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MrBeast raises red flag over AI’s impact on creator economy
YouTube megastar MrBeast voiced concern over AI’s growing role in content creation, calling it “scary times.” His warning follows the launch of OpenAI’s Sora 2 and rising use of AI tools on YouTube, sparking debate over authenticity and creators’ future.
Born in Greenville, North Carolina, in 1998, Donaldson launched his YouTube journey at age 12 under the moniker “MrBeast6000.”
YouTube’s most influential creator, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), has become the latest and perhaps the loudest voice in the ongoing debate over artificial intelligence’s impact on the creator economy. Despite his own experiments with AI, MrBeast said he’s increasingly “worried” about how the technology could reshape livelihoods across digital platforms.
“Scary times,” he wrote in a viral post this week.
The timing of his comments is significant. Just days earlier, OpenAI unveiled Sora 2, its upgraded AI video generator, alongside a mobile app that allows users to create lifelike videos of themselves in seconds. The app quickly surged to the top of the U.S. App Store, a signal of how fast AI-generated video is entering mainstream use.
Meanwhile, YouTube has been integrating AI deeper into its ecosystem, from tools that animate still photos to automatic highlight generators for livestreams and podcasts. It even added an AI chatbot to YouTube Studio to help creators manage uploads and engagement more efficiently.
For creators like MrBeast, who leads Forbes’ 2025 Creator List with $85 million in annual earnings and 634 million followers, the rise of AI presents a double-edged sword.
While the technology can accelerate production and lower barriers to entry, it also threatens to devalue originality and authenticity, the very pillars of online influence.
MrBeast’s own AI experiment earlier this year, via his analytics platform Viewstats, ended in controversy after an AI thumbnail generator drew backlash from artists. He later removed the feature and directed users toward hiring human designers instead.
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