MrBeast created a system that allows for YouTubers to AI generate thumbnails that are algorithmically tuned to optimize engagement for their videos. JackSepticEye has spoken out against him, condemning the practice entirely, and other creators have followed suit.
While MrBeast has had his fair share of controversy in recent years, he has remained the biggest YouTuber in the world in terms of subscribers and average viewership per upload.
Now, he’s introduced a system that allows users to AI generate thumbnails for their YouTube videos in a way that makes their videos much more clickable.
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JackSepticEye has wholly rejected the idea, objecting to his inclusion in MrBeast’s video demo for the product and calling him out publicly for it.
JackSepticEye calls out MrBeast for creating YouTube AI tools
Instead of using image manipulation tools like Photoshop or hiring an editor, MrBeast is working with Viewstats to create a different option: AI thumbnail tools.
It allows users to pick a YouTube channel, use their video thumbnails as “inspiration”, and put in a prompt to get something similar but themed around their video. It even allows users to put their own face into a thumbnail to theme it around their channel.
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And, while Viewstats has a monthly fee of $80 USD attached to the service, that’s a lot cheaper than hiring a thumbnail artist for people who need clickable videos in order to turn YouTube into a career or make the platform more profitable.
JackSepticEye objected to his inclusion in the video and to the software’s existence as a whole, directly calling out MrBeast over it.
MrBeast using his AI tool to create an image based on his YouTube channel’s thumbnails
“What the actual f**k… and he used my logo in the promotion for it too. I hate what this platform is turning into. F**k AI,” he said.
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JackSepticEye has been critical of MrBeast in the past, believing that his approach to content creation is “ruining YouTube” and claiming that his approach takes the fun out of making videos.
This caused beef between the two creators, with Jimmy calling Jack’s words toward him “insanely disrespectful” at the time. Though they settled the beef after talking to each other privately, a feud between the two creators may be back on the table.
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Jack isn’t the only one, though, with YouTuber PointCrow calling him out directly. The two YouTubers had a conversation about it, leading to MrBeast deleting his tweet and promising changes to the AI tool.
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“I spend days, weeks, sometimes months thinking of thumbnails, working with artists to craft the perfect one — and you’ve made something that can steal my (and my artists) hard work without a thought. Your model is clearly trained on all our thumbnails and uses them without any creators permission, and makes it not only easy, but it attempts to make this socially acceptable too,” reads a small part of PointCrow’s critical Tweet about MrBeast’s tool.
A few hours later, he posted this:
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“Had a chat with MrBeast about his AI thumbnail creation tool. While I’m uncertain what will be happening moving forward, I’ve voiced my thoughts directly to him. Great idea to want to make content creation more accessible, but this isn’t remotely the solution to that and actually fundamentally hurts creators as a whole,” the YouTuber claims.
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“Just mentioning because I think it’s important to note that he reached out, even though we still largely disagree. Leaving everything up to discourage this still, and I’ll count this hopefully as my bookend to the saga,”
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MrBeast replied to that, outlining the changes he wants to make to the tool.
“Already working on changes like Faceswap should only be used to swap your face on YOUR thumbnail, obviously not others. And overall I’ll build this more in a way to be inspiration for artists/a tool they use and not replace them. Very good feedback.
“My goal with Viewstats is to build tools to level the playing field between people like me with 300 employees and new creators that can’t afford a small army,” MrBeast explained.
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