<p>Bengaluru: Triveni Patil, a YouTuber who creates cookery content, never imagined she would become a famous digital creator one day. She found a niche by focusing on traditional delicacies and recipes from North Karnataka. Today, she has 10 lakh subscribers and earns more than Rs 70,000 through her channel. </p>.<p>Her husband, Praveen Gowdar, a visual media professional, began filming and uploading the videos to the channel nearly a decade ago, a craft he also taught her. Five years ago, she received YouTube's Silver Play Button after reaching 1 lakh subscribers, and just two weeks ago, she reached 10 lakh subscribers, making her eligible for the Gold Play Button.</p>.Kudlu cook’s videos stir up a storm online.<p>"A full-time job was never on my list, but now I'm happy that this has become a source of income for me," she says.</p>.<p>"I upload three videos a week, irrespective of the views or income. Consistency is the key to getting more subscribers, along with protecting the niche," she adds.</p>.<p><strong>Struggles and uncertainty</strong></p>.<p>Srishti Jagirdar, a Vijayapura-based Instagrammer now settled in Bengaluru, says content creation was not her first choice. After working in the corporate sector and briefly trying her hand at anchoring, she began making videos with a friend, initially just for fun.</p>.<p>“I found myself not enjoying my corporate work and decided to quit. Now I am a full-time content creator. This is my bread and butter,” she says.<br>For many creators like her, the journey to online fame is marked by uncertainty, financial struggles, trolling and ethical dilemmas.</p>.<p>According to her, the early phase was challenging. "It is not easy to sustain during the initial days when there is no income. Not everyone can afford it. I was lucky enough to have the freedom and backup to pursue this," she says. Today, she is also into stand-up comedy. </p>.<p>Srishti calls herself a feminist creator. "Of course, trolls will be there. They will post mean comments. But who cares? We just ignore and move on," she says.</p>.<p><strong>Concerns over originality</strong></p>.<p>Observers of the creator economy also point out that not all content shared online is original or creative. For instance, there have been reports of an increase in AI-generated songs on YouTube, where artificial intelligence is used for writing, music composition, and sometimes voice generation, raising concerns about attribution and originality. </p>.India’s shift from anchors to influencers.<p>Most original creators are also confused about AI usage in content creation.</p>.<p>"One can't say we will not use AI, especially when it helps make the work easy. But creating misleading content using AI is wrong," Srishti feels. "AI videos of cookery can be disastrous because these are videos that people actually imitate," Triveni adds.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Triveni Patil, a YouTuber who creates cookery content, never imagined she would become a famous digital creator one day. She found a niche by focusing on traditional delicacies and recipes from North Karnataka. Today, she has 10 lakh subscribers and earns more than Rs 70,000 through her channel. </p>.<p>Her husband, Praveen Gowdar, a visual media professional, began filming and uploading the videos to the channel nearly a decade ago, a craft he also taught her. Five years ago, she received YouTube's Silver Play Button after reaching 1 lakh subscribers, and just two weeks ago, she reached 10 lakh subscribers, making her eligible for the Gold Play Button.</p>.Kudlu cook’s videos stir up a storm online.<p>"A full-time job was never on my list, but now I'm happy that this has become a source of income for me," she says.</p>.<p>"I upload three videos a week, irrespective of the views or income. Consistency is the key to getting more subscribers, along with protecting the niche," she adds.</p>.<p><strong>Struggles and uncertainty</strong></p>.<p>Srishti Jagirdar, a Vijayapura-based Instagrammer now settled in Bengaluru, says content creation was not her first choice. After working in the corporate sector and briefly trying her hand at anchoring, she began making videos with a friend, initially just for fun.</p>.<p>“I found myself not enjoying my corporate work and decided to quit. Now I am a full-time content creator. This is my bread and butter,” she says.<br>For many creators like her, the journey to online fame is marked by uncertainty, financial struggles, trolling and ethical dilemmas.</p>.<p>According to her, the early phase was challenging. "It is not easy to sustain during the initial days when there is no income. Not everyone can afford it. I was lucky enough to have the freedom and backup to pursue this," she says. Today, she is also into stand-up comedy. </p>.<p>Srishti calls herself a feminist creator. "Of course, trolls will be there. They will post mean comments. But who cares? We just ignore and move on," she says.</p>.<p><strong>Concerns over originality</strong></p>.<p>Observers of the creator economy also point out that not all content shared online is original or creative. For instance, there have been reports of an increase in AI-generated songs on YouTube, where artificial intelligence is used for writing, music composition, and sometimes voice generation, raising concerns about attribution and originality. </p>.India’s shift from anchors to influencers.<p>Most original creators are also confused about AI usage in content creation.</p>.<p>"One can't say we will not use AI, especially when it helps make the work easy. But creating misleading content using AI is wrong," Srishti feels. "AI videos of cookery can be disastrous because these are videos that people actually imitate," Triveni adds.</p>