BBC Newsbeat<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n MrBeast has removed a YouTube thumbnail generator that used artificial intelligence (AI) after a backlash from creators.<\/p>\n The world’s most-subscribed YouTuber, real name Jimmy Donaldson, released the tool last week and said his intention had been “to help smaller creators make better thumbnails”.<\/p>\n But he admitted he had “missed the mark” after it was criticised by other high-profile YouTubers, including PointCrow and Jacksepticeye, who said the tool “steals” creators’ work. <\/p>\n In a post on X, MrBeast said he’d decided to remove the tool from his YouTube analytics platform Viewstats and would replace it with links to human artists available for commission. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n When he launched the AI thumbnail tool last week, MrBeast said, he “thought people were going to be pretty excited about it”.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mr Beast’s tool was advertised as “taking the guesswork out” of designing eye-catching images for an $80 (\u00a358) per month subscription.<\/p>\n It gave users the option to insert themselves into existing thumbnails and recreate the work of other creators.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There are several current court cases examining accusations of copyright theft <\/a>against companies that make AI models.<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n 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”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n MrBeast acknowledged the feedback and told his followers: “I care more than any of you could ever imagine about the YouTube community.<\/p>\n “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.” <\/p>\n He said his goal with Viewstats had been to build tools to help creators, “but if creators don’t want the tools, no worries”.<\/p>\n The US YouTuber has more than 385 million subscribers on the site and is thought to be its highest-paid creator.<\/p>\n He has a number of other business ventures and last year hosted Beast Games, an Amazon series which saw 1,000 people competing in a series of elimination challenges for a $5m (\u00a33.9m) cash prize.<\/p>\n The series was named in a lawsuit where some contestants claimed they’d been “exploited” during filming<\/a> – allegations MrBeast said had been “blown out of proportion”<\/a>.<\/p>\n In May, the Mexican government accused him of “exploiting” the Mayan pyramids for a video<\/a> and the month before he had to apologise after fans had a “horrible” experience<\/a> at a Las Vegas event in his name. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/1e2c\/live\/af3a93c0-5331-11f0-969a-d7b5de4417ae.jpg.webp\")
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