MrBeast Pulls AI YouTube Thumbnail Generator Amid Creator Backlash

MrBeast removes AI YouTube thumbnail tool after backlash

When he launched the AI thumbnail tool last week, MrBeast said, he "thought people were going to be pretty excited about it". The small preview pictures are a key part of any YouTuber's strategy, and are used to catch the eye of potential viewers as they scroll through a sea of content. Mr Beast's tool was advertised as "taking the guesswork out" of designing eye-catching images for an $80 (£58) per month subscription. It gave users the option to insert themselves into existing thumbnails and recreate the work of other creators. Generative AI - or GenAI - tools such as this are trained on mountains of exisiting data, which are then used to create outputs in response to user prompts. There are several current court cases examining accusations of copyright theft against companies that make AI models. PointCrow, real name Eric Morino, accused MrBeast of making "something that can steal... hard work without a thought" and alleged that the AI model was "clearly trained on all our thumbnails and uses them without any creator's permission". While the US streamer said the intention of making content creation more accessible was a "great idea", the tool "fundamentally hurts creators as a whole". MrBeast acknowledged the feedback and told his followers: "I care more than any of you could ever imagine about the YouTube community. "Obviously I'm the biggest YouTuber in the world and I don't take that responsibility lightly and so it deeply makes me sad when I do something that people in the community are upset by." He said his goal with Viewstats had been to build tools to help creators, "but if creators don't want the tools, no worries".

MrBeast Faces Backlash for AI Thumbnail Generator Tool

Jimmy Donaldson, widely known as MrBeast and the most-subscribed creator on YouTube with over 400 million followers, is facing criticism following his promotion of an AI-powered thumbnail generator. The tool, developed in collaboration with analytics platform Viewstats, was marketed as a resource for creators that can swap faces and mimic the style of popular videos. The launch drew immediate backlash from fellow creators and digital artists, who argued that the technology could be used to copy their creative work without consent. One of the most vocal critics was Seán McLoughlin, better known as Jacksepticeye, whose logo and thumbnail design were reportedly used in promotional material without his permission. "I hate what this platform is turning into. F*** AI," McLoughlin writes on X. In response to the criticism, Donaldson addressed concerns on social media, writing, "I'll build this more in a way to be inspiration for artists/a tool they use and not replace them." However, Donaldson appears to have annoyed other content creators with Eric Pointcrow calling MrBeast "a piece of work." The controversy has touched a nerve in a community where the replication of thumbnails is already contentious. "YouTube pioneered online pile-on culture, in which everyone wants a piece of someone else's name, image, or likeness," Jess Maddox, an associate professor at the University of Alabama who studies digital platforms, tells Fast Company. "But it's actually quite hard to go after MrBeast... He's almost too big to fail." The anger felt by some YouTubers comes after the release of Google Veo 3 and the revelation that the model was trained on the work of the platform's creators. According to a report by CNBC, Google is tapping into YouTube's library of 20 billion videos to train its AI models. The news outlet cited a source not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Google later confirmed to CNBC that it does use YouTube videos to train its AI, but says it only relies on a subset of content and adheres to specific agreements with creators and media partners. However, YouTubers have expressed surprise that Google is using their work to train Veo.

MrBeast pulls AI tool for YouTube thumbnails, issues video apology

MrBeast's AI tool for generating YouTube thumbnails was only published a week ago, but it's already no more. The most subscribed YouTuber in the world, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, published the tool via his YouTube creator help website, Viewstats. The AI thumbnail generator, made available to paying Viewstats Pro subscribers, was marketed as a way to help creators with smaller audiences generate thumbnails for videos. But the backlash was swift, with creators like Jacksepticeye and PointCrow, and many X users accusing Donaldson of creating a tool that will actively harm artists' livelihoods. The AI thumbnail generator has now been taken down from Viewstats, with Donaldson sharing the following video statement on X on Thursday night This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. "A week ago I launched an AI thumbnail tool that helps small creators create better thumbnails," he says in the clip. "I thought people were going to be pretty excited about it but I definitely missed the mark," says Donaldson in the video post. "I read all you guys' feedback, and I've been thinking a lot about it, and so we just enacted some changes that I think you guys will find positive." Donaldson said instead of the AI tool, users of Viewstats will now find an online prompt to commission a human artist to design a thumbnail. "Going forward, there is no AI thumbnail tool. Anyone, from now on, that signs up for Viewstats Pro, there will not be an AI thumbnail tool, it just doesn't exist, we pulled it down. And on top of that, I wanted to go one step further to really show artists out there that I care: If you go on Viewstats.com, under our More Tools section, it will say "Hire a Thumbnail Artist", and if you click that it will take you to a page of artists' portfolios where you can commission a real thumbnail artist to make you a real thumbnail."

MrBeast Pulls AI Thumbnail Tool Following Backlash - Decrypt

YouTube's biggest individual creator, Jimmy Donaldson, known by his moniker MrBeast, faced community backlash after launching an AI thumbnail generator that could replicate the styles of other creators, forcing his team to make modifications to the controversial tool within days. Promoted in now-deleted videos, the $80-per-month AI-powered tool allowed users to generate thumbnails by mimicking the visual style, logos, and even faces of other YouTubers, raising immediate concerns around consent, originality, and creative ownership. Responding to supposed "feedback" on the tool, Donaldson, who has over 400 million followers on YouTube, said on X that their team has "pulled it and added a funnel for creators to find real thumbnail artists to commission." The reversal came after prominent creators, including Jacksepticeye, discovered their logos and visual styles being used without permission in the tool's promotional materials. "What the actual fuck... and he used my logo in the promotion for it too. I hate what this platform is turning into. Fuck AI," Jacksepticeye stated on X. Donaldson co-founded ViewStats in late 2023 with Chucky Appleby as part of Juice, the creator tools startup he also helped launch. While he doesn't solely own ViewStats, he remains closely tied to it through Juice, which lists the platform as a core product and helped develop and promote the AI thumbnail tool. Despite clarifying that face-swap features would be limited to creators using their own faces on their own thumbnails, the tool remains available on ViewStats despite deleted promotional posts. ViewStats and Donaldson did not immediately respond to Decrypt's requests for comment. The controversy reflects deeper tensions within content creation regarding AI's role. While some argue AI democratizes access for smaller creators lacking production teams, critics worry about impacts on human creativity and intellectual property rights. "It's the calculator moment all over again: what starts as controversial eventually becomes common practice," Renz Chong, CEO of a16z-backed modular on-chain platform Sovrun, told Decrypt. Such tools "may feel unfair now, but they will soon be too common to ignore," he added. The bigger challenge, Chong argues, lies in protecting creators once imitation becomes commonplace. "If we know these tools are inevitable, then the boundaries have to focus less on restriction and more on recognition," Chong explained. "Creators need to retain visibility and value, even when their style is being mimicked or remixed." This means building attribution systems directly into AI tools, ensuring creators can "opt in, monetize, or even license their work and aesthetic," Chong said. "We need to build an ecosystem where creativity remains visible, consent-driven, and fairly rewarded," he argued.

MrBeast scraps AI YouTube thumbnail generator days after announcing it: 'If creators don't want the tools, no worries'

MrBeast at YouTube BrandCast in May 2025. (Image credit: John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images) Following a week of online criticism, world's-most-popular-YouTuber MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, has removed a new generative AI tool from his Viewstats platform, a suite of tools made to "help creators grow YouTube channels." Available as part of an $80/month package, the AI tool promised to "generate viral thumbnails" and received some positive reactions, but also a thunderingly negative response from those who view generative AI as some combination of wasteful, and tacky, and unethical. In a promo video announcing the tool earlier this week (embedded above), Donaldson didn't dance around subjects that were likely to, and did, draw the ire of peers and fans, saying that the thumbnail generator "literally feels like cheating" and that users can "type in any channel on all of YouTube, and it will use it as inspiration for the thumbnail it's generating" while the logos of popular YouTube channels appeared above him. "What the actual fuck... and he used my logo in the promotion for it too," said popular YouTuber Jacksepticeye in response. "I hate what this platform is turning into. Fuck AI." On Friday, Donaldson announced that the tool is no more, saying that he'd wanted to "help small creators make better thumbnails" but "missed the mark." As a show of goodwill to critics, a directory of thumbnail artists for hire is being offered in place of the tool. Whatever Donaldson's personal view on generative AI tools may be, he doesn't offer it up in the video, framing the change as fundamentally a response to complaints: "My goal here is to build tools to help creators, and if creators don't want the tools, no worries, it's not that big a deal." Some creators did want the AI thumbnail generator (the verified X accounts at the top of his replies, for instance), and so the rift has grown a little larger between those who see generative AI as merely a tool and those who see it as theft. Big corporations are as divided as the public, with software companies like Google, Microsoft, and Adobe embracing AI while many media companies combat it. Earlier this month, for instance, Disney and Universal sued image generator Midjourney, calling it "a bottomless pit of plagiarism."

MrBeast used AI to create YouTube thumbnails. People weren't pleased

However, the megastar is now embroiled in controversy following the launch of a new AI-powered thumbnail generator. The tool, developed with the analytics platform Viewstats, was promoted in now-deleted videos by Donaldson as a way for creators to easily generate eye-catching thumbnails -- including the ability to swap faces and styles with existing popular videos. The product was condemned by fellow YouTubers and artists, who accused MrBeast of facilitating the theft of their creative work and brand identity. Prominent creators like Jacksepticeye (i.e. Seán McLoughlin) publicly criticized the tool after his own logo and thumbnail style were used in promotional materials without his consent, calling the practice deeply unethical and harmful to the creative community. "I hate what this platform is turning into. Fuck AI," Jacksepticeye posted on X. (Neither McLoughlin nor Donaldson responded to Fast Company's request for comment.) Donaldson quickly acknowledged the concerns, pledging to make changes to the tool. "I'll build this more in a way to be inspiration for artists/a tool they use and not replace them," he posted on X. Still, the incident has gained momentum, provoking angry responses and heated debate about the endorsement of such an AI product. For example, another YouTuber, Eric Pointcrow, said of Donaldson: "What a piece of work." The mini-drama has riled the YouTube community in a way few other issues have, touching on a common occurrence in the space: the copying of video thumbnails. Why?

I'm glad MrBeast scrapped his insidious AI thumbnail generator

Creating the ultimate clickbait YouTube thumbnail is an art form, and no one knows that better than content creator, MrBeast - so much so that he recently released his own AI YouTube thumbnail generator. Naturally, the tool swiftly received backlash for its lazy corner-cutting capabilities and concerns over copyright infringement, leading the creator to scrap the tool shortly after its announcement. While you can have the most engaging content and the best camera for YouTube, without a killer thumbnail, the video is at risk of being an instant flop. To some, MrBeast's new tool signalled a shortcut to YouTube stardom, for others, it marked the death of YouTube content creation as we know it. Here's what we can learn. Overtime the obnoxious, oversaturated YouTube thumbnail featuring a beaming influencer nestled amongst various clickbait crap has become somewhat of a joke, so it's no surprise that the king of YouTube himself would capitalise on the winning formula. Teaming up with his own company, Viewstats, MrBeast's tool allowed users to swap out faces and styles in thumbnails for maximum productivity (at the expense of zero originality). MrBeast's thumbnail factory dreams were soon dashed when criticisms arose around copyright concerns, even catching the attention of fellow YouTuber Jacksepticeye. In response to the backlash, MrBeast admitted in an X video that he'd "missed the mark", claiming he'd miscalculated that "people would be pretty excited by it". The creator continues, adding, "Obviously, I'm the biggest YouTuber in the world, and I don't take that responsibility lightly, so it deeply makes me sad when I do something that people in the community are upset by." While MrBeast claims the tool was created as a way to make production easier for smaller creators, the AI tool demonstrates a lack of understanding when it comes to the livelihood of artists. With continuous concerns over AI copyright and job security for creatives, the tool inevitably felt like another cheap shortcut that devalues the work of human-made art, while adding to the soulless churn of egregious YouTube clickbait. All is not lost, as MrBeast has since replaced the tool with a hub featuring thumbnail artists ready to commission, spotlighting creative talent to repent for his AI sins. While the sleaziness of the original controversy cannot be overlooked, MrBeast's solution is, at the least, a step in the right direction. As a large creator advocating for hiring real artists (despite it being in response to backlash), hopefully, the controversy will help emerging creators to value and invest in the artistic talent available to them. Ultimately, the situation proves that there's still demand for unique, quality content. My faith in the internet is momentarily restored. For more creative inspiration check out the best software for editing videos for YouTube or take a look at the this YouTube archive website that recently sucked me down a nostalgic rabbit hole.

MrBeast just found a way to make YouTube thumbnails even more obnoxious

One of MrBeast's recent thumbnail images, for a video titled 'Watch This Video To Feed 1 Person In Need' (Image credit: MrBeast) Is there anything worse than YouTube thumbnails? Shocked faces, dodgy Photoshop and oversaturated colours have plagued the homepage for years, with influencers seemingly competing to create the most obnoxious preview images possible. And now, YouTube star MrBeast has found a way to make them even more objectionable. The YouTuber this week announced a new AI YouTube thumbnail generator, created in collaboration with his own company, Viewstats. But the tool has prompted a swift backlash, mostly thanks, yep, unauthorised replication of artists' work. (Don't fancy using AI? Check out our guide to the best fonts for thumbnails.) Viewstats (MrBeast's company) has released a tool where you can use AI to make YouTube thumbnails from r/aiwars MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, has since deleted videos explaining how the tool can swap faces and styles with existing popular YouTube videos. In Twitter (sorry, X) exchange with YouTuber Jacksepticeye, after the latter complained about his own logo being reproduced by the tool, Donaldson insisted, "I'll build this more in a way to be inspiration for artists/a tool they use and not replace them." As with all AI tools, the question of copyright infringement is a serious issue. But for my money, there's something else insidious about MrBeast's new tool - that is, the potential for an exponential rise in MrBeast-style thumbnails. In today's attention economy of loud and attention-grabbing imagery, there's a sense of a 'race to the bottom' about those cartoonish images. Just when it looked like the 'gobsmacked face' epidemic might be ending, it seems it's only just begun. Thankfully, judging by the backlash, it seems I'm not alone in my distaste for these images. As one Redditor puts it, "It's interesting to see where traditionally pro-AI voices decide to draw the line in the sand, and it appears to be MrBeast using it to let people generate MrBeast-like thumbnails." Quite.