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Google and Microsoft Pay Creators $500K+ to Promote AI Tools
Tech giants spend up to $600K per creator as AI marketing war heats up
PUBLISHED: Fri, Feb 6, 2026, 4:53 PM UTC | UPDATED: Fri, Feb 6, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC
5 mins read
Microsoft and Google are paying creators $400,000 to $600,000 for long-term AI product promotions, according to sources via CNBC
AI platforms spent over $1 billion on U.S. digital ads in 2025, up 126% year-over-year, with Google and Microsoft AI ad spending jumping 495% in January 2026
Anthropic is running Super Bowl ads while aggressively hiring influencers; OpenAI increased ad spending 10x in 2025
Some creators are rejecting deals worth $100,000+ due to audience backlash and ethical concerns about AI replacing human creativity
Google and Microsoft are throwing massive cash at social media influencers to make AI look cool—up to $600,000 for multi-month partnerships, according to sources familiar with the deals. The aggressive spending reveals how desperate Big Tech has become to win users in the AI wars, even as some creators walk away from six-figure paydays over ethical concerns. With generative AI platforms pouring over $1 billion into digital ads last year alone, the battleground has shifted to Instagram feeds, YouTube videos, and LinkedIn posts.
Google and Microsoft just opened their wallets wide for the AI influencer wars. The tech giants are paying content creators between $400,000 and $600,000 for multi-month partnerships promoting their AI tools, according to a person familiar with the deals who spoke to CNBC. That's not a typo—half a million dollars to post about chatbots and coding assistants.
The spending spree extends well beyond the two tech giants. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta are all flooding social platforms with sponsored AI content, turning Instagram, YouTube, and even LinkedIn into promotional battlegrounds. Individual creators can command up to $100,000 per post from AI companies flush with venture capital and market cap money, according to AJ Eckstein, founder and CEO of Creator Match, an agency connecting brands to influencers.
"What we're seeing is a massive increase in creator spend from these AI brands," Eckstein told CNBC. "Every month, we're getting way more interest from AI brands" looking to build authentic connections with users. His firm works with multiple AI-focused companies including Anthropic, HeyGen, and Notion.
The numbers back up the frenzy. Generative AI platforms spent more than $1 billion on digital ads in the U.S. in 2025, up 126% from the prior year, according to data from Sensor Tower. Digital ad spending by Google and Microsoft specifically to promote AI products jumped roughly 495% in January compared with a year earlier. increased its digital ad spending more than tenfold in 2025.
Anthropic is taking the marketing push to its biggest stage yet—the company is spending millions on 60-second pregame and 30-second in-game Super Bowl spots airing Sunday. The timing isn't subtle. The ads take direct aim at OpenAI's recent decision to start showing advertisements within ChatGPT, positioning Anthropic's Claude as the ad-free alternative.
But Anthropic's ambitions go deeper than TV commercials. In March, the AI lab hired Lexie Barnhorn, who previously worked at Notion, to lead influencer marketing across social media and podcasts. The company has since inked multiple brand deals with tech-focused creators.
Megan Lieu, a data scientist turned content creator with nearly 400,000 followers, landed her most significant brand deal with Anthropic to promote Claude products. While Lieu declined to specify the payout, she said her sponsored content deals typically range from $5,000 to $30,000 per campaign. "These brands really want their customers to know we are associated with AI," Lieu told CNBC.
"If you want to take your programming to the next level, Claude Code helps you do it with the power of agentic AI," Lieu wrote in a LinkedIn post sponsored by Anthropic. Posts like these represent the new frontlines of AI adoption—not through traditional advertising, but through trusted voices in tech communities.
"Some of these bigger companies have so much money to spend that they don't care to negotiate," Eckstein said. There's plenty of cash to go around. Anthropic recently raised over $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation, while OpenAI was valued at $500 billion late last year. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta have market caps in the trillions.
Beyond direct payments for posts, AI companies are wooing creators with event invitations, early access to unreleased tools, and covered travel and accommodations. "We work with all kinds of creators—including artists, filmmakers, designers, and cultural partners—giving them early access to our tools and ultimately, giving them the freedom to show us what's creatively possible with AI," an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC.
But not everyone's buying in. Despite the eye-popping paydays, a growing number of creators are rejecting AI sponsorships outright. Jack Lepiarz, who performs at Renaissance fairs and has more than 7 million followers under the name Jack the Whipper, told CNBC he immediately declines any AI-related brand deal.
"I cannot in good conscience support something that's going to make it harder for normal people to make a living," Lepiarz said. He previously turned down a $20,000 deal to promote AI image generation tools. "Even if they came back with $100,000 or $500,000, I couldn't see myself saying yes to that."
The resistance stems from legitimate audience hostility. "AI is lame, unsubscribed," read one comment on a sponsored post by creator Stevie Sells promoting Google's AI video generator Veo. Creator agency experts say backlash hits hardest around image and video generation tools, which many see as directly threatening artistic labor.
The numbers explain the hesitation. Roughly half of U.S. adults say they're more concerned than excited about AI, according to Pew Research data published in October. That skepticism creates real cancel-risk for influencers whose livelihoods depend on audience trust.
The divide reveals a fundamental tension in AI's consumer push. Companies are betting massive sums that influencer authenticity can overcome public skepticism, but the very act of accepting those payouts risks destroying the authenticity that makes influencers valuable in the first place. For every Megan Lieu promoting Claude Code, there's a Jack Lepiarz walking away from half a million dollars because his audience would revolt.
The AI influencer gold rush exposes the gap between Big Tech's spending power and actual market enthusiasm. While Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic can afford to throw half a million dollars at creators, the real test isn't whether they can buy reach—it's whether paid promotions can overcome the public skepticism baked into AI adoption. With half of Americans more worried than excited about AI, and high-profile creators walking away from six-figure deals, the influencer strategy might reveal more about AI's marketing challenges than its product strengths. Watch how audiences respond to sponsored AI content over the next quarter—that'll tell us whether this billion-dollar bet pays off or backfires.
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