In 2023, Ollie Forsyth, the founder of New Economies, found that 33 percent of creators used AI. This year? 80 percent of creators use AI.

The creator economy is relatively new, so predicting how it might develop and shift is tricky — but it's also expected to become a nearly $500 billion industry, making accurate forecasts fundamentally important. During Forsyth's talk "Mapping the Modern Creator Economy: Trends, Tensions, and What Comes Next" at VidCon 2025, he argued that the future of the creator economy lies almost entirely in AI.

Every creator is going to have to be AI focused, Forsyth argued, because AI agents will be able to allow creators to be truly flexible and more efficient. It'll help them free up the time they spend on admin, finances, brand partnerships, marketing, and more as startups use AI to solve these problems.

Beyond the flexibility, AI also allows creators to be "global from Day One," Forsyth said. Just look at MrBeast: The creator speaks only English but, thanks to AI dubbing services, has huge audiences in Spain and India while also dubbing his most popular videos in nearly a dozen languages.

More people than ever want to be creators, and more media companies are relying on creators to get the job done — just look at all the creator-led podcasts that interviewed presidential candidates in 2024 in comparison to traditional media outlets.

"It's a great time to be a creator," Forsyth said.