AI becomes a creator’s smartest hire

To everyone new this week: welcome.

Let’s dive into this week’s issue…

• Someone forwarded this? 💌Subscribe to get it fresh, every Wednesday.

• Missed an issue? 💬Catch up on past editions. 

• Curious what else we’re building? 💡Insane Media lives here. 

• Want your campaign in front of our founder community? 📌Reach out here.

🌀 What’s new in the creator world

Meta adds AI voiceovers to Reels
Creators can now dub Reels into Spanish using their own voice, translated and processed with AI. It keeps your original tone and timing, and Meta is adding a new “views by language” metric to track international reach.

YouTube wants to stream the Oscars
YouTube is in early talks to take over the Academy Awards broadcast after ABC’s contract ends in 2028. After landing NFL Sunday Ticket, it could become the next big player in live events.

New YouTube tools for Shorts
YouTube launched three new features for Shorts creators:

• Effects Maker to build your own filters

• Bulk comment filtering to make moderation easier

• Branded content tags to manage sponsors and campaigns

TikTok is betting on tennis
TikTok and the ATP just launched a Tennis Creator Network. Creators get access to tournaments and behind-the-scenes content, plus a shot at brand deals. Tennis content is already up 30 percent on the platform this year.

VTubers are going mainstream

VTubers aren't just for anime fans anymore. They’re signing with agencies, getting fast food deals, and livestreaming with MLB teams.

Hololive, one of the biggest VTuber agencies, now represents creators with over 80 million combined followers. Brands like McDonald’s Japan and the LA Dodgers are partnering with them. Fans are buying out merch and showing up to fan meetups across the world.

For creators who want privacy, creative freedom, or just a unique style, VTubing is becoming a serious path to growth.

AI is becoming every creator’s best hire

Creators are treating AI like a team member. ChatGPT writes pitch emails. Grammarly AI edits captions. Contract tools like Spellbook help negotiate deals. Wondercraft turns scripts into studio-quality podcasts using your own cloned voice.

Creators are also using tools like Endlss or OpusClip to spin long videos into short, social-friendly clips without hiring an editor. One LinkedIn creator said she landed $20K in deals after building a pitch pipeline with AI.

It's not about replacing yourself. It's about buying back time and building smarter workflows — even if you're a one-person show.

TikTok quietly updates its rules and shifts the tone

TikTok is rolling out a new version of its Community Guidelines on September 13. Most of the updates are just clearer wording, but a few changes hint at where the platform is headed.

Here’s what’s new:

• Live creators now carry more responsibility. TikTok says if anything goes wrong during a livestream — even through third-party tools like voice readers — the creator is still accountable.

• Off-platform sales may get throttled. In countries where TikTok Shop exists, creators are being warned. If your content tells viewers to buy elsewhere, TikTok may limit its reach.

• AI policy got a quiet rewrite. TikTok removed wording about deepfake endorsements and fake public figure content. Now it simply says it doesn’t allow AI that misleads people or harms individuals.

• Comments and search are becoming more personal. What you see is shaped by your history — liked replies, past searches, and reported content all influence what shows up.

• For You feed rules are harder to pin down. TikTok used to clearly list what wouldn’t make the cut. Now, those details are scattered throughout the document, which makes it less transparent.

One more shift: TikTok changed its reasoning for content moderation. It no longer aims to be "safe, trustworthy, and vibrant." Now it's just "safe, fun, and creative."

"Trustworthy" didn’t make the final edit.

As always, hit reply if something in here hits home.

P.S. If you want to get a feature about your own IP, reply to this email. If you’d like to reach our newsletter audience (founders, creators, and marketers), click the button below.

If you’re new here, I’m over the moon you’ve joined us! To help me craft content that’s actually useful (and not just noise in your inbox), I’d love it if you took 1 minute to answer this quick survey below. Your insights help shape everything I write.

✨ Insane Media is more than one voice

Dive into our other newsletters - where psychology meets the founders, e-commerce marketing, Human resources and AI trends.