Life update… I lost a battle today. I genuinely thought I had this. I was so confident that I could stay smoke-free, and I wasn’t even questioning it anymore. I really thought I was past that point. Then everything just collapsed on me so suddenly. The last 3 months have been really, really hard, and today I ended up smoking while bawling my eyes out. It felt amazing and terrible at the same time. I hate admitting it because I was doing so well, and I really thought I was stronger than this. I don’t know what happens from here. I don’t know if I’m going to keep going without smoking, or if I’m going to start smoking again until I feel strong enough to quit another time. I honestly don’t know right now. But at least I know that I can quit, because I already did it once. I know I’m capable of it. I just don’t know if I have the strength for it right now. I really want to make a proper storytime and talk about everything that’s been happening, but right now I barely have enough energy left to create Shorts and keep myself going. So for now, this is all I can really say: every day feels like a battle lately, but I’m still hanging in there.
As you guys know, a few days ago I did a brand deal. It was for a chatbot app, and naturally, some people weren’t happy about it. So I made a community post trying to explain how I actually feel about AI. I said that I don’t hate AI, because to me, AI is just a tool. What I actually have a problem with is the way people and companies use AI to hurt artists, people, and the environment, and the way they choose to position it. But somehow, what I said got turned into, “AI isn’t that bad.” And honestly, I know that no matter what I say, some people are only going to hear what they want to hear. So this time, I just want to explain myself to the people who actually want to understand what I was trying to say. I saw some people who said they supported me and were disappointed by me because of this sponsorship. And I understand that. If an artist I followed and cared about did something like this, I might question it too. Anyway. I want to explain why I accepted this sponsorship. As you can probably imagine, about a month after YouTube demonetized my boyfriend’s channel, they demonetized mine too. He had another job, but YouTube was my main source of income. So I panicked. I really did. I’d gotten a lot of sponsorship offers from generative AI apps before, and every single time, I said no. Some of the offers were honestly really good. I’m not going to lie. There were times when I could have made as much money from one sponsorship as I normally made in an entire month. But I still said no to every single one. Until my channel got demonetized. All of a sudden, the income I was supposed to make that month was gone, and I had no idea what the next few months were going to look like. Everything suddenly felt really uncertain. So I felt like I needed to find another way to make money, and I needed to do it quickly. I’m a full-time artist. YouTube is my job. I know some people are angry because they feel like I gave up my values for money. I even saw someone say, “Rent can’t possibly be that expensive.” Unfortunately, it really is. I’d only been living in my own rented apartment for about five months. It was the first time in my life I’d moved out and tried to build a life completely on my own. And I was already constantly bothering Sierra with, “What if I can’t do this? What if I can’t make this work?” I really don’t want to get into my family situation, but if I fail, I don’t really have a safety net to fall back on. Of course I have Sierra, and I know he’d support me, but the thought of completely depending on someone else financially is really difficult for me. So yeah. I was scared. Then my manager came to me and said, “Hey Sofia, I know you’ve said no to AI before, but there’s this chatbot sponsorship.” And I thought about it. Years ago, before AI became such a huge problem, I used chatbots. I remember people in the art community making chatbots for their own characters. I used them too. And these apps specifically reach out to artists because they know the art community uses them. This particular app wasn’t generating images or stories. It was basically about talking to characters that you liked. And at the time, from what I was seeing around me, this kind of thing wasn’t nearly as controversial in the art community. So it didn’t bother me back then. But now, I understand why people are upset about it. A lot of the criticism I received was about how chatbots can become addictive, and that promoting something like this can be harmful because of that. I don’t want anyone to go through a difficult time because of something I promoted. And just because I’m promoting a product doesn’t mean I want people to use it to the point where it’s hurting them or taking over their lives. But I understand the concern a lot more now, and I understand why people were upset. And obviously, I’m not happy or proud that I made an AI sponsorship. In my community post, I was trying to say that I don’t hate people who use AI. Somehow, that turned into people thinking that I love AI and that I don’t care about any of the problems it creates. How could I not care? My channel was literally demonetized because of newer AI systems. I’m a full-time artist. My income and my job have been directly affected by this. But I also understand why people are angry. People are tired. People are scared. I get that. What I was actually trying to say was this: I don’t hate AI itself. I hate the way people and companies use it to hurt other people, artists, and the environment. And while I’m actively creating content for a platform that uses AI, I don’t want to turn around and attack some random person just because they use AI. I make my living on YouTube, which means I’m financially supporting a platform that uses AI. And that same system has directly affected me, Sierra, and so many other small artists. So if I kept making a living from YouTube while saying, “I hate AI and I don’t support anything connected to AI,” I would personally feel like a hypocrite. At least, that’s how I see it. I know that the harm caused by AI systems, especially to artists, people, and the environment, is real. I’ve never said otherwise. I just don’t want to spend all of my energy arguing with people about this. I’d rather spend that energy creating things and inspiring other people to create. Because I’m an artist. AI directly affects people like me. Creating art is literally what I want to do with my life. And I’m a person too. Even though I understand where you’re coming from, sometimes I get defensive. I can’t help that sometimes. Because I’m not a brand. I’m not a company. I’m just a person who’s been going through some really difficult things lately. So I’m genuinely sorry for disappointing you guys. I wasn’t trying to say that AI is good, or that the problems it creates don’t matter. I was just trying to explain why I made that decision at a time when I was terrified of losing my income. I was trying to survive. And throughout all of this, I’ve seen people who genuinely love me and support me, but were still hurt by what I did. That was never my intention. I love you guys so much, and you are the reason I keep going. This is going to be the last time I talk about this. Thank you for listening. As for the ad disclosure situation, that definitely wasn’t intentional. It was simply due to my lack of experience, and there was some miscommunication as well. I was waiting for my manager to give me instructions on how I was supposed to do it, because I had never done a brand deal before and didn’t know the process. As soon as I got the instructions, we fixed it within a few hours. I had absolutely no intention of hiding the ad. The brand’s name and logo were clearly visible, so there was never any reason for me to try to hide it.
Hello guys! Could you please leave a comment on Twitter to help us reach someone from the YouTube team? We really need to get in touch with an actual representative about this issue. Every comment helps us get noticed. 🙏
Hello guys! I made a video explaining everything that happened with my and @SierraArtS demonetization. I’d really appreciate it if you could help me get YouTube’s attention on this matter. ❤️
Hello guys, YouTube demonetized me, which is my main source of income, but it’s okay because @SierraArtS sent me some purple roses (my fav color). I’m experiencing the relief of hitting rock bottom. The things that happened this August are genuinely unbelievable, but I’m hanging in there somehow.
Hello guys! We made a video with @SierraArtS about his channel being removed from the YouTube Partner Program. His channel was demonetized for “reused content,” basically claiming that his content wasn’t original, even though he creates his artwork and videos from scratch.
We’ve tried appealing and explaining the situation, but unfortunately nothing has worked so far. We’d really appreciate it if you guys could give the video some attention so maybe it can reach YouTube and they can actually take another look at what happened. Thank you so much for your support! ❤️ @YouTube
Sofia
He doesn’t know
2 days ago | [YT] | 3,911
View 27 replies
Sofia
Life update… I lost a battle today. I genuinely thought I had this. I was so confident that I could stay smoke-free, and I wasn’t even questioning it anymore. I really thought I was past that point. Then everything just collapsed on me so suddenly. The last 3 months have been really, really hard, and today I ended up smoking while bawling my eyes out. It felt amazing and terrible at the same time. I hate admitting it because I was doing so well, and I really thought I was stronger than this. I don’t know what happens from here. I don’t know if I’m going to keep going without smoking, or if I’m going to start smoking again until I feel strong enough to quit another time. I honestly don’t know right now. But at least I know that I can quit, because I already did it once. I know I’m capable of it. I just don’t know if I have the strength for it right now. I really want to make a proper storytime and talk about everything that’s been happening, but right now I barely have enough energy left to create Shorts and keep myself going. So for now, this is all I can really say: every day feels like a battle lately, but I’m still hanging in there.
1 week ago | [YT] | 2,055
View 277 replies
Sofia
Okay, let’s talk.
As you guys know, a few days ago I did a brand deal. It was for a chatbot app, and naturally, some people weren’t happy about it. So I made a community post trying to explain how I actually feel about AI. I said that I don’t hate AI, because to me, AI is just a tool. What I actually have a problem with is the way people and companies use AI to hurt artists, people, and the environment, and the way they choose to position it. But somehow, what I said got turned into, “AI isn’t that bad.” And honestly, I know that no matter what I say, some people are only going to hear what they want to hear. So this time, I just want to explain myself to the people who actually want to understand what I was trying to say. I saw some people who said they supported me and were disappointed by me because of this sponsorship. And I understand that. If an artist I followed and cared about did something like this, I might question it too. Anyway. I want to explain why I accepted this sponsorship. As you can probably imagine, about a month after YouTube demonetized my boyfriend’s channel, they demonetized mine too. He had another job, but YouTube was my main source of income. So I panicked. I really did. I’d gotten a lot of sponsorship offers from generative AI apps before, and every single time, I said no. Some of the offers were honestly really good. I’m not going to lie. There were times when I could have made as much money from one sponsorship as I normally made in an entire month. But I still said no to every single one. Until my channel got demonetized. All of a sudden, the income I was supposed to make that month was gone, and I had no idea what the next few months were going to look like. Everything suddenly felt really uncertain. So I felt like I needed to find another way to make money, and I needed to do it quickly. I’m a full-time artist. YouTube is my job. I know some people are angry because they feel like I gave up my values for money. I even saw someone say, “Rent can’t possibly be that expensive.” Unfortunately, it really is. I’d only been living in my own rented apartment for about five months. It was the first time in my life I’d moved out and tried to build a life completely on my own. And I was already constantly bothering Sierra with, “What if I can’t do this? What if I can’t make this work?” I really don’t want to get into my family situation, but if I fail, I don’t really have a safety net to fall back on. Of course I have Sierra, and I know he’d support me, but the thought of completely depending on someone else financially is really difficult for me. So yeah. I was scared. Then my manager came to me and said, “Hey Sofia, I know you’ve said no to AI before, but there’s this chatbot sponsorship.” And I thought about it. Years ago, before AI became such a huge problem, I used chatbots. I remember people in the art community making chatbots for their own characters. I used them too. And these apps specifically reach out to artists because they know the art community uses them. This particular app wasn’t generating images or stories. It was basically about talking to characters that you liked. And at the time, from what I was seeing around me, this kind of thing wasn’t nearly as controversial in the art community. So it didn’t bother me back then. But now, I understand why people are upset about it. A lot of the criticism I received was about how chatbots can become addictive, and that promoting something like this can be harmful because of that. I don’t want anyone to go through a difficult time because of something I promoted. And just because I’m promoting a product doesn’t mean I want people to use it to the point where it’s hurting them or taking over their lives. But I understand the concern a lot more now, and I understand why people were upset. And obviously, I’m not happy or proud that I made an AI sponsorship. In my community post, I was trying to say that I don’t hate people who use AI. Somehow, that turned into people thinking that I love AI and that I don’t care about any of the problems it creates. How could I not care? My channel was literally demonetized because of newer AI systems. I’m a full-time artist. My income and my job have been directly affected by this. But I also understand why people are angry. People are tired. People are scared. I get that. What I was actually trying to say was this: I don’t hate AI itself. I hate the way people and companies use it to hurt other people, artists, and the environment. And while I’m actively creating content for a platform that uses AI, I don’t want to turn around and attack some random person just because they use AI. I make my living on YouTube, which means I’m financially supporting a platform that uses AI. And that same system has directly affected me, Sierra, and so many other small artists. So if I kept making a living from YouTube while saying, “I hate AI and I don’t support anything connected to AI,” I would personally feel like a hypocrite. At least, that’s how I see it. I know that the harm caused by AI systems, especially to artists, people, and the environment, is real. I’ve never said otherwise. I just don’t want to spend all of my energy arguing with people about this. I’d rather spend that energy creating things and inspiring other people to create. Because I’m an artist. AI directly affects people like me. Creating art is literally what I want to do with my life. And I’m a person too. Even though I understand where you’re coming from, sometimes I get defensive. I can’t help that sometimes. Because I’m not a brand. I’m not a company. I’m just a person who’s been going through some really difficult things lately. So I’m genuinely sorry for disappointing you guys. I wasn’t trying to say that AI is good, or that the problems it creates don’t matter. I was just trying to explain why I made that decision at a time when I was terrified of losing my income. I was trying to survive. And throughout all of this, I’ve seen people who genuinely love me and support me, but were still hurt by what I did. That was never my intention. I love you guys so much, and you are the reason I keep going. This is going to be the last time I talk about this. Thank you for listening.
As for the ad disclosure situation, that definitely wasn’t intentional. It was simply due to my lack of experience, and there was some miscommunication as well. I was waiting for my manager to give me instructions on how I was supposed to do it, because I had never done a brand deal before and didn’t know the process. As soon as I got the instructions, we fixed it within a few hours. I had absolutely no intention of hiding the ad. The brand’s name and logo were clearly visible, so there was never any reason for me to try to hide it.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 2,154
View 568 replies
Sofia
We recorded a little night vlog 🌸
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 349
View 1 reply
Sofia
YouTube responded and it’s not what i expected.
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1,359
View 56 replies
Sofia
Hello guys!
Could you please leave a comment on Twitter to help us reach someone from the YouTube team? We really need to get in touch with an actual representative about this issue. Every comment helps us get noticed. 🙏
x.com/sofosmochis?s=11
1 month ago | [YT] | 6,114
View 80 replies
Sofia
Hello guys! I made a video explaining everything that happened with my and @SierraArtS demonetization. I’d really appreciate it if you could help me get YouTube’s attention on this matter. ❤️
1 month ago | [YT] | 2,204
View 22 replies
Sofia
Hello guys, YouTube demonetized me, which is my main source of income, but it’s okay because @SierraArtS sent me some purple roses (my fav color). I’m experiencing the relief of hitting rock bottom. The things that happened this August are genuinely unbelievable, but I’m hanging in there somehow.
1 month ago | [YT] | 14,909
View 175 replies
Sofia
Hello guys! We made a video with @SierraArtS about his channel being removed from the YouTube Partner Program. His channel was demonetized for “reused content,” basically claiming that his content wasn’t original, even though he creates his artwork and videos from scratch.
We’ve tried appealing and explaining the situation, but unfortunately nothing has worked so far. We’d really appreciate it if you guys could give the video some attention so maybe it can reach YouTube and they can actually take another look at what happened. Thank you so much for your support! ❤️ @YouTube
1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 1,542
View 27 replies
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