The Creator Economy’s AI Tailwind
創造者經濟的人工智慧順風車

“These [AI] platforms are starting from a point where literally anyone with a mobile phone or computer can create. Previous creative platforms required some skill and know-how to produce compelling content,” said Michael Mignano, partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. 
「這些 [AI] 平台的起點是任何擁有手機或電腦的人都可以進行創作。以前的創意平台需要一些技能和專業知識來製作引人注目的內容，」Lightspeed Venture Partners 合夥人 Michael Mignano 表示。

Those types of companies have been the biggest beneficiaries of investments. During the quarter, three startups that use AI to generate videos from text descriptions raised funding: Pika Labs raised $80 million, HeyGen raised $60 million and Higgsfield raised $8 million. 
這類公司是投資的最大受益者。本季度，三家利用人工智慧根據文字描述產生影片的新創公司籌集了資金：Pika Labs 籌集了 8,000 萬美元，HeyGen 籌集了 6,000 萬美元，Higgsfield 籌集了 800 萬美元。

And Suno, a startup allowing people to generate professional-sounding songs from simple text descriptions, in May raised $125 million in Series B funding led by Lightspeed, making it the biggest AI-creator deal of the quarter. 
Suno 是一家新創公司，允許人們透過簡單的文字描述產生聽起來專業的歌曲，5 月在 Lightspeed 領投的 B 輪融資中籌集了 1.25 億美元，使其成為本季最大的人工智慧創作者交易。

Other AI deals this quarter included:
本季的其他人工智慧交易包括：

• Cartwheel, a startup offering AI-powered 3D animation tools for creators, raised $5.6 million
• Cartwheel 是一家為創作者提供人工智慧驅動的 3D 動畫工具的新創公司，籌集了 560 萬美元

• Exactly.ai, a London-based company that raised $4.3 million, develops tools for artists to train their own AI image models and retain control over their creations. It was the only international AI-focused deal of the quarter. 
• Exactly.ai 是一家總部位於倫敦的公司，籌集了 430 萬美元，該公司為藝術家開發工具來訓練他們自己的人工智慧圖像模型並保留對其創作的控制。這是本季唯一一筆以人工智慧為重點的國際交易。

• Smashing, a new AI-powered content recommendation app, which surfaces podcasts, blogs, news articles, social media posts and YouTube videos, raised $3.4 million. 
• Smashing 是一款新的人工智慧內容推薦應用程序，可顯示播客、部落格、新聞文章、社交媒體貼文和 YouTube 視頻，籌集了 340 萬美元。

• Jars AI, which is using AI to create interactive, personalized shows, raised $3 million. 
• Jars AI 正在利用人工智慧創建互動、個人化的節目，籌集了 300 萬美元。

Over the past 18 months, social media creators have dabbled with various AI tools, ranging from asking ChatGPT for ideas to experimenting with AI dubbing of their videos into foreign languages or even creating digital clones of themselves. 
在過去的 18 個月裡，社群媒體創作者涉足了各種人工智慧工具，從向 ChatGPT 尋求想法，到嘗試用人工智慧將他們的影片配音成外語，甚至創建自己的數位克隆。

But so far, the majority of creators tell me that AI isn’t a core part of their businesses or workflows. Some point to AI-powered video editing software, for example, which they say isn’t up to par with what they need it to do. That means they're still opting to do things the old fashioned way and edit themselves. I predict that will change over the next 12 months as AI technology improves. That’s a shift investors are betting on, too. 
但到目前為止，大多數創作者告訴我，人工智慧並不是他們業務或工作流程的核心部分。例如，有些人指出人工智慧驅動的影片編輯軟體，他們說該軟體達不到他們需要的功能。這意味著他們仍然選擇以老式的方式做事並自行編輯。我預測隨著人工智慧技術的進步，這種情況將在未來 12 個月內發生變化。這也是投資人所押注的轉變。

Here’s what else is going on…
這是其他正在發生的事情......

Deals & Debuts 優惠及首秀

See The Information’s Creator Economy Database for an exclusive list of private companies and their investors.
請參閱 The Information 的創造者經濟資料庫，以了解私人公司及其投資者的獨家清單。

DreamFlare AI, an app offering ways for creators to earn money from AI-generated content, raised $1.65 million in pre-seed funding from FoundersX.
DreamFlare AI 是一款為創作者提供從人工智慧生成的內容中賺錢的應用程序，已從 FoundersX 籌集了 165 萬美元的種子前資金。

Ticketmaster is partnering with Apple’s music app Shazam to make it easier for fans to buy tickets to artists’ live events after identifying their songs on Shazam. 
Ticketmaster 正在與 Apple 音樂應用程式 Shazam 合作，讓粉絲在 Shazam 上識別藝術家的歌曲後更輕鬆地購買藝術家現場活動的門票。

ICYMI: YouTube is testing an update to its Erase Song tool which helps creators remove copyright-claimed music from their videos, while keeping other audio such as background sounds. 
ICYMI：YouTube 正在測試其擦除歌曲工具的更新，該工具可協助創作者從影片中刪除受版權保護的音樂，同時保留背景聲音等其他音訊。

Policy Notes  政策說明

NATO invited 16 creators from countries including the U.K., Germany and France to attend its summit in Washington happening this week to help the military alliance reach Gen Z citizens. Another 10 U.S. influencers are invited from the U.S. Defense and State Departments. 
北約邀請了來自英國、德國和法國等國家的 16 名創作者參加本週在華盛頓舉行的峰會，以幫助軍事聯盟接觸到 Z 世代公民。另外也邀請了來自美國國防部和國務院的 10 位美國影響者。

NGL, an anonymous messaging app popular with teens and kids, has been banned by U.S. federal regulators from serving users under the age of 18. The Federal Trade Commission and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office claim NGL "unfairly marketed" to young users despite risks of cyberbullying and harmful messages, according to a complaint. It’s the first time a platform has been banned from serving minors. 
NGL 是一款深受青少年和兒童歡迎的匿名訊息應用程序，已被美國聯邦監管機構禁止為18 歲以下用戶提供服務。用戶「不公平地行銷」一份投訴稱，有網路霸凌和有害資訊。這是首次禁止平台為未成年人提供服務。

Caroline Gleich, a professional ski mountaineer and creator who is hoping to replace Republican Senator Mitt Romney’s seat in Utah, is asking the Federal Election Commission to update its rules. The Democratic hopeful filed a request on Wednesday requesting permission to sidestep campaign finance rules that she says hurt influencers who earn money from online sponsorships. 
卡洛琳·格萊奇(Caroline Gleich) 是一名專業滑雪登山運動員和創作者，希望取代共和黨參議員米特·羅姆尼(Mitt Romney) 在猶他州的席位，她正在要求聯邦選舉委員會更新其規則。這位民主黨候選人周三提出了一項請求，要求允許迴避競選財務規則，她說這些規則傷害了透過線上贊助賺錢的有影響力的人。

The European Influencer Marketing Alliance, a new collective of influencer marketing agencies on the continent, launched on Wednesday to “promote professional practice within the region,” according to an announcement. The effort comes amid greater regulatory scrutiny of influencer advertising practices in countries such as Greece and Spain. 
根據一份公告，歐洲影響者行銷聯盟是歐洲大陸影響者行銷機構的一個新集體，於週三成立，旨在「促進該地區的專業實踐」。這項努力正值希臘和西班牙等國家對影響者廣告行為進行更嚴格的監管審查。

Overheard

“A creator asked me recently: ‘Are we going to do long-form video on Instagram?’ The answer is no,” Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said in a video he posted to the app. The assertion, which Mosseri has made before, comes as rival TikTok encourages creators to make more longer videos similar to standard YouTube videos.

“If you watch a 10 or 20-minute video, you see less content from friends, you interact with your friends less, and you’re actually less likely to send that content or that video to a friend. So we’re not going to go after that business,” Mosseri said.  

Creator Corner

Joe Rogan will host a live comedy special on Netflix on August 3 called “Burn the Boats” as part of the streaming service’s live programming push. Rogan, who is best known for his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” previously performed standup comedy for more than 30 years. 

Loren Gray, a singer and TikTok creator with 53.8 million followers, will play a role in a new Netflix movie called “Incoming” out August 23. The film follows four high school freshmen as they navigate their first party. 

Prime, the energy drink from Logan Paul and KSI, signed a sponsorship deal with basketball star Kevin Durant ahead of the Paris Olympics this month, which he’s participating in. Durant will have a customized Prime drink as part of the deal.

Thank you for reading the Creator Economy Newsletter! I’d love your feedback, ideas and tips: kaya@theinformation.com. 

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