Jimmy Donaldson, the creator behind YouTube’s biggest channel MrBeast, warned that a frightening period may be ahead for the creator economy as AI video tools make it harder to tell truth from fiction.
On the 5th (local time), he posted on X: “If AI videos become as good as regular videos, I wonder what that will do to YouTube and how it will affect the millions of creators who currently make a living from content. It’s a scary time.”
His concern was prompted by OpenAI’s recent rollout of Sora, a social platform that generates short AI videos and can create clips of people who sign up. Meta introduced a similar video-generation product, Vibes, last month.
Other creators have weighed in on the potential impact. Casey Neistat, who has more than 12.6 million subscribers on YouTube, described the Sora app in a video on the 5th as “a TikTok copy where all the videos are AI.”
Donaldson has experimented with the technology himself. In July, he launched a tool that created YouTube thumbnail images using AI. After heavy backlash from fellow creators, he removed the feature about a week later and said he would replace it with links to human artists accepting commissions.
In a video, Donaldson said, “I care about the YouTube community more than you can imagine,” adding that “it’s really sad when community members get mad about things I’ve done.”
MrBeast’s charity arm, Beast Philanthropy, announced a partnership in February with Light AI, a company that built an AI tool capable of diagnosing Group A Streptococcus from smartphone photos. The collaboration aims to deliver 10,000 test kits to patients in Africa.
AI and the creator economy
AI-generated video content is becoming an increasing worry for online creators. A 2024 survey by HypeAuditor of 620 Instagram influencers found that more than 80% of Instagram content creators use AI tools for image and video generation. Yet one-third expressed concerns about the quality of AI-generated content, and 45% said the technology will make it harder for human creators to stand out.
AI-driven characters are already appearing on platforms like YouTube. Virtual YouTubers, or VTubers, such as Bloo have amassed about 2.7 million subscribers and more than 700 million views. Jordi van den Bussche—known online as kwebbelkop—who created Bloo, reportedly earned millions of dollars from videos featuring the character.
In 2023, a Snapchat user created an AI version of themselves that more than 1,000 “boyfriends” paid $1 per minute to chat with as a virtual girlfriend. The bot’s creator, Caryn Marjorie, said she made $71,610 in the first week of beta testing.
Despite some users’ anxieties, not everyone sees AI as harmful to creators. Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s head of creator payments and product, told Fortune in 2024 that the technology could level the playing field for creators who lack the resources of figures like Donaldson.
“Until now, many effects—visual quality and imagery—required a team like Jimmy’s,” Hanif said. “AI will make those tools available to far more creators.”
/ Sasha Rogelberg & Taeyoung Kim young@fortunekorea.co.kr
