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#31: AI Chatbots Money Easier than NFTs

Instagram Still Bullish on Collectibles (for Subset of Creators)

Author

Kuba Szewczyk
October 12, 2023

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Meta has unveiled AI characters (chatbots) based on the likeness of some of the most famous celebrities and creators, including Snoop Dogg, Tom Brady, MrBeast and Charli D’Amelio. According to sources, the top earners can make up to $5M in exchange for “about six hours of work in a studio” and non-exclusive rights to image (meaning the creator can license its image to other AI products). This move demonstrates that AI and the metaverse remain a priority for the company. However, the realism of early demos and use cases worry or even terrify the mainstream public.

Rooster Teeth, Warner Bros. Discovery’s fandom, gaming and comedy entertainment brand, has pulled some content off YouTube, claiming the video platform’s ad-supported economics don’t make sense. Instead, the creators encouraged viewers to watch the content for free on the Rooster Teeth website going forward. Apparently, “ad-supported content viewed on the Rooster Teeth website generates 5-10 times more revenue per ad compared with YouTube.”

During Instagram’s first-ever Creator Innovation Summit in New York, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri shared that 1) IG did not go all-in into NFTs on the hypothesis it would be a revenue driver only to a subset of creators, and 2) NFT team shutdown was driven by company-wide reductions and product uncertainty, but still believes “that’s the kind of thing [IG] should be playing in.”

Just 18 months ago, deep in COVID lockdowns, we all witnessed the love affair between NFTs and sports. While startups and clubs were convincing fans about the value of “utility” and “fan engagement”, others were calling out the hype and financial speculation designed to enrich the club owners or fill a budget gap. Now, unsurprisingly, almost any crypto project promoted by a soccer club (or player) has crashed in value.

Mark Zuckerberg recently demonstrated his humanlike VR avatars in an interview in the Metaverse. Not gonna lie - the technological leap from 2022 is impressive. When asked whether the avatars could help reconnect with people “no longer here”, he acknowledged it was a complex idea but said there was "probably some balance" for the concept of creating a virtual version of a deceased person by using VR and AI technology.

There is no doubt that large platforms benefit from user-generated content and do not adequately share revenue. On top of that, platforms continue experimenting with throttling external links and charging users for an ad-free experience. The author invites us to reevaluate where we spend time online and how much content we give away for free: “When users contribute valuable content, they are essentially providing these companies with free gasoline for their machine.”

US marketers increase email marketing budgets as they seek ways to increase engagement

(…) Email marketing is favored by marketers because of its high return on investment—$36 dollars for every dollar spent, according to Litmus.

On X/Musk saga:

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Author Bio

Kuba Szewczyk is a Director of Strategy & Ops at Consensys, helping build NFT tools for creators and brands. He previously worked at Bain & Co. Digital Assets and earned Harvard MBA.

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