MrBeast says AI could threaten creators’ livelihoods, calling it ‘scary times’ for the industry

Top YouTube creator MrBeast is worried about AI’s impact on creators’ livelihoods, despite having dabbled with using the technology himself. On Monday, the creator posted his concerns on social media, where he openly wondered how AI-generated videos could affect the “millions of creators currently making content for a living.”

“Scary times,” he added.

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is No. 1 on Forbes’ 2025 list of top creators, with $85 million in earnings and 634 million followers. What he says and does, as a result of his position, has an outsized influence across the industry. So if MrBeast is openly questioning whether AI is an existential threat to his business and others like it, then it’s fair to say that smaller creators are likely even more worried.

His comments follow the recent launch of OpenAI’s Sora 2, a new version of its audio and video generator, alongside a mobile app that lets users create AI, including videos of themselves, which are shared in a TikTok-style vertical feed. The app has been an early hit, quickly hitting No. 1 on the U.S. App Store after a surge of downloads.

YouTube itself has also embraced AI, launching things like AI editing tools, including those that let creators generate AI videos using its video model Veo to animate still photos or apply different styles to their videos. The company has infused AI into its product, as well, for things like making clips or highlights from Live videos or podcasts. An AI chatbot can answer creators’ questions inside YouTube’s channel management software, YouTube Studio.

MrBeast has also involved himself with AI, as commenters were quick to point out. The creator this summer faced a fair bit of backlash from fans and creators alike after releasing a tool that used AI to create video thumbnails. He quickly removed the tool from his analytics platform, Viewstats, and said he’d replace it with links to human artists available for commission.

His company’s philanthropy arm has also made AI investments at times.

There is still debate as to whether the novelty of AI video creation will turn everyone into a creator, or if the best videos will still need a human’s creative mind to think them up and then prompt the tool correctly. At the same time, there are those who view AI videos as low-quality content, often dubbed “slop,” and dislike seeing it in their feeds.

Even if the AI becomes undetectable at some point in the future, it’s possible that creators revealed to be using it without disclosure could lose their fans’ trust and harm their reputation.