MrBeast Getting Spanked By Creators Over AI Thumbnail Plan

Once again, the pitchforks are out, youtubers are out in force, and boy are they angry, and they're calling for MrBeast's scalp or at the very least an explanation WTF he thinks he doing.

Why, you may ask, because isn't Jimmy the beloved smiling face of YouTube from a content creator standpoint?

Here's a quick video from OG Youtuber Phil DeFranco where he covers the main points.

Well just like the sudden reputational downgrade Elon Musk experienced recently, Jimmy Donaldson, owner and the main driving force behind YouTube's Most Subscribed Channel (with more than 408 million subs) and it feels like MrBeast poked many youtubers in their collective eyes.

MrBeast has apparently embraced the dark arts of artificial intelligence and has found a new way to monetize AI and he is offering you this gift (for the low, low price of your creative soul) and a mere $80 a month so you too can forgo forever the tedious challenges of creating you own thumbnails with software (like Photoshop) you have to learn for your uploaded videos.

Who has time to "learn" and be creative when Daddy's got rent that's due, he needs that Lambo for sweet influencer cred and who's gonna pump out 10 videos a day if I have to learn stuff, think stuff, and be all creative-like?

All you need to do is sign on the dotted line (and have your credit card info handy) to get a "Pro Membership" through the company he co-founded a couple of years back called Viewstats. $80 a month? That's nothing to a baller like me. At least that's what I tell my social media followers and fans.

Its Easy Peasy, amirite?

But how has MrBeast's offer of the keys to the AI thumbnail kingdom gone over? Well, with a massive backlash.

All over YouTube, content creators have been uploading videos with titles like "MrBeast Has Ruined YouTube!" (Use that on the website as the search term and you'll see) or Jacksepticeye Was Right About MrBeast!"

And they're getting tons of views, like this called "MrBeast Actually Responded To JackSepticEye" which has 381K views.

That was uploaded by PyroLIVE who has 1.13 million subs who usually gets 100K-plus up to half a million views but this one got that in one day.

He gives us some background on Vidstats (didn't know MrBeast had a new Vidstats YouTube channel) and he give more extra info about AI thumbnail generation as well as more details of MrBeast's complaints about Russian copycats ripping off his content and (how ironically) his thumbnails.

Another good take is this video called "MrBeast Made An AI Slop Subscription Service For YouTubers" from a few days ago by Only Stanz, who is a relatively tiny youtuber with around 25K subs, but has been uploading for 4 years and has 459 videos posted. So he's got some skin in the game.

There's comments pointing out MrBeast tweeted that he was upset people were stealing his own thumbnails and slapping their faces on them, but here he is saying with this plan, you just go to someone's channel like Jacksepticeye (who has called out Jimmy in the past) or MoistCr1TiKaL, scrape their thumbnails and put your own face on them.

I guess the practice is okay and you're the good guy in MrBeast's opinion if you do it and thrust some money in his pocket.

Just WTF are you playing at man?

Apparently the best way to combat content thievery is to use AI to best those scammers at their own game by scraping thumbnail content from the creator of your choice.

Ain't irony a grand thing?

But that's not all. Here's Twitch streamer Ludwig piling on some thoughts in this one from the Ludwin clips YouTube channel.

There are more of these videos if you choose to pursue AI thumbnails down the YouTube rabbit hole, but I have a question. $80 bucks? A month? What else do you get for that much money? Do you get a little reach around by the YouTube logarithm? Does this sweet AI plan coax a little more watchtime love?

What happens if thousands and thousands of desperate "creators" run to Vidstats with their credit cards outstretched in their hot, little hands pleading "Shutup and take my money" only to start flooding the website with the same unique thumbnails.

All "unique", just like everyone else.

This has a similar taste of that old "Reply Girls" problem from long ago in YouTube's misty past. You probably don't know what that was, but it wasn't pretty even though there was some nice booba.

I don't like this. It feels like a backward step for creativity and individualism, but some will embrace this AI plan or the next one and wonder later why it didn't work out for them and NOW they're out all that money.

MrBeast is like the shopkeeper trying to sell picks and shovels to the miners in the AI gold rush. It was the shopkeepers and saloon owners who got rich, while the miners mostly all ended up empty handed.

But let's keep an eye on it and see how it plays out.