MrBeast removes controversial AI thumbnail tool after wave of backlash
MrBeastexcitedly unveiled his own AI-driven YouTube thumbnail generator tool on August 23, 2025. Now, a mere five days later, he’s taken it down and issued an apology to the community.
As thebiggest YouTuber in the world today, MrBeast has an untold number of eyeballs watching his every move. So when something irks the community, what ensues is a considerable wave of backlash hard to ignore.
On July 26, 2025,MrBeast announced a new toolfor his content creator-assisting company,Viewstats. As the face of the team, the mega-popular celebrity introduced his AI-driven thumbnail generator program. The idea was for the tool to help creators automatically generate the most clickable images for their videos.
Budding influencers could pick a YouTube channel to use as a reference, and then, after putting in a prompt, the program would spit out an AI-generated thumbnail. They could even include images of their own face to be automatically edited over an existing YouTuber, for instance.
Almost immediately, the AI tool, sat behind a monthly $80 paywall, sparked controversy. Fellow YouTubers were irate, with the likes of JackSepticEyeenfuriatedafter MrBeast used his logo without permission.
Now, just five days later, the tool is no more, and the original promotion has been deleted. MrBeast has issued a response, addressing the backlash, apologizing to the community, and outright removing the AI program.
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.https://t.co/P2gJLrJax9
MrBeast swiftly removes his AI thumbnail generator
“I thought people were gonna be pretty excited about it,” the 27-year-old influencer said in a June 27 video on X (formerly Twitter). “I definitely missed the mark.
“I read all your feedback and we just enacted some changes. Going forward, there is no AI thumbnail tool.”
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Now, when visiting the Viewstats website, rather than being taken to the AI program, viewers will be ‘funneled’ to a resource listing real thumbnail artists they can then commission.
“I wanted to go one step further to show artists that I care,” MrBeast said. “Basically turning this negative situation into something positive. I care more than any of you could imagine about the YouTube community. I’m the biggest YouTuber in the world, and I don’t take that responsibility lightly.”
Hey! Thanks for all your feedback on the ViewStats AI thumbnail tool, we pulled it and added a funnel for creators to find real thumbnail artists to commissionpic.twitter.com/ICrB8NFyuC
Further clarifying his stance, MrBeast assured his “army” of in-house thumbnail designers aren’t at risk of losing their jobs to AI, quite the opposite, he argued.
“I guarantee I’ve probably spent more money on YouTube thumbnails than the top 100 YouTubers combined.”
