Co-founder of Scale AI and founder of Passes, Lucy Guo pivoted from the tech-bro world of artificial intelligence to the ‘ Hollywood ‘ creator space. But AI has its place in content creation, says Lucy
Lucy Guo, founder and CEO of Passes, wants to turn content creators into millionaires. The 30 year old recently became a billionaire in her own right, though it’s “all on paper” as she told Forbes right before they crowned her the youngest self-made female billionaire in the world.
Passes is Lucy’s big bet in the creator economy. Speaking to The Mirror, she describes seeing “untapped potential” in the creator monetisation space back in 2020 after falling in with some content creators in Miami.
“I just saw how they could sell anything with an Instagram post or story” recalls Lucy. “I also saw how inconsistent their income could be.”
Her solution to the instability was for creators to monetise directly off their fan base, which would not only give creators direct, consistent income but the means to invest in other interests or business ventures. Ventures that could be passion projects or, as Lucy envisions, potentially large-scale product-based businesses.
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Given Lucy’s significant background in AI, Passes’ approach is decidedly tech-forward compared to other fan subscriber platforms. While the technical approach separates Passes from its competitors, there’s been a lot of scepticism from creators about AI – viewed as both a potential competitor and thief. But Lucy is adamant AI’s utility will become clear.
“When creators realise the benefits of AI, they’re going to change their perception and they’re going to be very excited about it. But at the moment, there’s a lot of fear. And fear prevents you from looking at all the upsides”.
She continues, “The entire world is like AI is going to take over,” and I’m just like, “No, it’s going to be our copilot.” It will be our best business partner.”
AI will enable content creators to post frequently and quickly, which Lucy believes is essential for long-term success. We’ve actually noticed that the creators who earn the most money are actually smaller. They have 200, 300, 000 followers”, says Lucy. My theory is that it’s because they keep producing more content because it’s not required to be perfect.
The question of what matters to fans boils down to speed and community, according to Lucy. “I would say in terms of what everyone wants it’s very, very fast customer service – whether the customer service they want is from the creator or from [Passes].”
Lucy adds that, in addition to being “better at it,” women generally lean more toward creating content.
“I think being a content creator requires a lot of empathy and being able to build relationships especially when they’re not in person. You’re building relationships with your fans digitally. And the traits needed to do that I think women are better at,” she explains.
AI, in Lucy’s opinion, will free up creator time to work with fans and come up with new ideas and ways to build those relationships. To test her bet, she will need to establish meaningful relationships with creators.
After Passes bought the competitor website, Fanhouse in 2023, Lucy faced criticism from independent website owners who were offended by the decision. The lack of content guidelines and AI push in Passes was alarming to creators.
As reported by TechCrunch at the time, some creators grew worried about a tweet of Guo’s in which she stated that Passes was working on technology that could optionally make AI likenesses of creators. Concerns escalated after Twitch streamer Riley Rose pointed out that Passes does not have content guidelines on its website.
Guo told TechCrunch, “It’s just that Fanhouse’s] content guidelines are very, very specific.” She claimed that because Fanhouse used Stripe as its payment processor, the company had to be very specific about what they can and cannot post. She explained that while there are content guidelines, it is just more lax.
Even if Lucy is promising substantial profits, convincing creators to embrace AI and attract their fan base to a new platform will prove to be a difficult sell. It’s not just about the money for the creators, just like with fans.
Source: Mirror
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