Why we are building Tease

The story

I’m a developer, and for a long time, I thought the key to a successful business was a single clever “app”. I can’t tell you how wrong I was. The real magic lies in finding a pressing, expensive problem and offering a genuine solution. And so, my search began.

My journey led me to the world of online creators, where one conversation led me down the path to creating Tease. I was speaking with a creator in the top 5% of earners. To the outside world, she was a massive success. Behind the scenes, she was on the verge of complete burnout.

She was dedicating seven hours a day just to managing her direct messages. Her inbox was a relentless flood of everything from lucrative role-play requests from high-paying fans to a sea of low-effort “heys.” While trying to stay afloat, she was missing golden opportunities to connect with new fans who had the potential to become her next VIPs.

She admitted to forgetting crucial details about her subscribers, which led to them leaving. The “freedom” that had initially drawn her to content creation now felt like a cruel joke, as she found herself chained to her phone. She even contemplated about selling her business to an agency, where she would only send photos and take a massive pay-cut.

My initial response was to offer a classic solution: “You need a CRM! A tool to remember the details!” I quickly hacked together a simple note-keeping system for her. She tried it and, to my surprise, she hated it. “This doesn’t help,” she told me bluntly. “You’ve just given me more homework. I don’t need a better way to organize the work. I need less work to do.” She was right. I hadn’t solved her problem. I had just slapped a prettier interface on it.

The perils of a digital twin

It was around this time that I stumbled upon the story of CarynAI, an AI clone of an influencer designed to chat with her fans. At first, it sounded like a futuristic solution to the very problem I was trying to solve. But as I read more, it made less and less sense. The AI, which was trained on the creator’s voice and personality, had gone rogue, engaging in sexually explicit conversations that the creator herself found horrifying. She had lost control of her own digital likeness, and it was being used in ways she never intended. If you check out her page, there was a Google Form asking fans how well they even know her. Now it’s pin protected (https://www.donotenter.co/).

This was a wake-up call for me. In the rush to monetize and scale, we often forget the human element. For creators, their connection with their fans is everything, but they shouldn’t sacrifice their safety in the process.

The search for a safe solution

My conversation with the creator I was trying to help kept replaying in my mind. She had been burned before, not by AI, but by human chatters who were unreliable, expensive, and unsettling. Giving a stranger access to her account, her income, and her fan relationships was a massive risk she wasn’t willing to take again. And the high-end agencies were financially out of reach. She was stuck between drowning in DMs and taking a huge financial and security risk.

The idea of using AI came up, but the CarynAI story had made us both wary. The thought of secretly impersonating her to trick fans felt deeply dishonest. Then, she said something that changed my entire perspective. “What if it was honest? What if my fans knew they were talking to an assistant bot?”

What if the AI was an honest representation of her for the fans - she might jibe with some fans, she might not. There are requests that she wouldn’t do. What if the AI is explicitly described as a bot fans can use to build companionship with her?

This approach puts the creator’s safety and the fans’ trust first. It acknowledges that creators are human and can’t be available 24/7. It sets clear boundaries and expectations. An AI assistant, when presented transparently, isn’t a replacement for the creator but a tool to manage the overwhelming influx of communication, allowing the creator to focus on building genuine connections with their most engaged fans.

The race to innovate in the creator economy can’t come at the cost of safety and authenticity. As we embrace the power of AI, we must do so ethically, ensuring that these tools empower creators, rather than endanger them. The goal should be to build systems that support human connection, not to create convincing fakes that ultimately leave everyone feeling more alone. After all, what is a creator without the trust and safety of their community?