TOGETHER WITH

TGIF! If you’re still borrowing your ex’s Disney+ password, it might be time for a weekend binge-watch—because it looks like an account-sharing crackdown is on the horizon.

YOU GO, AI COCO

MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio are living double lives…as AI chatbots named Zach and Coco

You might know Jimmy Donaldson as YouTube superstar MrBeast, or maybe even as the snack entrepreneur behind Feastables.

Now, it’s time to meet Donaldson’s other persona: “Zach.”

Zach is one of 28 new celebrity-inspired chatbots developed by Meta. which teamed up with stars like MrBeast, Charli D’Amelio, Snoop Dogg, LaurDIY, and Paris Hilton to create AI-driven characters who will chat with users on Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The participating celebs allowed Meta to take recordings of their voices and movements—a wealth of data that the tech giant’s large language model, Llama 2, used to create lookalike chatbots.

As Zach’s name suggests, those AI characters aren’t exact replicas of their celebrity muses. Some bots—like D’Amelio’s dance-obsessed “Coco”—do bear uncanny similarities to their human alter egos, but others are less one-for-one. Snoop Dogg’s AI avatar, for instance, is a “Dungeon Master” rather than a musician.

Users will have even more character profiles to explore over the coming weeks and months. According to Meta, upcoming chatbots will be inspired by Olympian Chloe Kim and creator Josh Richards.

🔆 SPONSORED 🔆

This October, the world’s top creators will unite in Dallas. Do you have your ticket to VidSummit?

Only one event unites the top 1% of content creators—and this year, VidSummit is coming to Dallas, Texas.

From October 3-5, dozens of high-profile influencers, brands, and marketers will unite to share rare insights into all corners of the creator economy. As ​VidSummit 2023​ ticket holders, attendees will have the opportunity to:

• Listen in on keynotes from Michelle Khare and Zach King 💬

• Dive into YouTube’s future with Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie 🔮

• Learn about generative AI from Kwebbelkop 💻

• Roast YouTube channels with MrBeast and Airrack 👀

• And so much more 🔥

Most importantly: VidSummit is ​an exclusive space for creators​, marketers, agencies, and brands—not fans.

Without the fan presence found at other events, influencers and brands have the freedom to share the real details of what they do—from making millions a month with YouTube ads to securing high-paying sponsorships. In other words: VidSummit is the only event where the creator industry’s leading experts can reveal everything they know about audience growth, brand building and influence gain.

Are you ready to become an industry insider? Smash the button below to snag your ticket to VidSummit 2023.

​Reserve your seat today →

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• YouTube star Eric Decker (aka Airrack) has signed with talent agency UTA for representation in all areas. (Tubefilter)
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• Snapchat’s parent company will let go of “approximately 170 team members” due to changes in its augmented reality (AR) division. (Tubefilter)
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• Is YouTube’s AI “insights” tool a taste of more ideation-focused features to come? Hosts Josh Cohen and Lauren Schnipper dive into the question on a new episode of Creator Upload. (Tubefilter)
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• According to The Information, the latest round of staff cuts at X have affected “approximately half” of the platform’s global Elections Integrity team. (Ars Technica)

DATA • CREATORS ON THE RISE 📈

This creator has documented “nearly every day” of her life. She’s not stopping now.

Jenny Hoyos has been making YouTube videos since she was eight years old. Back then, hitting the record button was just a normal part of family bonding: Hoyos and her cousins watched YouTube, made videos, and went to the movies—and then they did it all again the next day.

By the time high school rolled around, the creator had “a hard drive of nearly every day” of her life. The catch: she wasn’t actually posting any of it. Other kids had convinced Hoyos that her content wasn’t going anywhere, so she stopped uploading her videos online.

And then COVID happened.

Stuck in quarantine, the creator found herself slipping into “bad habits” (i.e. “gaming all day and eating unhealthy”). She figured it was time to rediscover her passion, so she threw herself into a series of side hustles and began posting YouTube videos to document her entrepreneurial journey.

Hoyos was right: in the two years since launching her current channel, she’s collected more than 1.5 million subscribers and pulled in 850 million views with her ingenious saving hacks and entertaining financial experiments.

That success is only the beginning. In fact, Hoyos will check off one of her long-term goals when she speaks at VidSummit next week—and after that, the creator is determined to “make every Short hit Trending.”

STREAMING BIG

Nebula has a new slate of original content and it’s time to duel

Nebula is going all out for its next slate of original content. The creator-centric streaming service will introduce six original programs in 2023, including a Yu-Gi-Oh!-inspired competition series hosted by Patch Lacey of TierZoo and a Las Vegas-focused video essay by Lindsay Ellis. Another project—a queer sci-fi short film helmed by creator Jessie Earl (aka Jessie Gender)—will premiere in 2024.

From holiday specials to game shows, Nebula isn’t holding anything back.

The streamer’s fresh content rollout is bound to provide plenty of entertainment for its subscribers, who pay $5 a month to access an array of nerdy and gamified videos. Archeology Quest: The Paleolithic Age will feature Paleolithic-themed challenges from the creators behind Real Science, while ChefPK will go through a “Japan Training Arc” for another original. Viewers will even have a chance to embrace their festive sides: The streamer’s upcoming programming will include a Christmas special led by filmmaker Patrick H. Willems.

Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus won’t be the only exec involved in what he calls a “dynamic” initiative. As Nebula’s new Chief Content Officer, Wendover Productions creator Sam Denby will also play an important role in the service’s upcoming programming.

WATCH THIS 📺

Here’s everything you (and the rest of the internet) ever wanted to know about MoistCr1TiKaL

If you’ve ever wondered why MoistCr1TiKaL wears white shirts and bears a remarkable resemblance to Jesus, congrats: Wired’s got it covered. The outlet’s latest “Most Searched Questions” segment takes a deep dive into the YouTuber’s life, with Google queries ranging from the origins of his username (he liked penguins as a kid) to his alleged fear of cockroaches (“nope”).

Still have burning questions about MoisCr1TiKaL’s email address and upbringing? You can check out the full episode here.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.