Instagram introduces AI-powered 'creative assistant' for content creators

Instagram is the latest social media platform to add built-in AI-powered features that will give users feedback on their posts. The company announced Wednesday that its standalone Edits app will now include an AI “creative assistant” that pulls in data from a user’s Instagram account and offers suggestions on what to change.

Using the new assistant, creators can ask open-ended questions about what’s trending on Instagram, why one video worked and another didn’t, or what piece of content resonated most with their audience. The tool pulls in data and metrics such as likes, views, retention on videos, and shares. Instagram says it can spot patterns over time and give a creator suggestions that metrics alone can’t provide. Creators can also ask for ideas for content, how to hook viewers, what captions to use, which audio tracks are trending, and how to script videos.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because YouTube also just announced updates to its sprawling AI-powered dashboard that tells creators how to maximize engagement. (YouTube’s version, which it initially announced in 2025, also has AI editing and A/B testing capabilities.) If you’ve been online for a while — and especially if you’ve ever had to pay attention to social media metrics — you’ll know that this is quite a shift. Historically, many platforms have limited or even hidden detailed metrics about how your own content is performing. The platforms certainly have not been open about why a video or post performed poorly. Tools like CrowdTangle, which researchers and journalists used to monitor the most popular content on Meta platforms, have been shut down or restricted. Now, both YouTube and Instagram are effectively promising to give creators personalized advice on how to ride the algorithm.

It’s in both the platforms’ and creators’ best interest to shape content for maximum engagement. As I wrote earlier this month, though, what happens when everyone is perfectly optimizing their content? Will content become even more similar as creators adjust to one another? Is there no ceiling for the amount of time audiences are willing to spend on the platforms? The shift also raises interesting new questions about the relationship between tech companies and the creators that fill the platforms with things to look at: How does this dynamic change when platforms are straightforwardly giving creators instructions on how to post?

The new feature is free for creators to use, up to a point. Meta says “power users” will be able to buy a Meta One subscription for more usage. This, too, speaks to the changing winds: Meta needs to finance its lofty AI ambitions, and it’s already signaled that premium social media features may be part of how it does it. It’s not hard to imagine a future where meaningful feedback and AI-driven analytics and insights are for paying subscribers. In the end, it may end up re-creating the same frustrations and opaqueness that have plagued content creators for years — but this time, behind a paywall.