They’re getting way more views than I am on YouTube, and they’re contacting me asking for help,” reveals Craig Billings, who is better known as Doctor NOS to his 1.7 million subscribers.

What’s at the heart of their angst? It has something to do with what appears on Billings’ science-focused channel: his face. Those dialing Billings make content without revealing their mug. And for these creators, once-large checks from YouTube have dwindled.

“The people who do the same content as me without their face in it, most of them are getting demonetized,” he says.

As new video-making tools have led to an surge in AI slop, YouTube has hardened its content policies. It’s led some faceless creators — as these channel operators are known — to show face. It just might not be their own.

Noah Morris, who currently operates six faceless YouTube channels, says some creators are now hiring cheap hosts to front their videos. “Because these platforms are cracking down, instead of doing everything faceless, you would just instead hire a host, similar to how Jimmy Fallon is also a hired host,” says Morris. It’s something Billings himself has considered doing with new channels.

Welcome to the era of the hired-hand creator. Morris said that ever since YouTube’s algorithm was tweaked to reward videos incorporating human faces, faceless creators are now mixing in straight-to-camera narration, sometimes tapping gig workers on freelance platforms Fiverr and Upwork to be their David Attenboroughs. It’s unclear whether the gambit will ultimately work.

AI tools have led to a proliferation of faceless video content catering to a wide range of hyperspecific interests. Alex Mashrabov, a former Snap executive, founded the text-to-video model Higgsfield AI last year for exactly this purpose. It’s now valued at $1 billion. Mashrabov called AI-generated faceless videos “a new, emerging category where solopreneurs and storytellers can thrive.”

But in a sign of how quickly the online content landscape is evolving in the age of AI, some of these entrepreneurs are suddenly finding it difficult to make dough on YouTube. In early 2025, Morris lost $250,000 a month in revenue because YouTube shut down his faceless channels due to a copyright dispute.

Two years ago, Billings launched a faceless channel dedicated to telling fiction stories. While he quickly garnered 40,000 subscribers, he stopped pouring resources into it when he saw competing faceless channels quickly gain millions of subscribers, but then receive very few views on their videos, indicating YouTube likely stopped pushing those channels once they were deemed to be mostly AI.

Plenty of faceless creators have continued to find success on social media despite YouTube’s crackdown. Mashrabov pointed to Teddy Pooh, an AI-generated teddy-bear-meets-toy-poodle character, who has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, as well as Terrorrking, a rising social media brand featuring animated AI horror videos in Spanish.

Some of the most successful faceless channels are centered around narrow educational topics. “There are a lot of different sub-niches,” says Morris. “You could build a channel just focused around World War II.”

One creator combining these two phenomena — catering to a seeming infinity of niche interests while also showing his face to stay on YouTube’s good side — is Simon Whistler. The ubiquitous British YouTuber runs a creator version of a cable conglomerate, helming channels about true crime, space, war and human achievements, among others. He is “the prime model for where the space is going,” says Morris.

That’s mainly because of his production strategy. “He just has a team that churns out scripts for him. He just sits down every day, records like 20 videos in one go,” says Morris. “You can see him actively reading off the scripts when he’s recording the videos.”

Although it’s become difficult for some faceless creators to monetize audiences, the space remains a huge opportunity for brands. Part of the faceless creator economy includes AI influencers and avatars, who have emerged as critical tools for marketers. Instead of shipping products to blue checkmarks across the country and counting on them to make videos, companies can insert their goods into AI influencers’ videos.

Numerous creators, meanwhile, insist these channels need human input — and sometimes faces — to thrive. “Do I think it will exist five years from now? Yes,” predicts Stella Soribe, who helps African businesses make faceless videos. “But by then, we’ll see less generic and much more authentic type of content.”

That day could arrive sooner. As AI slop coats social media, viewers could become tired of seeing LLM material — no matter how realistic it is. Perhaps it’ll lead to a boom in the most authentic type of content: face-full.

This story appeared in the June 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.