Grace Beverley has said talent agencies are charging unfair fees to people who create content on social media and is launching a low-cost AI assistant that she says can do the job instead.

The serial entrepreneur, writer, podcaster and influencer, who has three million social media followers globally, has teamed up with Jake Browne and Gary Meehan, the technology entrepreneurs, to create Retrograde.

It has built an artificial intelligence assistant to take the place of a talent agency for people publishing on social media who have straightforward transactions with brands. The software will automate the assessment of new sponsorship offers, negotiate the price and terms and send invoices, allowing the content creator to focus on their videos and posts. It will charge a 10 per cent fee on any income secured, which compares with 20 per cent fees more typically levied by agencies.Browne, 34, said creators used agencies even if think their interests are not best served by doing so. “It’s the done thing, it’s not a first principles decision. Twenty per cent of gross income really isn’t fair in 2024,” he said.

Beverley, 27, said creators often received poor service, as agencies focused their efforts on their most lucrative clients. “I have friends who will earn a good amount a year extra from being a creator and yet half the time a brand will say they have reached out to them [via their agent] and they never hear about it,” she said.

“Anyone can make money on social media and it feels like the industry has outgrown the one-size-fits-all talent management model. There are really just too many content creators for good talent agents to manage.”

Beverley, who signed with the YMU talent agency in April, added: “We need to democratise this monetisation. Small, independent creators need the option to make an income and spend time creating, without having self-management or giving away 20 per cent of their income as the only options.”

Beverley started out as a fitness influencer, publishing videos of her workouts from her Oxford University bedroom. She has gone on to found three businesses: Tala, the activewear brand, which raised a further £5 million from institutional investors last month to help it to expand in the United States, Shreddy, a fitness app; and her own daily planners, which she sells via The Productivity Method.