Creators cracked the algorithm. Can they crack AI search?

Marketers are increasingly turning to AI for everyday work, from content creation and audience segmentation to influencer recommendations. For creators, that means the algorithmic game is changing.

After years of optimising content to win on social platforms, they now face a new frontier: earning visibility in AI chatbots and agentic search, where recommendations - not feeds - determine who gets discovered.

Speaking to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, content creators and leaders from influencer and content agencies agree that the trend is on the rise in Asia and likely to accelerate quickly, given it is a natural progression to search habits.

According to Bastien Wong, CEO of Flare Communications, in this new search environment, content creators that AI systems can most confidently recognise, understand and recommend stand to get a head start. As such, it is crucial for creators to audit and grow their future “machine reputations”, to secure their visibility and credibility in the AI-search and GEO-based marketing landscape.

At the same time, marketers must recognise the distinction between using an LLM as the technology powering discovery and using a general-purpose LLM as the data source for discovery, explained Nathan Powell, chief product and strategy officer at Fabulate.

“LLMs are incredibly good at making creator discovery simpler. However, an LLM is only as good as the creator data you give it,” he said, adding:

The risk isn't using AI for creator discovery. This risk is assuming a general-purpose AI has a complete view of the creator economy.

At the end of the day, if the underlying data doesn't adequately represent those creators, the recommendation is incomplete.

Understanding machine-readable authority

While historically the marketing community has looked at audience size, engagement, demographics, content quality, cultural relevance to ultimately decide whether someone can influence an audience, Powell explained that AI introduces another dimension and that is “machine-readable authority”.

A niche technology creator producing detailed YouTube reviews, podcasts and articles may have considerably more visibility to an AI system than a TikTok creator with a much larger audience - but that doesn't necessarily mean the first creator is more influential. It means they're more visible to that particular model.

What is important for marketers to remember is that AI visibility and creator influence are not the same thing.

“That's probably the most important distinction marketers need to understand,” said Powell.

Asia’s complicated market dynamics

Across Asia, market dynamics and habits also play a key role. While Western markets rely heavily on open-web search LLMs to audit creators, Asia’s ecosystem is deeply locked within closed social-commerce loops.

Ben Chien, managing director for Greater China at AnyMind Group pointed out that platforms such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin and WeChat in Greater China - alongside Instagram, YouTube, Shopee and TikTok Shop across Southeast Asia - create unique walled gardens that open-web crawlers often struggle to index.

Cultural context and local understanding are also crucial factors to consider, explained Torres Pit, founder of Attention Whale. While he noted that AI is changing the way marketers discover creators, he cautioned against over reliance as client and influencer chemistry and content substance and nuance play a key role to any brand’s success.

“The creator with the biggest following is not always the person who can communicate most effectively with a specific community. Sometimes the most valuable creator is the one who understands the audience’s language, humour and cultural references,” he said, adding that a strong piece of content will always garner visibility on socials, in the press and ultimately on AI.

Sharing his experience particularly for the Hong Kong market, Pit shared that clients still enjoy the feeling of “discovery” of a creator through a real conversation or a referral.

“Nobody is openly admitting they asked ChatGPT first. But I am certain agencies are already doing it behind the scenes,” he added.

Wong highlighted that creators across the region are typically well-diversified across platforms, communities, and content formats.

“This could actually give them an advantage if they invest in building a stronger digital footprint beyond social media alone. Those who establish themselves as recognised experts in a niche, whether through articles, podcasts, interviews or owned content, will likely become more visible in AI-driven discovery environments," she said.

Embracing the evolution

In the era of AI, credible news sources and platform partnerships play a huge role in ensuring discoverability, said Althea Lim, CEO of Gushcloud International.

“Gushcloud holds key partnerships with platforms such as YouTube, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and more; and these AI and LLMs have also struck their own partnerships with these platforms. As a company, we are also in the midst of securing partnerships at scale with these AI. and LLM platforms,” she added.

Over time, Powell believes that creators themselves will become more conscious of their broader digital footprint.

“Creators have spent the last decade learning how to be discovered by social algorithms. Now they'll increasingly think about how their expertise exists beyond a single platform through YouTube, podcasts, publisher coverage, websites, interviews and other searchable sources,” he said, adding:

GEO means some will now start thinking about machine authority as well.

Authenticity will reign

While AI search might create more competition for discoverability, industry players argue that it may also increase the value of authenticity.

As Pit puts it, “AI can help a brand find you. It cannot replace the reason people choose to watch you. Honestly, I care less about being 'seen' by AI and more about being undeniable to actual humans first. If your content is strong and your story is real, the visibility will follow on socials, in press, eventually to AI too."

At the end of the day, if every content creator starts writing and structuring content to please a machine instead of a person, it will all start sounding the same.

“My bet is the creators who win in this AI-search era aren't the ones who game it best. They're the ones who go the opposite direction and double down on being unmistakably human, because that's hard to become rare, and to be creative with your ideas. AI cannot do that,” he added.

While some might be inclined to game the system, Powell agreed that the strongest creators will continue to be those producing useful, distinctive and credible content for people.

“The additional opportunity is making sure that expertise can also be understood by machines,” said Powell. "Authenticity is and always was the game in creator marketing, and it is these exact attributes and credibility that LLM models are desperate to get their hands on as well."

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