The Hank Green AI Controversy

Hank Green is one of the most universally beloved YouTubers.

A science communicator, novelist, comedian, podcaster and more, Green has built a reputation for being able to explain complex topics in a way that is both accessible and entertaining. Over his nearly two-decade career, he, along with his brother, John Green, has built a massive online following known colloquially as nerdfighters.

However, that stellar reputation has been somewhat tarnished by a recent controversy involving Hank’s usage of AI. In a pair of back-to-back incidents, followed by a personal admission/apology, Green has had something of a reckoning with his fans and the public at large about his use of AI.

While this isn’t likely to be the end of Green’s popularity or even much of a blip on his career, it’s a reminder of just how heated the debate over AI is and how using it in a way that is inconsistent with your perceived brand can be extremely detrimental.

It’s also a reminder that it’s not enough to avoid the use of AI, it’s important to avoid the appearance of using AI. Though that’s not exactly what happened here, it is a major part of how it started.

The Hank Green AI Controversy

Note: I am a long-time fan of both Hank and John Green.

On July 22, Green posted to his personal YouTube channel a video titled , You Have Never Seen a Normal Star. In the video, he discusses why the stars we can see with our eyes are weird and not indicative of what the most common stars look like.

In one section of the video, Green included a graphic showing how much spheres increase in volume as compared to their radius. Though it’s unclear where he obtained the graphic, it was clearly AI-generated. Not only did the graphic bear a resemblance to AI work, but the math was wrong.

Hank apologized for this, said that he was simply in a rush and found the image online. He also removed the section of the video where the graphic appeared.

However, just a week later, on July 29, Hank posted an “Ask Hank Anything” video that featured fellow creator SoupyTime. During a cutaway to “future Hank” he says the line, “I appreciate the pushback” seemingly out of nowhere.

The clip went viral. Many recognized the line as something that an AI chatbot would say in response to a user’s query calling for more clarification, context or otherwise challenging it. To many, it appeared that Hank had used AI do draft the script and left this part in and read it aloud. If it sounds crazy, it wouldn’t have been the first time that had happened. In fact, there was a remarkable incident of it happening to a Canadian lawmaker just days prior.

According to Green, the line was an ad-lib and wasn’t in the script. He says he was directing the line to SoupyTime.

That explanation did not go over well with the public and he deleted his tweet containing it. He then posted a longer explanation/reflection on Reddit, in which he went into more detail about both what happened and his AI usage.

Though he continued to deny that the script or that particular line was written using AI, he did admit to using AI to research and that, because of his schedule, had become increasingly reliant on it. He said that his family, including both his wife and brother, have become worried about his usage of AI and he himself had been worried about the “dopamine” that he was getting from using the technology.

He also announced that he would be taking a break from some of his projects, including his personal channel and two of his online games.On Friday, he released a video on his long-running channel Vlogbrothers, which he co-hosts with his brother John. In it, he outlines his personal AI policy, in which he says that AI will never be used as a source nor will it write his scripts or create his theses.

This seems to have brought the saga to something of an ending, even if it has left his fans a mixture of worried, let down, confused and supportive.

Understanding What Happened

What happened here is remarkably simple. Green used AI in a way that was inconsistent with his brand and what his fans expect from him.

To be clear, it is still unclear if the original “I appreciate the pushback” line was written using AI. He denies it, and though it is a hallmark of AI writing, it’s not enough by itself to prove that it was AI-generated. After all, the heavy use of parentheses is also seen as a hallmark of AI writing and I’ve been abusing parentheses for 30 years (and probably longer).

Personally, I’m more focused on what came after. He acknowledged to have used AI in some of the preparation for the video and fans were upset about that.

On his various platforms, Green has been a sharp critic of AI. He has repeatedly expressed his concerns about the environmental, personal, economic and societal impacts of AI. However, he also stopped short of saying that the technology was worthless or useless.

But even more important is the Green brothers’ brand. They have made a name for themselves by being very open and very human. All the content that they create is meant to be representative of them as people. This means that AI gets in the way of that connection.

That becomes a major issue when there is a problem. Last year, Hank Green found himself in the middle of a controversy over the way he presented knitting on one of his channels. Both he and SciShow, the channel it was aired on, apologized for this and, though many were upset about his tone-deafness on the topic, most understood it was a human error.

However, the AI controversy has caused that previous controversy to be re-litigated. Several have questioned whether that video was written using AI, saying it would explain the tone-deafness. Green has denied this and once again pointed to Complexly’s AI policy.

But that’s part of the problem. People are much more forgiving of human error than they are of AI-generated errors. Introducing AI into the mix, even if it is in a relatively minor way, ramps up scrutiny, which was already very high for Green because of the nature of who he is and what he does.

In the end, I think that Hank Green will be fine. He’ll move on from this with time and hopefully learn from it. Other creators can and should do the same.

Bottom Line

In the end, what happened is pretty simple. Hank Green used AI in a way that was inconsistent with his the values that his audience expects from him. Some of that is the result of his brand and the way he presents himself, some of it is from the fans ascribing their own values to him.

To be clear, there are channels and creators for whom AI usage would not have been an issue. Their audiences expect and accept that usage. In some cases, NOT using AI would be a bigger betrayal.

But for the vast majority of creators, the benefits of using AI are far outweighed by the risks. One of the things most people crave on the. Internet is authenticity and human connection. AI gets in the way of both those things.

There’s a simple reason that AI “slop” is so widely rejected. We already live in a digital world and one of the few ways people find humanity is through the writing, art, music and videos created by other people. AI removes that.

So yes, Hank Green’s audience had a strong reaction to his AI usage. For nearly 20 years, he’s been a very human face, someone that people turn to, rally behind and support. His usage of AI wasn’t just fear that he had misled his audience, it was a fear that the connection wasn’t real.

As someone who has spent decades studying plagiarism, I can’t easily understand Green’s point. He is a very driven person and has almost certainly taken on more than he can handle. The temptation to rely on AI is equally obvious and strong.

The problem is that I hear that excuse from out-and-out plagiarists. While I don’t think Hank Green’s transgressions are on the same scale, it’s scary to hear the same reasoning echoed by such a prominent figure.

Hopefully, he can find a better balance and learn from this. I think everyone can.