For platforms, defining authenticity will be a unique challenge, as will deciding whether to create clear guidelines around the posting and identification of AI-generated content.

For creators, standing out will require them to reexamine what makes them unique: their humanity, and the messiness that comes with it. Overpolished, overmanicured content may hew too close to stuff made by generative AI programs — even using these programs to write scripts could alienate audiences.

Brands, always careful with how partners portray their product, now seem more willing to embrace creators’ imperfections — and may even be requesting those imperfections in future deals, according to several sources across influencer marketing and on the content creation side.

With consumer sentiment staunchly against AI, originality and authenticity are the major difference-makers in 2026. 

The rise and fall of AI content

Last year saw huge leaps in the dissemination of generative AI technology. OpenAI’s latest text-to-video AI model, Sora 2, launched just this past September. Shortly after, Disney inked a deal with OpenAI that lets Sora incorporate some of its most iconic characters in AI-generated creations. Google’s text-to-video model, VEO, got big after audio capabilities went live in May, and Meta AI brought its editing tools to Instagram stories last October.

The proliferation of generative AI tools translated to a proliferation of AI content — as The Guardian reported, more than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are “AI slop.”

For Billion Dollar Boy CMO Becky Owen, the boom of AI content largely came from outside the established creator economy. “The majority of bad AI content that flooded our feeds didn’t come from creators,” she told Digiday. “It came from people that thought AI was going to unlock the magical creative spark inside of them and then cruelly found that is not the case.”

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri released a lengthy memo this past December about authenticity and creators’ power to wield it, emphasizing the importance of unlocking creativity to help creators stand out. “We need to build the best creative tools. Label AI-generated content and verify authentic content. Surface credibility signals about who’s posting. Continue to improve ranking for originality,” he wrote. 

In the wake of AI oversaturation and platforms’ struggles to police it, brands and the creators who work with them are wholeheartedly avoiding it. 

“We’re seeing a rejection, and we’re seeing a fight to prioritize ensuring that things seem anti-AI,” said Owen. “Consumer sentiment is roaring [against AI]. They hate it. We’re in this massive reset.”

Creativity as the salve

That reset means an investment in what has always driven the creator economy: creativity and authenticity.

Though some creators use AI tools during the creative process, to help write scripts or polish visual assets, creator economy strategist Gigi Robinson thinks this will require more clarity in the future, especially with consumer sentiment so strong.

“2026 is going to be all about getting really specific about how you use AI in your workflow,” Robinson said. “I can tell when somebody’s used a ChatGPT script. And I think part of the issue is that creators are outsourcing their creativity to AI. They’re not using it as a tool to accelerate their creativity.”

Creativity helps creators stand out, and relying on generative AI feels like admitting a dearth of creativity. Though certain types of slop remain popular on sites like YouTube and TikTok, MANA Talent Group co-founder Zach Russell (himself a former content creator) told Digiday that he feels audiences “walk away feeling ungratified” after watching it.

For Russell, the oversaturated algorithm will force people to “find real, authentic creators who might not have high production, but will offer audiences an oasis” from the low-effort, AI-generated content. “Audiences will realize, ‘I have no connection to this,’ and they’ll make their way back to the authentic, human creations, because that’s what it means to be human — to connect,” he said.

He echoed Owen’s sentiments that creators have largely avoided generative AI. “It’s similar to cryptocurrency in the sense that the most established, larger creators are doing everything they possibly can to stay as far away from it, as there’s no real value,” said Russell.

“We really overestimated how much that content is enjoyable or of value,” Owen added. 

The intense backlash to anything remotely associated with AI has resulted in creators trying even harder to prove that their work is wholly their own. “Creators want to show their work is really thoughtful and intentional,” Owen explained. “That what they’re doing is a real and true craft.”

Brands embracing messiness

That craft is what gets creators brand deals in the first place. And now, brands are largely avoiding generative AI in deals with influencers and creators, and favoring authenticity more than ever.

“Last year our clients fell into one of two camps,” said LIsa Singelyn, svp of celebrity and influencer management at Platinum Rye Entertainment. “One was ‘you may not use AI for any part of this at all, stay away from AI, don’t even touch it.’ And some clients require creators to disclose everything if they use it… but that side really wants it used to generate ideas, not for imagery.”

Aside from clear guardrails when it comes to using AI in content creation, Singelyn has noticed the desire for authenticity has manifested itself quite particularly when it comes to brands: they’re more willing to ignore imperfections in creator content. Instead of requesting that creators iron a wrinkly shirt or get dirty dishes out of a sink, those “imperfections” now go unaddressed. “I think, now more than ever, brands prefer to see the reality of human life. Whether that is a bed not made or clothes not put away or your hair not perfect,” she said.

The desire for human messiness after a deluge of unreal AI sheen could even result in brands folding “imperfections” into their creator prompts, according to Singelyn.

“AI can’t replicate the messiness of human creativity,” Owen said. “We crave that now, we crave imperfection and things that feel ‘off’ in a human way.”