🔎 Todays Daily Sift: Social Media Social media is getting a new gatekeeper. AI. Fresh reporting today shows brands are beginning to evaluate creators not only by whether they influence people, but whether their content influences what ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AI systems recommend. That changes the creator economy. SEO optimized websites for Google. Social optimized content for feeds. Now creators may begin optimizing cultural presence for machines that answer questions directly. John Lewis is already reacting. The British retailer says AI influenced product searches have grown from roughly 0.3 percent to 2.5 percent in a year. Its response includes an influencer studio and original YouTube programming designed to reach humans and improve visibility inside AI shopping systems. Content becomes training signal. Creators become distribution. Distribution becomes machine memory. Meanwhile, Instagram is moving in the opposite direction by restricting recommendation reach f...