Artificial intelligence (AI) is making it easier and faster to create content for social media, but audiences are also becoming more aware of content that feels artificial. Creators can now use AI to write scripts, edit videos, generate images, research topics and even create digital versions of themselves. At the same time, social platforms are increasingly trying to limit repetitive and low-quality AI-generated content.
Recent research suggests this tension is growing. Adobe's 2026 Creators' Toolkit Report, based on a survey across eight countries, including India, found that 87 per cent of creators said creative AI was helping them grow their business and audience. At the same time, 85 per cent said audience expectations around disclosure of
AI use were either increasing or staying the same.
Chaaya Baradhwaaj, founder and managing director of Mumbai-based advertising agency BC Web Wise, said AI should support rather than replace a creator's individual voice.
"AI should enhance a creator's voice, not replace it. If everything from the idea to the execution is generated by AI, the creator's own perspective starts disappearing. That is when content becomes efficient, but also generic," she said.
A similar shift is being seen among brands and advertisers. Channel Factory's chief business officer and head of Asia, Kartik Mehta said that the industry was still learning how to use AI responsibly.
"Every new technology brings with it a new set of challenges. While we are no longer in the awareness phase of AI, we are still on the learning curve of AI and ethical application of AI," he said. "Generative AI is moving faster than anything before, and it's getting more identifiable."
AI becomes part of the creator's toolkit
For many creators, AI is less about replacing the entire creative process and more about reducing the time spent on routine work.
A creator can use an AI tool to turn an idea into a first draft, remove unwanted sections from a video, generate subtitles, create images, research a topic or produce several versions of a post. This can be particularly useful for smaller creators who may not have teams handling writing, editing and production.
Adobe's research found that 87 per cent of creators surveyed believed creative AI was helping their business or audience grow. The report also indicated that creators willing to hand routine tasks to AI were largely doing so to spend more time on work they considered uniquely their own.
Baradhwaaj said audiences were broadly accepting of AI as a tool but were becoming less tolerant of content that appeared obviously artificial.
"A lot of AI creative is beginning to look similar, and personally, I already find that a little annoying," she said.
That distinction is becoming increasingly important. Using AI to clean up audio, edit a video or produce a first draft is different from creating an entire account that presents a synthetic person as a real creator.
When the creator is synthetic
The bigger challenge for social platforms may not be AI-assisted content itself, but the growth of accounts where the creator is entirely synthetic.
A recent report by The Verge found that AI-generated content creators had become increasingly difficult to distinguish from human influencers. Earlier virtual influencers were often easy to identify because their appearance was deliberately artificial. Newer AI personas, however, can look like ordinary social media users, post lifestyle content and follow the same trends as human creators.
That makes the issue more complicated for audiences. A viewer may recognise that an individual image is AI-generated but may not realise that the person behind an entire account does not exist.
The issue is also moving into advertising. A June 2026 investigation by The Guardian found that brands were using AI-generated influencers to promote products, including content that could appear to depict genuine customers. This has raised questions about whether consumers should be told when an influencer or testimonial is entirely synthetic.
'AI slop' makes feeds harder to trust
Alongside the rise of synthetic influencers, social platforms are also seeing a growing volume of mass-produced AI content.
Kapwing's June 2026 investigation analysed 10,742 TikTok videos across 20 categories and found that 59 per cent of videos served to a new account's For You page were classified as "AI slop", with the proportion even higher in some categories.
The concern with such content is not simply that AI was used to produce it. Much of it is created quickly and at scale, with the primary objective of attracting views rather than offering useful, original or distinctive information.
Pratish Mepani, founder and creative director of Starting Monday Design and Branding Co, said AI could increase the volume of content without necessarily increasing trust.
"AI can scale content, it cannot scale trust. India is built on relationships, not algorithms. AI can help you produce ten times more content. It cannot produce ten times more trust," he said.
This is where transparency becomes important for brands, according to Mehta. He said companies would have to proactively disclose responsible AI usage to maintain trust and ethical standards.
"Ethical AI adoption will increase and soon be a part of the brand's larger positioning. Transparency will evolve a brand into an advantage rather than a compliance burden," he said.
Platforms put greater focus on original content
Social platforms are responding by placing greater emphasis on originality.
Meta said in March 2026 that Facebook would prioritise original content in Feed and Reels while reducing the reach of unoriginal material. The company also introduced tools to help creators identify and report impersonation. Meta said views and time spent watching original Reels had approximately doubled in the second half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.
The shift does not mean platforms are banning AI. Instead, they are increasingly trying to distinguish between AI being used as a production tool and content that is repetitive, copied or mass-produced.
For audiences, however, even an AI label may not provide enough information.
Baradhwaaj said a small AI disclosure does not necessarily tell viewers how extensively AI was used.
"Was AI used only for editing, or are the person, voice, experience and endorsement entirely synthetic?" she said, arguing that disclosures need to be clearer and easier to understand.
Mepani similarly said labels alone were not enough. Consumers, he said, need context about whether AI was used for something limited, such as background noise removal, thumbnails or scripts, or whether it was used to create the entire creator.
That distinction could become increasingly important. A creator using AI to clean up audio or produce a first draft may still be producing original work. A network of accounts generating thousands of similar AI videos is a different proposition.
The issue, therefore, may not be whether audiences accept AI, but whether they accept content that uses AI without offering anything distinctive or trustworthy.
Human creators could become more valuable
"The use of high AI in content not only brings down the trust and authenticity value, but it also lowers the organic reach of unoriginal, scaled AI videos, from a user perspective. AI should be used and implemented to add value, not to replace humans," Mehta said.
Mepani argued that the biggest concern was not the existence of AI influencers but the possibility of audiences being misled.
"The problem is not AI, it is deception. Again, I seriously believe that the real threat is not AI influencers, the real threat is deception. People are surprisingly comfortable with virtual influencers. People are, obviously, much less comfortable with being misled," he said.
AI is likely to remain part of creators' workflows as tools for writing, editing, research and production continue to improve. For creators, the challenge may therefore shift from avoiding AI altogether to using it in ways that save time without erasing their own voice and identity.
For platforms, the challenge will be distinguishing useful AI-assisted content from material that is mass-produced or misleading. Clearer disclosure could help audiences understand whether AI was used for a small part of a post or to create the entire person, voice or endorsement.
For creators and brands, the bigger issue is likely to be trust. AI can make content faster and cheaper, but audiences still need a reason to believe in and follow the person behind it.
As synthetic content becomes harder to identify, originality, transparency and a recognisable human voice could become more valuable, not less.
 "Audiences and platforms push back on AI slop as AI reshapes creator economy")
