An AI avatar closed $7M in 6 hours. Here’s how...

The creator economy just got disrupted. Find out what this means for your brand.

Author

Clark Valberg
June 19, 2025

Brought to you by Transformative Studio

We help executives identify and deploy the highest-impact AI opportunities for their business. Learn more at Transformative.Studio.

Hey, it’s Clark.

This week, an AI avatar of ​​a famous entrepreneur closed $7 million in sales in just six hours. Days later, TikTok followed by launching AI-generated influencers designed to allow advertisers to upload images, provide a text prompt, and generate videos with AI avatars holding products, trying on and modeling clothing, and displaying a brand’s app on a phone screen.

As influence becomes programmable, the advantage shifts from charisma to control. Reach, tone, output, even timing—every lever can now be tuned without friction. For brands, that’s power. For human creators, this is competition. And for everyone else, it’s a bit disorienting.

Let's dive in…

IN TODAY’S EDITION:

Top Story: TikTok Launches AI Avatars That Mimic Human Influencers for Brand Advertising

Industry Watch: Robot Cuts 12-Hour Welding Job Down to 45 Minutes

Notable Transactions: Helsing Secures $648M Led by Spotify CEO

New Tools to Try: Votars – Real-Time, Multilingual AI Meeting Transcriber

Power Prompt: Mind Mapping Specialist for Ideation

THIS WEEK’S TOP STORY

TikTok Launches AI Avatars That Mimic Human Influencers for Brand Advertising

TikTok expanded its Symphony AI ads platform with features enabling brands to create virtual influencers that try on clothing, hold products, and display apps on phone screens. Advertisers upload images and text prompts to generate content with synthetic avatars performing activities typically done by human creators. The platform promises that AI-generated ads will carry disclosure labels and undergo safety reviews. (The Verge)

BUSINESS IMPACT:

Social Media Platforms: Opportunity to capture a larger share of influencer marketing budgets by offering cost-effective AI alternatives to human creators.

Influencer Marketing Industry: Potential market disruption as brands shift spending from human creators to AI-generated content, threatening traditional creator economy revenue streams.

E-commerce Brands: Access to scalable product demonstration content without creator fees, contracts, or scheduling constraints for try-on hauls and product placements.

INDUSTRY WATCH

Manufacturing | Robot Slashes 12-Hour Job to 45 Minutes

A steel fabrication firm leveraged a fully automated robotic system to revolutionize a welding task: what normally required 12 man‑hours per fence segment now takes just 45 minutes. This efficiency gain slashes project timeline, reduces labor exposure to hazards, and has a direct impact on cost savings and delivery speed. (The Robot Report) 

Real Estate | Nvidia Unveils AI Blueprint for Smart Cities with Accelerated Urban Analytics

Nvidia’s Metropolis platform showcased real-time AI-powered analytics designed to address urban challenges like parking, traffic flow, and public safety across Europe. Demonstrations at GTC Paris included AI models that cut city data processing times from weeks to hours. (AI Business)

Agriculture | Farm-ng Launches AI-Powered Robot Software to Cut Labor Costs for Small Farms

Farm-ng released a major software upgrade for its Amiga farming robot that enables autonomous crop monitoring and data collection without requiring farm workers to manually operate the equipment. The AI-powered system automatically navigates crop rows, maps fields, and processes data in real time, allowing small and midsize farms to reduce labor dependency while improving crop management efficiency. (The Robot Report)

Tech | DeepMind’s AI Accelerated Hurricane Forecasting by 15 Days

Google DeepMind’s new AI model, showcased via its Weather Lab website, can predict hurricane path, intensity, and size up to 15 days ahead—surpassing conventional models in accuracy. It is currently being piloted by the U.S. National Hurricane Center. (VentureBeat)

Healthcare | New AI Method Detects Minute Cancer Traces in Blood

Developed by researchers at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, the method, called INVAR, analyzes circulating tumor DNA, boosting early diagnosis accuracy and monitoring for cancer recurrence, especially in hard-to-detect cases. (Inside Precision Medicine)

Banking & Finance | Alipay Enables Hands‑Free Payments via AR Glasses

Alipay has embedded contactless payment functionality into AR glasses, allowing users to complete transactions with a head nod at over 700,000 terminals across China. The innovation lets wearers activate payments via voice commands and single-use codes, aiming to boost convenience and accessibility in everyday commerce. (Finextra)

Retail | PayPal Ads Become Instant Purchase Points

The new feature allows consumers to purchase products directly from ads using their PayPal accounts, streamlining the checkout process. Merchants can now convert ad engagement into sales more efficiently, reducing friction in the buying journey. (PYMNTS)

Media | Meta's Advantage+ Leverages Gen AI to Inject New Life Into Ad Campaigns

Meta is expanding its Advantage+ platform with new generative AI tools, offering advertisers advanced creative automation. The new features include branding and personalization tools, which enable marketers to create consistent ads with custom logos, colors, and fonts. Early tests show a potential boost of up to 22% in return on ad spend using these tools. (Adweek)

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS

Helsing Secures $648M Led by Spotify CEO - The defense AI startup, which provides real-time battlefield insights using artificial intelligence, raised the funding at a $13B valuation. (Tech in Asia)

Applied Intuition Raises $600M for Autonomous Vehicle AI - The company, which provides simulation and testing platforms for automakers, secured the funding to expand its AI-powered development tools. (PYMNTS)

Multiverse Computing Secures $215M to Make AI Models Smaller - The startup, which shrinks AI chatbots and language models to run faster and cheaper, will scale its technology that reduces model size by up to 95%. (AI Business)

Wandercraft Raises $75M for AI-Powered Robotic Suits - The company, which creates wearable robotic devices that help paralyzed people walk, will bring its personal walking suit to market by 2026. (VentureBeat)

Skild AI Valued at $4.5B With $35M Backing From Nvidia and Samsung – The robotics startup builds general-purpose AI models for physical machines and plans to bring foundation models to robotics. (Yahoo Finance)

NEW TOOLS TO TRY

Votars: Multilingual AI meeting assistant that instantly transcribes conversations with near-perfect accuracy—no notes needed.

VoAgents: AI phone agent that handles customer calls end-to-end, from scheduling to support, so your team doesn’t have to.

Weavy: All-in-one AI design studio that lets you generate, edit, and collaborate on any media—right on one canvas.

Kosmik: Visual AI workspace that helps you organize ideas, content, and research without switching tabs.

Samey AI: AI assistant for legal, finance, and ops teams that automates tasks, fetches answers, and connects tools—all through chat.

POWER PROMPT

This Week: Mind Mapping Specialist for Ideation

When your thinking feels scattered or you’re stuck staring at a blank page, a mind map can help you organize your thoughts and spark new ideas—fast. This prompt turns ChatGPT into your personal ideation coach, guiding you through a structured, visual brainstorming session that brings clarity and creativity to any challenge.

Adopt the role of an expert mind mapping specialist tasked with generating ideas for a specific topic. Your primary objective is to boost productivity and facilitate effective brainstorming using mind mapping techniques. Create a comprehensive, text-based mind map structure with the central theme in the middle and related subtopics branching out from it. To achieve this, you should: 

1. Start with the central theme and place it at the center of your mind map.
2. Identify main branches or key categories related to the central theme. 
3. Develop sub-branches for each main branch, exploring related ideas and concepts. 
4. Use concise keywords or short phrases for each branch and sub-branch. 
5. Incorporate visual elements by describing colors or symbols for different branches. 
6. Highlight connections between different branches or ideas. 
7. Include relevant examples, facts, or questions to stimulate further thought. 
8. Organize ideas hierarchically, with the most important concepts closest to the center. 
9. Encourage creative thinking by suggesting unconventional connections or associations. 

Take a deep breath and work on this problem step-by-step. 

#INFORMATION ABOUT ME: 
My topic: [INSERT YOUR SPECIFIC TOPIC] 
My goal: [DESCRIBE YOUR SPECIFIC GOAL FOR THIS BRAINSTORMING SESSION] 
My target audience: [INSERT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IF APPLICABLE] 
My context: [DESCRIBE ANY RELEVANT CONTEXT OR BACKGROUND INFORMATION] 

MOST IMPORTANT!: Present your mind map structure in a hierarchical, indented text format, using symbols or emojis to represent different levels and branches.

Prompt credit: God of Prompt

THAT’S A WRAP

Enjoyed this edition? Share the Transformative AI Newsletter with colleagues to help them stay ahead in the AI landscape.

Remember: The real magic isn't in AI's answers, but in how it teaches us to fall in love with questions again.

See you next week,
Clark Valberg

Brought to you by
Transformative Studio

We help business leaders identify opportunities to leverage AI for real business impact.

Together, we’ll consider your unique challenges, identify high-impact opportunities and deploy custom AI workflow agents that deliver measurable ROI in a short timeframe.

Request an AI Assessment to see where the highest-impact opportunities are for your business.

How did you like today's newsletter?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.