Creators used to avoid talking about burnout. We all knew that content as a profession could be detrimental to mental health, but talking about how tough our industry is was almost taboo. Until 2018 and 2019, when creators like Elle Mills, Lilly Singh, and Jackseptiai began speaking out about their experiences. Now, both creators and the platforms they make their living on regularly talk about burnout and how to mitigate it.
Those conversations appear to be paying off: A new survey by affiliate marketing platforms Awin and ShareASale found that while the number of creators suffering from burnout remains high, it’s down from 2022.
In a survey of creatives in the US, UK and Germany, 73% of respondents said they suffer from burnout at least sometimes, down 14% from 87% in 2022.
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Creators who said they’ve experienced burnout cited the following main causes: anxiety about platform policies that are constantly changing, worries that their content isn’t meeting standards, a feeling of being unable to fully “step away” from social media, and the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
Surveys suggest that creators are still divided on the existence of Gen AI and its impact on the industry. We’ve talked a lot about creators needing to have ownership over their content, how some AI companies are unethically scraping creators’ videos to train large language models, and more. Add to that the fact that growth hacker money-makers are promoting “faceless YouTube channels” as the next big way to make a million dollars in passive income, and the proliferation of AI-generated content has some creators feeling uneasy as many in the industry, including YouTube itself, are hailing AI as the next evolution in creativity.
70% of creators told Awin and ShareASale that they believe AI poses at least a small threat to their business, 26% said it poses some threat, and 16% said it poses a “big threat.” Only 30% said they believe AI poses no threat.
Creators on both sides say AI is impacting their burnout, with AI skeptics saying they fear consumers will no longer take digital content seriously as a career (46% of respondents) and that there will be extra pressure to stand out and produce original content without it (43%). Additionally, 48% say they believe the rise of AI will reduce the amount of meaningful content across the internet, something that’s already happening.
Meanwhile, creators who support AI say that it helps with content creation, especially the editing process, and “boosts overall creativity.” These creators use AI tools to brainstorm content, create thumbnails, write video descriptions and other social media copy, respond to viewer comments, market, and more — essentially, they use AI tools for every aspect of being a creator.
So where does this leave us? Whether we like it or not, AI is already a big part of the creative sphere. 32% of respondents in the survey said they use some form of AI in their creative process. This adoption has happened in just the past two years, since ChatGPT debuted in November 2022.
If AI really does contribute to reducing burnout among the creators who use it, that would be a positive impact. But the development of AI also makes some creators worry that they will lose their jobs to audio and video generators. And this job instability has always been one of the biggest causes of burnout.
