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Creators use AI to script, clone voices, auto‑edit, and automate direct messages (DMs) to their followers, cutting production costs by up to 75%, and what once took days now happens in a few minutes. Many churn out 5-6 videos daily, boosting output and earnings nearly 15‑fold.
Take Ashish Kaushik, a Patna-based travel content creator with over 58,800 followers, whose recent reel on his Vietnam travel went viral for its AI edit. Over 253,000 people viewed and nearly 19,000 liked the reel. It not only flooded him with enquiries on how he stitched the footage together so seamlessly, but it also landed him a brand deal from an auto sector giant.
“Using AI for the first time to recreate my travel to a lesser-known location in Bihar, Rohtas fort made me realise how eerily these generated videos resembled the real ones. This can be a disruption point even for travel content that thrives on human presence,” Kaushik said.
Kaushik, who also runs an advertising agency, has spent approximately ₹1.5 lakh in the past year to subscribe to various AI tools for content generation and editing, such as Envato, Kling AI and Chat GPT Pro, among others, to aid his professional content creation journey.
“Earlier, I would take up to five days to produce a single video, now it barely takes five minutes. So, despite my halving my charges per video, the increased daily output has multiplied my earning potential nearly fifteen-fold,” Kaushik said. He also pointed out that using AI to generate B-roll and stock footage helps him avoid copyright or IP infringements.
AI in engagement
Influencers can earn anywhere between ₹15,000 and ₹200,000 per video through brand deals with companies in various sectors, such as consumer, auto, and tech.
Once creators post a video, they no longer have to worry about maintaining engagement or replying to every comment—AI takes care of that too. One of the most popular tools for this is DM automation.
Key Takeaways
- AI tools automate nearly every content creation task—scripting, voice cloning, editing, and engagement—cutting production time from days to minutes and slashing costs by up to 75%.
- The increased efficiency allows creators to produce up to 5-6 videos daily, multiplying their overall output and boosting some influencers’ earning potential by nearly 15 times.
- Creators are leveraging AI for more sophisticated uses, including DM automation for engagement and even creating digital clones to produce videos without ever needing to face the camera.
- While the long-term cost of AI tools is low, beginners often face a steep learning curve and high initial spending to understand the various platforms.
- Brands and marketing agencies are still establishing standards for valuing AI-driven content deliverables, meaning creators currently rely on their own ability to convince agencies of the value of their automated videos.
You’ve probably seen videos where a creator asks viewers to comment a specific keyword to receive a link in their DMs—that’s exactly how it works. This feature is especially useful for creators promoting products or producing content in categories such as “best finds” on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.
“I often use DM automation in my videos. It boosts engagement by increasing the number of comments, and viewers feel recognized when they receive a personal message from us. For brands, it’s often a positive signal during collaborations, as it shows a high-intent audience that actively interacts with our content,” said Vishnu Vijayan, a Bengaluru-based creator who uses AI for multiple types of content automation.
Vijayan added that AI tools have significantly lowered his production costs—from around ₹20,000 a month to just ₹5,000. Using platforms like HeyGen and ElevenLabs, which together cost him about $34, or about ₹3,000, a month, he now produces 4-5 videos daily. Spending roughly eight hours a day on content creation, he maintains a ready bank of around 40 videos for on-the-go publishing.
Digital clones
Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst at tech market research firm TechARC, said: “During covid, when the content economy exploded, audiences simply wanted something to watch—production quality hardly mattered. But today, content creation has become a full-fledged profession.” Many influencers now operate like production houses, running their own studios. This professionalization, along with a nearly 15x rise in brand spending on influencer marketing, shows that audiences now value high production quality, he said.
For smaller creators without access to such resources, AI has been a game-changer—enabling them to produce polished videos faster and at lower cost. “However, those who rely on AI for research or background information, particularly in educational or informative content, must tread carefully. When creators position themselves as experts, followers place deep trust in them, and any inaccuracies stemming from AI hallucinations can mislead or even harm viewers in serious cases,” Kawoosa added.
Some creators have taken automation a notch up by setting their content on complete autopilot. Paras Madan, a Gurugram-based tech creator with a background in AI engineering, was among the first to clone himself for content nearly two years ago. “In my last 250 videos, I have not faced the camera once. My 25 digital clones, dressed in different attire and set in varied backgrounds, along with my voice replica, handle it all,” Madan said. His AI-generated videos have collectively garnered over 30 million views.
Digital cloning is the creation of a hyper-realistic virtual replica of a person’s appearance, voice, or mannerisms using AI technology. Ironically, while influencers are toiling to perfect their digital avatars, a group of actors, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, and Akshay Kumar, have been approaching courts to secure personality rights, fearing that their likeness or voice could be digitally replicated without their consent.
Madan noted that AI remains a new, complex, and constantly evolving field. While incredibly useful, it can take beginners some time to understand and keep up with. “At the beginner level, one might end up spending $100-200 on different tools just to learn how they work. The sheer volume of information can feel overwhelming. But once you know what suits your workflow, the cost drops significantly. I now spend only about $50 a month on AI tools that best fit my needs, including Argil AI, ElevenLabs, HeyGen, and others,” he said.
While AI has simplified his work and given him more room to focus on other ventures, Madan admits that an overreliance on it can make content feel repetitive for viewers. To maintain variety and connection, he now tries to film at least one or two manually shot videos every week to keep his audience engaged.
Valued brands
Industry watchers suggest that while brands have recently started using AI in advertising and engaging these creators, they outsource their marketing deals, making it difficult to determine the right value for AI-generated content deliverables.
“Even though many brands have begun building in-house content teams, AI-generated content is still new to them and largely remains outsourced. Since there’s no industry standard for how much brands should invest in AI-driven content, creators often earn based on how effectively they can convince agencies of the value of their AI videos,” said Himanshu Arora, founder of Creators Network India, an influencer marketing platform.
“In 2026, we will see an increased integration of AI content, which could democratize production. It is expected to create more opportunities, allowing smaller creators to compete with large-scale studios for branded content opportunities,” Arora added.
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