Good morning. The daughter of filmmaker Sofia Coppola went viral last week for a TikTok she posted about being grounded for attempting to charter a helicopter to have dinner with her camp friend. Poetically, the TikTok played out much like a scene from one of her mother's iconic movies about privileged teens. We love when life imitates art.

— Hannah Doyle & Nate Graber-Lipperman

How Creators are Using New AI Tools

Two major graphic design companies, Adobe and Canva, have just released generative artificial intelligence tools, and with them, new opportunities for creators looking to add AI to their workflows.

The details: Adobe introduced Firefly, a collection of programs that includes a text-to-image generator and a style-based prompts-to-text generator. Canva launched Magic Design, a tool that generates design templates using content inputs. Both programs are in beta. While Canva’s tools are free to users, Adobe has a waitlist and is yet to set a price for Firefly.

How can these tools work for creators? Some ideas → 

• Aid in thumbnail design: Adobe’s Firefly can use text from a script or video description to engineer original thumbnail images, and Canva’s Magic Design can render color palettes and visual inspiration.

• Strengthen video graphics: An example? Type in “cabin in the Swiss Alps” to Firefly and it’ll share a variety of image options. From there you can edit and refine the search down to granular details like “in late summer” to create custom b-roll images.

As we learned with the rollout of other tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E, AI like this is still widely considered experimental. But some creators are already integrating it into their content creation stacks:

• Isaiah Photo recently let AI run his YouTube channel for a week.

• MKBHD has used ChatGPT to write his video scripts.

• Ali Abdaal has used Notion AI to prepare his book club videos.

Not everyone is sold: Educational creator Tom Scott said he’s reluctant to use generative AI, even if the tech is inevitable. “If we’re still at the start of the curve for AI—the Napster point,” Scott said, “then everything is about to change.”

Zoom out: Some creators see AI as a threat—could AI models replace lifestyle creators, AI voice-overs replace musicians, or AI graphics replace artists? Others see AI as an asset that will open the floodgates for AI-assisted creativity and give early adopters a competitive edge.

Tell us: Do you use generative AI? Why or why not?

FaZe Clan Considers a Pivot Amid Financial Struggles

Gaming and esports group FaZe Clan is reportedly considering an organizational restructure that would require between $40–60 million to take the company private, per Sports Business Journal—a stark reversal from FaZe’s high-profile decision to list shares publicly via a SPAC deal last July.

Why now? FaZe stock has traded below $1 for 48 consecutive days. Nasdaq, the exchange FaZe’s shares trade on, has given the company 180 days to turn it around. If not, FaZe shares will be delisted from the stock exchange.

How did FaZe get here? A brief timeline:

• October 2021: FaZe Clan announces its plans to go public at an expected $1 billion valuation.

• July 2022: $FAZE debuts on the Nasdaq at roughly $13 per share (giving it a valuation of $650 million).

• September 2022: FaZe says it has $43.9 million in cash on hand, enough to fund operations through November 2023.

• January 2023: FaZe’s stock price falls below $1 for the first time, down 95% from its peak in August 2022.

• February 2023: FaZe fires roughly 20% of its employees as its CEO cites “a very different economic environment.”

Big picture: The esports industry appears to be coming back down to Earth after recent highs. Over the last several months, multiple esports companies including 100 Thieves, Beyond the Summit, and The Guard have experienced mass layoffs or closed shop entirely.

Sponsored by Spotter

How Nathan Milner—the Man Behind Unspeakable—Bought a $3M Island House 

Nathan Milner got his start on YouTube in 2012 posting Minecraft and stunt videos. Fast forward a decade, and he’s now one of the most popular kid-friendly creators in the world with over 35 million subscribers across his six channels.

In 2020, Milner hit a pivotal moment—he had 14 million subscribers and a lot of momentum behind him, but needed to accelerate his growth and level up the quality of his videos.

His answer? Partnering with Spotter on a catalog licensing deal that allowed him to make his biggest investment yet—a $3M “vlog resort” on an island outside of Houston equipped with a private beach, basketball court, and movie theater where we could shoot all of his videos.

The resort was a game-changer for his channel—unlocking content opportunities and bringing the production quality to new heights.

While Milner was already on a successful path, the capital from Spotter allowed him to move faster. "If I didn't take that opportunity, it would have taken three or four years to build that income," Milner told Insider.

Spotter has distributed over $740m to help creators like MrBeast, Deestroying, Kinigra Deon, and 400 more build the next generation of media companies. If you want to learn more about how Spotter is accelerating the creator ecosystem, click here.

TV Viewers Turn to YouTube After Busy January

January was a big month for TV, with tentpole events like the NFL playoffs dominating ratings. But in February, a shortage of in-demand television content meant a boom for YouTube.

According to Nielsen, creators dominated TV screens once the Super Bowl had come and gone. The February stats:

• 7.9%: Time spent watching YouTube as a percentage of total TV usage (which doesn’t include YouTube TV as a subscription product). 

• 2.5%: The month-over-month increase in YouTube viewing on TVs from January to February.

• #1: YouTube topped competitors Netflix and Hulu in time spent streaming on TV last month.

Big picture: Audiences are turning to YouTube more and more as they flick on their TVs, opening a unique opportunity for creator-led programming to shine during traditionally quieter television months like February.

👀 Creator Moves

• Safiya Nygaard is hiring a head of production to oversee day-to-day operations.

• Paddy Galloway is hiring a video editor who can create custom animations from scratch.

• MrBeast is hiring a creative to help develop the framework for original viral videos.

🔥 Press Worthy

• Building creator Laura Kampf appears on Sesame Street.

• Techno Gamerz becomes a playable video game creator.

• Apartment tour creator Caleb Simpson appears in an AreYouKiddingTV challenge.

• How Twitch lost its way, according to the Washington Post.

• Hipyo Tech reacts to “unhinged” keyboard YouTube.

• Matt D’Avella’s YouTube course breaks down how to create engaging videos, grow your audience, and monetize your channel with integrity. Sign up here before enrollment closes on April 7th.*

*This is sponsored advertising content.

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