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Inside the $600K creator AI deals, MrBeast's unsolved $1M puzzle, and Instagram is rivaling Snapchat

In this week’s edition: tech giants like Google and Microsoft are reportedly spending up to $600K per creator, MrBeast’s still-unsolved $1M Super Bowl commercial, and Instagram is testing a new app to compete with Snapchat.

Author

Brian Freeman
February 12, 2026

Inside the $600K creator AI deals

Megan Lieu makes content about tech and gives career advice on social media.

Google and Microsoft are reportedly paying creators $400,000 to $600,000 for multi month AI partnerships, according to CNBC.

Yes, that is half a million dollars to post about chatbots and coding tools.

AI companies spent over $1 billion on U.S. digital ads in 2025, up 126% year over year. In January alone, Google and Microsoft’s AI ad spending jumped 495%. OpenAI increased its ad budget more than 10x last year, while Anthropic is now running Super Bowl spots and hiring influencers at scale.

Some creators can command $100,000 per post, but not everyone is cashing in.

Roughly half of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about AI, and some influencers are walking away from six figure deals over audience backlash.

MrBeast's unsolved $1M puzzle

MrBeast revealed that no one solved the $1,000,000 puzzle hidden inside his Salesforce Super Bowl ad.

Yes, an actual million dollars. Hidden in plain sight.

After the commercial aired, traffic exploded. Around 70 million visits flooded in, and so many people attempted the challenge at once that email providers temporarily stopped sending verification emails due to volume.

The twist? Despite tens of millions of viewers and massive post game buzz, the puzzle remains unsolved. Most viewers either assumed it was symbolic, already claimed, or too complicated to attempt. It was real. It is still live.

What this means for creators

  • Incentives drive scale. A real prize paired with mass distribution can generate tens of millions of actions overnight.

  • Complexity kills conversions. If the barrier to entry feels high, even a $1M reward will not save it.

  • Spectacle builds brand equity. Even unsolved, the campaign reinforces MrBeast as the king of high stakes internet moments.

The Super Bowl remains the biggest stage in advertising, but attention alone does not guarantee action. Even with a $1 million incentive, complexity and distraction filtered out almost everyone.

Instagram is rivaling Snapchat

Instagram is internally building a stand alone disappearing photo app called Instants, according to Business Insider. Yes, that sounds a lot like Snapchat in 2016.

The prototype is not publicly testing yet, but screenshots show a simple premise:

  1. Send disappearing photos to mutual followers.

  2. Once opened, the image vanishes and expires within 24 hours.

  3. No editing. No feed. Just private sharing.

This is not Instagram’s first attempt at ephemerality.

Stories launched in 2016. Vanish Mode followed in 2020. But this time, Meta appears to be exploring a separate app, similar to how it spun out Threads and Meta AI.

The bigger shift is behavioral. Instagram leadership has openly acknowledged a “paradigm shift” toward private sharing in DMs over public posting. Feed posts are down. Story views fluctuate. But direct messages keep climbing.

🔥 Hot Opportunities

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Dealsync Ambassador Program Free Product + Referral Rewards

Dealsync is recruiting ambassadors for their pre-launch campaign.

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CREATEIT Seeks Multi-Passionate Creators for AI Agent Collaboration (Gifted Products Valued $333–$7,000+)

CREATEIT is looking for creators who are passionate about wellness, wealth, marketing, business, and travel to collaborate using their Creator AI Agents.

You'll receive a free test drive of the AI tools (no post required), and for collaborations, you can earn the full version of AI Agents or access to Creator School—valued from $333 to $7,000+. Perfect for creators who are already monetizing and love sharing tools that help them work smarter.

KINETK Seeks Creators to Test Content Protection Platform ($50 Gift Card + Free Premium Access)

KINETK, a venture-backed content protection platform, is looking for creators to beta test their new tool that tracks where your content travels across the internet—and protects it from theft, uncredited reposts, and misuse. In exchange for a short 15-30 second video sharing your experience, you'll receive a $50 gift card + 2 weeks free premium access. If you've ever had your content stolen or reposted without credit, this one's for you.

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👋 Happy Networking!

~ Brian F.

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