AI design platform Picsart launches a creator monetization program

AI-powered design platform Picsart is launching a creator monetization program, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The program is open to all creators, with no invite lists and no minimum audience size required.

The program invites creators to create original content with Picsart tools for a specific campaign, share it on their social channels, and earn revenue based on how their audience engages. Picsart says the program is designed to reward creative output and performance, rather than focusing on scale or follower count.

By launching a creator monetization program, Picsart is evolving from a creative tool into a platform where creators can earn revenue. The company likely sees the move as a way to both attract and retain creators.

Once creators sign up for the program, they get access to a dashboard that displays all of the current prompts and creative challenges that they can participate it. For example, one campaign could ask creators to generate cute fluffy creatures using Picsart Aura, the platform’s AI conversational assistant that can generate and animate images and videos through text or voice prompts.

Picsart notes that simply generating and posting AI images without creative efforts won’t drive meaningful engagement or earnings.

Once the content is created, creators fill out a short form with the URL of the submitted asset live on social, tag it according to the campaign requirements, and add a brief description of how they created it within Picsart. Content is shared directly to a creator’s own Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X accounts.

Earnings are calculated based on views, comments, shares, and reach. Creators can track their earnings directly on their dashboard and withdraw the funds through Stripe.

“We’ve always believed that creativity should be for everyone — and now, so should the rewards,” Picsart founder and CEO Hovhannes Avoyan said in a statement. “The creator economy has a structural problem: platforms have never truly committed to compensating everyday creators. Earn with Picsart is our commitment to the millions who have made this community what it is. It’s open, structured, and straightforward –  show up, make things, and if your content performs, you get paid.”

The company says there are earning opportunities for creators of all kinds, whether they produce tutorials, aesthetic edits, or short-form videos.

Founded in 2011, Picsart has more than 130 million users worldwide. The company reached unicorn status amid the creator economy boom in 2021.

The expansion into creator monetization comes a few weeks after Picsart announced that it’s launching an AI agent marketplace where creators can “hire” AI assistants for different tasks, such as resizing and remixing social content or editing product photos on Shopify.