, so it’s critical for marketers to get familiar with them. Forward-thinking creators are already embracing the tools in novel ways. In the near term, brands should consider partnering with creators that are using generative AI so they can stay close to the trends and potentially get the halo benefit of PR.

Go further: For more on the role of generative AI in influencer marketing, see our report ChatGPT and Generative AI in the Creator Economy.