The MrBeast AI Thumbnail Controversy

Earlier this week, Jimmy Donaldson, better known as the YouTuber MrBeast, announced a new AI tool that would allow users to generate “viral” thumbnails in the style of other creators.

To put it mildly, the announcement was not well-received.

The tool was to be the latest addition to Viewstats, a MrBeast-owned YouTube analytics service that helps creators track video performance on the site. However, almost immediately after the video went live, creators, including many prominent YouTubers, expressed their frustration.

Jacksepticeye (Seán McLoughlin) claimed on X (formerly Twitter) that MrBeast used his logo without permission and that he hates “what this platform is turning into.”

Another, Eric Pointcrow, highlighted the cost of Viewstats’ AI features and called MrBeast “a piece of work.”

However, according to Pointcrow, MrBeast reached out to him and the two discussed the tool. MrBeast responded to thank Pointcrow for the feedback and said that he was making changes to the tool.

The AI thumbnail tool is still available on the Viewstats website. It is unclear if the planned changes have been made.

However, this raises a question: Why, in an era where new AI tools are being launched daily, did this spark such a backlash? It comes down to a combination of an ill-conceived product from an even worse messenger.

The MrBeast Problem

MrBeast is easily the most subscribed YouTuber on the planet. With over 400 million subscribers, his online presence rivals the reach of some of the largest mainstream media companies. His brand is worth an estimated $1 billion.

However, his popularity has not come without controversy. He and his company have faced a wide range of criticism, including allegations of poor working conditions, dubious products, profiteering from purported charity work, cultural insensitivity and other issues.

That said, he’s also divisive simply because of his popularity. Many believe that his massive size and content style are detrimental to YouTube, actively harming smaller creators. As such, any business venture he undertakes will be heavily scrutinized. Couple that with the divisiveness around AI, and it’s easy to see why many were never going to be receptive.

However, to hear MrBeast describe it, he hopes that Viewstats will help smaller creators. He said he hopes it will “Level the playing field between people like me with 300 employees and new creators that can’t afford a small army.”

But that comes across as patronizing. It’s essentially a statement that he knows what smaller creators need more than they do. It also implies that creators want to be MrBeast, even those with drastically different channels and approaches.

In short, even if the product had been free of ethical questions, it was always going to be divisive. Unfortunately, it also raised more than a few red flags separate from the person pitching it.

The AI Problem

Using AI to generate YouTube thumbnails is not a new concept. Canva, for instance, introduced this feature in October 2023. Theoretically, any AI image generator can create thumbnails for YouTube.

However, MrBeast took things one step further with his AI thumbnail generator. The tool is designed to “take inspiration” from other YouTube accounts. He demonstrates it with his own YouTube channel, but says it can be used to mimic the thumbnail style of any channel out there.

If that’s not enough, the tool also allows users to input any video URL and edit that specific thumbnail. This can include adding, removing or editing elements. This includes adding your face (or any face) to that thumbnail.

This is why Grant St. Clair at Boing Boing referred to this tool as a “YouTube plagiarism machine.” Its core feature is to copy the style or other elements from thumbnails on different channels to generate a new thumbnail. Although MrBeast demonstrates that it can work without “inspiration,” the ability to mimic other channels and thumbnails is presented front and center.

That, for many, is simply a bridge too far. AI companies using human-created works without permission to train their models is already divisive enough. Just days before the MrBeast announcement, Google was the subject of controversy for training its AI systems on YouTube videos without permission or knowledge.

MrBeast’s AI tool did essentially the same thing, but in a much more targeted fashion. Although Google utilized a fraction of all YouTube videos for training, MrBeast’s AI makes it possible to train on a specific channel or video.

To be clear, most AI systems can do that to some degree, but MrBeast put this forward as the core feature of the product. He didn’t merely create a tool that could copy other YouTubers; he designed it and marketed it for that purpose.

When you combine that with the controversy surrounding MrBeast organically, it’s easy to see why there was so much pushback.

Bottom Line

AI is in a strange place right now.

In many ways, it is in a similar position to where NFTs were a few years prior. It has a strong contingent of advocates, including many in the technology sector, but it faces a more skeptical public. MrBeast has made it clear that he’s in that first group.

However, as with NFTs, many of the supporters don’t understand why creators are skeptical or what concerns they have. They see the promise of the technology, but overlook the issues that outsiders have.

The primary difference between AI and NFTs is that the latter has largely lost relevance. Even the biggest NFT advocates acknowledge the halcyon days are gone. AI, for better or worse, is here to stay and will remain relevant for the foreseeable future.

However, that doesn’t mean that MrBeast should be pushing AI tools. Acknowledging the importance of AI does not require becoming a spokesperson for it.

To be clear, any business venture launched by MrBeast will be heavily scrutinized. That is doubly so for any venture involving AI. But marketing this as a targeted tool for imitating the style or even the specific thumbnail of another creator is a leap too far, even for many AI supporters.

AI is already an ethical and legal minefield for any business. MrBeast made it worse by tailoring his product to some of the worst uses of the technology. In that light, this pushback was inevitable.

Hopefully, he takes the lessons to heart.