Can AI models be as entertaining as humans?

These creators are playing Turing Games to find out.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 03, 2026   |   Read Online It's Tuesday and a new super-sized streaming service could be on the way as Paramount makes plans to merge HBO Max with Paramount+. Today's News 🤖 AI bots go head-to-head 👶 A new leader dominates YouTube 📈 This week on the branded charts… ⏸️ YouTube hits pause 🐒 Prepare to cry about Punch (again) GAME ON Can AI models be entertaining? These creators are playing Turing Games to find out. The origin story: On Twitch and YouTube, Big Tech's top AI rivals are engaged in an unexpected type of competition. Bots like ChatGPT, Grok, and Llama are the players on a channel called Turing Games, where they compete in social deduction games like Mafia. The creators behind Turing Games (aka Morpheus and Unyx) have picked up millions of views by bringing AI bots into a world of betrayal, deception, and hidden roles. The duo kicked off their YouTube channel last year by commentating on a chess match between Grok and ChatGPT. That video is one answer to a question that has informed much of Turing Games' work: what happens when two AIs talk to each other? The games: To hunt down other potential outcomes, Morpheus and Unyx created a program where they could put more than a dozen AIs in a room together and observe how they interact with one another through gameplay. Those interactions are more humanlike than you might expect. At the end of the day, AI chatbots are trained on material created by people—meaning they're often just as panicky, anxious, and lizard-brained as we are. Turing Games demonstrates just how easy it is for AIs to fall victim to mob mentality, faulty logic, and overanalysis. In the first Mafia game published on the channel, for instance, DeepSeek accidentally "hallucinated" a previous gameplay session by referring to a nonexistent "yesterday." The other AIs immediately jumped on that mistake and voted DeepSeek out, even though it was an innocent villager that had simply encountered a technical glitch. To play up those reality show-style conflicts, Morpheus and Unyx sit their AI contestants down on therapy couches after games have wrapped to chat about the outcomes. That kind of drama is just as compelling as human-led competition series like The Traitors—if not more so. HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 For the fourth week in a row, a new leader has topped our Global Sub Top 50 YouTube chart. MrBeast gave way to Alejo Igoa, who passed the torch to Nick DiGiovanni last week. Now, KIMPRO is sitting pretty at #1. (Tubefilter) Anthropic is adding memory features to the free version of Claude and introducing a new tool that will allow users to import data from their interactions with other chatbots. (The Verge) A new "Paid Partnership" label will make it easier for X users to identify sponsored content. (Engadget) A recent study published by Adobe found that "nearly half of U.S. consumers now use TikTok as a search engine." (Social Media Today) GOSPEL STATS 📈 MrBeast is back to regularly scheduled gaming. Top Branded Videos: From Minecraft to Kohl's hauls, it's a content smorgasbord Gospel Stats' Weekly Brand Reports often seem to revolve around a theme, with STEM video essays and "this vs. that" challenges frequently pervading the public consciousness. This week, however, the sponsored rankings feature a veritable hodgepodge of sponsored content. 🥇 #1. MrBeast Gaming x Feastables: 4 Pros vs 1000 Players (15.4M views) The latest Minecraft challenge on MrBeast's secondary channel pits pros SandwichLord_, SpeedSilver, Evbo_, and Greninja against 1,000 normal players for a chance at $25,000. MrBeast Gaming has repeatedly featured this same format with the same sponsor (Jimmy Donaldson's own Feastables candy brand), leaving us wondering if and when viewers will grow weary of the formula. But at 15 million views and counting, it doesn't appear that time will be soon. 🥈 #2. Dana Berez x Kohl's: Must-Have Affordable Vacation Outfits From Kohl's 🔆 #kohlsfinds #kohlspartner @kohls (15M views) Dana Berez's clothing haul-style Shorts ad is reminiscent of Chinese shopping livestreams, where hosts churn through hundreds of items per hour by showing them for a few seconds while ordering information flashes on-screen. With Whatnot doubling down on creator partnerships and social shopping overall taking off in the West, we expect to see more of these blink-and-you'll-miss-it showcases on YouTube and beyond. 🎰 #2,330. SYD & MACKY X HOVERAir: We tried credit card backpacking (Monumental Loop in southern New Mexico) (43.5K views) Outdoor enthusiasts Syd and Macky aren't afraid to mix adventure with some creature comforts. For their latest outing, the duo set out on a 130-mile "credit card bikepacking" trip, buying food and supplies day-to-day and staying in cozy hotel room each night. That journey is supported by camera drone company HOVERAir, which Syd and Macky say they "cannot recommend…enough." Check out the full branded ranking here and head over to Gospel Stats for more YouTube sponsorship insights. GLOBAL TOP 50 🌎 Andrea is playing memory games with friends. She wants you to play along, too. YouTube wants viewers to hit pause The creator: Creators across YouTube Shorts are always on the hunt for ways to train viewers' attention spans, and Andrea Galvez seems to have cracked the code. The Spanish creator's videos range from couples content to challenges, but one particular format has helped her earn tens of millions of views: memory games. Encouraging viewers to practice pattern recognition has paid off for Galvez, who soared to #43 in our latest Global Top 50 ranking by collecting 408.2 million weekly YouTube views. The campaign: Galvez's rise is notable, but the topic of pattern recognition gets even more intriguing when YouTube itself enters the picture. Since 2022, the platform has sought to teach young viewers how to identify misinformation through its Hit Pause initiative. In 2024, it expanded that campaign to cover deceptive videos generated by AI programs. Hit Pause collected 410.5M views during the week of February 23. (Data from Gospel Stats) Now, YouTube seems to be ramping up activity on the official Hit Pause channel, with Shorts becoming a key vehicle for the platform's anti-misinformation messaging. By publishing pithy videos that encourage viewers to slow down and pay close attention to the videos they're watching, YouTube is turning millions of viewers into misinformation watchdogs. The result: Hit Pause just pulled in the highest weekly viewership it's had all year. WATCH THIS 👀 Punch's story has tugged at the whole internet's heartstrings. Warning: This animation will make you cry The Lonely Monkey: If you haven't already shed a tear for Punch this month, Avocado Animation's latest video might do the trick. The baby macaque captured hearts across social media after clips showed him clutching a stuffed monkey for comfort at Ichikawa City Zoo. Punch—who was reportedly abandoned by his parents and rescued by the zoo—has since begun bonding with other, real-life monkeys, but Avocado Animation's tear-jerking depiction of his tough childhood is still a heart-wrenching watch. (Of course, if you need a pick-me-up after tuning in, there's always SNL's take on the situation.) Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​ Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter's audience? Sponsor the newsletter. Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen.   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 Tubefilter 1450 2nd Street, Ste 275 Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States Powered by beehiiv Terms of Service

YouTube challenges TikTok Shop in Japan

And Nat Geo launches a creator cohort.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 02, 2026   |   Read Online It's Monday and if you source your favorite tunes from Soulseek, watch out: a number of songs have been swapped out for covers featuring a singing AI Homer Simpson. Today's News 🤝 YouTube partners with Rakuten 🇺🇸 OpenAI makes a deal with the Pentagon 🛑 Netflix surrenders its Warner Bros. deal 🦁 Nat Geo debuts a "creator cohort" 🎙️ This week on the podcast… SHOPPING SPREE YouTube is joining forces with Japan's leading online marketplace. That huge stuffy is also super cute. YouTube is teaming up with Rakuten to bring more shoppable videos to Japan The partnership: Google has announced a pact with Rakuten Ichiba, a company that is often described as Japan's leading online marketplace (with a domestic annual gross merchandise value of at least $30 billion). The deal—which will integrate Rakuten products into YouTube videos through a "View Products" button—is powered by the YouTube Shopping affiliate program. According to a press release, Rakuten is the first company in Japan to sign onto the program, which allows creators to claim commissions when product listings in their videos lead to sales. The context: If YouTube hopes to give its shoppable videos the TikTok Shop treatment, partnering with Rakuten is a good place to start. The Tokyo-based firm initially broke into online video by launching its own streaming service and connecting with creators on influencer marketing campaigns. It now offers a variety of services, including a digital marketplace, a cash-back program, and an assortment of fintech tools. Even if YouTube's shoppable shelves are well-stocked, however, the platform still has some work to do if it wants to keep up with TikTok Shop. The ByteDance-affiliated ecommerce hub is projected to be one of the top three retailers in the world by 2030, and boasts its own lineup of esteemed brand partners. Much of that success is tied to TikTok Shop's presence in East Asia. While the hub has become more accepted in Western countries, it still generates the majority of its revenue in and around ByteDance's home turf. Now, by targeting Japanese consumers through its Rakuten partnership, YouTube is looking to claim a piece of that pie. HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is facing backlash over the company's Pentagon deal. OpenAI has defended its agreement with the U.S. Department of War by claiming that the deal "has more guardrails than any previous agreement for classified AI deployments, including Anthropic's." (OpenAI) Spotify has announced the introduction of Audiobook Charts that will rank titles "based on listening behavior and engagement." (TechRadar) Posts sharing misinformation about the U.S. and Israel's conflict with Iran have accumulated millions of views on X over the last two days. (Axios) Block—the fintech company led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey—has laid off 40% of its staff. (Business Insider) NETFLIX BOWS OUT Netflix dropped out of the race for Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix is done trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Investors are thrilled. The almost-deal: When Netflix announced it planned to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, investors got squirrelly. The deal was set to be a sort of full-circle moment and evolution for Netflix, which got its start in 1997 as a DVD rental service doling out Hollywood movies by mail, and now has become one of the biggest producers of original streaming content on the 'net. But it was going to be expensive—$82.7 billion, to be exact. And on top of that, Netflix said it was also planning to invest a further $20 billion on more streaming content this year, focusing on areas like live sports and podcasts. Basically, investors were looking at slimmer profits in 2026, and weren't sure the ROI on Warner Bros. and new content would be worth it. The bow-out: They don't have to worry anymore. Netflix is officially out of the race after a hostile $111 billion bid from Paramount Skydance. "We've always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid."   - Netflix Netflix's announcement that it was dropping out was well received by investors (who also liked the $2.8 billion wire the company received as part of WBD's breakup fee). Stock jumped 13% in after-market trading, and an analyst who'd been advising Netflix during the buy told Reuters the price Paramount Skydance was willing to pay for Warner Bros. Discovery was "irrational." "There's no point in playing chicken with someone who won't turn the wheel," they said. The future: Netflix still plans to invest that $20 billion in content over the next 12 months in order to win subscribers and attention in an increasingly competitive landscape. Dropping out of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal leaves it right where it has been for the last few years: competing with YouTube for audience. Netflix undoubtedly hoped that this acquisition would give it a leg up on its UGC-driven competitor, but since that Hollywood edge didn't work out, it'll have to go back to tapping successful YouTubers for content deals. CREATOR COMMOTION Nat Geo is joining forces with top creators. Nat Geo has introduced its first "Creator Cohort" The cohort: National Geographic is deepening its connections to the creator economy. The 138-year-old publication known as Nat Geo has announced the formation of a "Creator Cohort" that will post nature, science, history, travel, and wildlife content across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. That initiative—which is led by Nat Geo VP of Social Media Aiman Ahmed—will bring some notable creators into the fold. Current participants include conservation-conscious streamer Maya Higa, "Hip Hop MD" Maynard Okereke, adventure photographer Paige Tingley, and archaeologist Dr. Tenninger Kellenbarger, alongside four others. As they integrate themselves into the brand's programming, those creators will gain access to Nat Geo activations and go on globetrotting adventures through the Nat Geo Expeditions initiative. The context: Nat Geo's digital presence has long been led by its popular Instagram account, but it has also dabbled in YouTube-based web series and kid-friendly programming. As periodical sales continue to dwindle, the long-running nature publication has no choice but to continue upping its investment in social media voices. Nat Geo's Creator Cohort is its take on the influencer-based programs that have become common social media conduits for top consumer brands. Best Buy, Starbucks, Ulta Beauty, and Home Depot are four entities that have launched creator collectives within the past year. Now, Nat Geo can add its own program to the list. LISTEN UP 🎙️ Creator Upload took the show on the road for SoCom 2026. This week on the podcast… The episode: On the latest installment of Creator Upload, hosts Joshua Cohen and Lauren Schnipper are live from SoCom in sunny California—alongside three industry-leading guests. Tune in to learn about the future of social commerce directly from experts at LTK, YouTube Shopping, and Gap Inc. On the discussion list: the shrinking weight of follower counts, the ongoing evolution of affiliate marketing, and the ways legacy brands integrate social platforms into retail experiences. It's all right here on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The survey: Creator Upload wants your opinion! Take this survey to help us understand who's tuning in and what you want more (or less) of from the show. Want to introduce your brand to Tubefilter's audience? Sponsor the newsletter. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.​ Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Drew Baldwin, Sam Gutelle, James Hale, and Josh Cohen.   Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here © 2026 Tubefilter 1450 2nd Street, Ste 275 Santa Monica, CA 90401, United States Powered by beehiiv Terms of Service