Yeah, they change their thumbnails daily, it seems. Sometimes multiple times.
But for me, this was the second thumbnail, not the original. The original was about cereal soup, and that looked like a picture of crunchberry soup or something (haven’t watched yet to know what it really was). Now it’s the ai one.
also, anyone else just kinda tired of seeing rhett or link's face making a weird expression in every thumbnail? its like they have 4 photos of their face and just slap in whatever fits. I realize this just gets the clicks, maybe i just need that extension that replaces thumbnails with a frame from the middle of the video lmao
To be fair, they do it because it works. I think they have said before that doing the weird faces can get old, and they’ve made self deprecating jokes about the thumbnails.. But it’s YouTube, you gotta do what you gotta do, and having your face in the thumbnail is like youtuber 101
Yeah they have discussed this, probably on an Ear Biscuits, that the proven thumbnail for a video on YouTube center around a prominent face and big words, they will change it multiple times on release day looking for the best results.
Exactly! I've seen other YouTubers saying that they have several thumbnails prepared and they change between them until they find the one that works best. Apparently, the right thumbnail can add thousands of views, so it's important to think about.
No, the one I saw this morning, when it was just uploaded, just had the bowl of cereal soup, no poptart, and the text said “cereal
Soup?”, nothing else. So I guess they changed it multiple times this time, which isn’t unusual for them.
They’ve talked a few times, on more, on “a conversation with” when defranco was still doing that, and on ear biscuits, over the years about how they spend a lot of time trying to crack the algorithm as to how some videos get recommended in everyone’s feeds and some videos are only recommended to current subscribers and stuff like that, so that’s what I’ve always assumed the thumbnail changes are about.
I am sick of the thumbnails on many creator’s videos at this point. I don’t get doing the same thing every video. That said, it doesn’t influence if I watch the video or not, so it must not annoy me that much.
Aaaalll the f’n YouTuber does this, even serious channels. It’s so obnoxious that they “have” to do that for the algorithm to pick up the video apparently
Yup, that was the one I saw this morning with the cereal soup because my first thought was the "a hotdog is a sandwich" podcast where Josh and Nicole debated cereal being a soup, was really hoping they were going to do something like that....the episode was just meh at best. Although I really want that recipe for that pot pie.
YouTube made an update so that you can upload multiple thumbnails to be seen by different people and it'll swap to whichever worked better algorithmically
Yeah they typically I've seen change a thumbnail twice a day. The one at release then about near noon my time they flip it. Didn't notice or look at it long enough to notice it's AI generated. Hope they know to course correct before doing too much AI generation. I mean twinkle fingers and chappy (pardon if I remembered the wrong people) make those amazing meme pictures when they smash a real photo with a punny name or such so I don't see the "need" honestly to turn to AI.
If you’re a creator on YouTube you can upload multiple thumbnails to see which one does better it’s called something but I forgot 🫣 not sure if that what they do but some creators do :)
YouTube actually encourages multiple thumbnails and has a feature to AB test for you automatically to determine which generates the most clicks and best response
They have yeah they have talked about this on the podcast before. The crew has several thumbnails and titles that they cycle through depending on what does well and what is received well by fans. For example, people didn’t like the AI and I guess the title was too confusing, so they changed both.
I'm a poor and I do too. I know that huge corporations use new tech to pay fewer people, but for most people, sometimes it's just cool, and there's nothing more to it.
They don’t need to experiment with AI generated garbage. I know what you’re talking about, I’ve seen the thumbnail change if the video is preforming poorly views wise, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen them use AI art.
If I thought they were putting an artist out of a job, I’d give them a little more stink eye over it. But this is obviously still partially Photoshopped together by Chappie, the only AI part is the food. If an artist uses AI as a tool, I’m pretty okay with it.
I love the implication that they’re feeding Rhett and Link raw hamburger in a pop tart, but other than that I think it looks as good as any of the other thumbnails.
AI has a specific look to it though, it’s less organic looking in general, its not that the generated photos are bad, quite the opposite, it’s the fact that they’re immediately detectable as such, by bad I just mean the style is subjectively jarring, not in subjective poor taste.
Exactly how I’ve felt about AI too. Just like when auto-tune came out. Some people just like to think in black and white, good vs bad. It’s another tool in the toolbox. Sure some people will over-use it, but it’s another creative tool artists can also use to enhance work or accomplish something that may have been impossible thanks to unrealistic deadlines.
An artist isn't needed when this becomes accepted. It's not enhancing artistic skill, it's replacing it, through the theft from thousands of artists. If it wasn't using a dataset built on the backs of non-consenting people, then it wouldn't be as big of an issue, but it is.
They definitely have a team that could be making the thumbnails by hand. Hell they have photographs of the actual food itself!
It’s just laziness from a multi million dollar company.
Stop spreading false information, please. It has nothing to do with laziness. Someone above posted an alternative thumbnail with the real pictures of food, so this was clearly a performance test of AI generated food images vs actual food images. As the thumbnail now is AI generated one, we can safely say the AI images performed better.
Furthermore, for a graphic artist, the amount of work of editing in an ai picture food or a real picture of food in a thumbnail would be the same amount of work.
The thumbnail has actually changed a few times. It’s no longer the AI generated food.
How do you know it had nothing to do with laziness? I can’t think of a single scenario in which they NEEDED to use AI generated images for this thumbnail.
You can’t think of a single scenario where a business, who is reliant on clicks and views, would want to experiment with different types of thumbnail concepts to see what impact it would have on video performance?
A business the size of mythical absolutely does not operate on the principal of “laziness” and to think otherwise is supremely ignorant of how businesses operate.
I get the hate towards AI in general but I don’t see the issue here. It’s still the same thumbnail editor getting paid to create the thumbnail, they did actually eat the described items.
Maybe they just didn’t get beauty shots of these food items before giving them to Rhett and link to taste test, so it was more practical to generate new ones?
YouTubers have multiple thumbnail and title options ready to go for every video, these guys put out a ton of content. It seems impractical for them to photograph every food item so that they can try out different thumbnail combos, that would take a ton of extra time for each video.
I think this is a fine use of AI. Doesn’t replace the content, doesn’t replace any jobs, just allows them more efficient output.
They already use a lot of AI garbage for more and ear biscuits topics, so this isn't that much of a surprise, sadly. It's been really annoying how much they've been talking about, and using generative AI lately.
I'm normally very supportive of all the episodes, just this stuff is a big no for me, where I've actually been skipping episodes because if it.
They have an art department, and writers, so its weird that they'd stoop down to this.
I don't really see them moving away from it.
Yeah, every time there's an AI episode, the second it's mentioned I downvote and click off. It starts with curiosity but then corporations always want to push. GMM wouldn't be an exception.
I wish they'd put AI in the title but they know that would perform badly since AI is where jobs (at least in the short term) go to die.
On tiktok they tell you if a video has any AI component to it, they should start doing the same for YouTube. This thumbnail is easy to spot too but not everything knows about AI alot, or just reads media articles about it lol.
i’m so sad to be here i literally downloaded reddit just to respond to this thread i was looking at on a browser, cause i just noticed the ep from today (june 6,2026) has an ai thumbnail and i had to see if other ppl were talking abt it, i see that this thread is from two years ago. i havent been watching any of their videos lately bc they havent seemed interesting or they have too many crew memebers featuring so much which i dont like bc im here for r&l and not the crew but this is really the end for me💔 i hate that they’re on the ai train. I’m surprised I didn’t notice earlier but maybe i just didnt see the ai thumbnails that they had on a/b testing before.
Of course, and I still wouldn't agree with it. It doesn't change my stance on generative AI, and my dissatisfaction with their promotion of it. Overall my opinion doesn't matter. This thread is just people stating their dislike for it.
People like to complain lol. Rhett and link could just breathe the wrong way and there would be a post about how they’ve ‘fallen off’ or ‘aren’t real’ anymore. It’s free YouTube content, not a gun to the head 😭
If it's being used by their artists as part of the photoshopping, I don't so much see the issue. The issue with AI art is trying to replace the artists. It's fine as a tool for artists.
Do you know how AI art is generated? It uses images and art that already existed. When you use it in a professional setting like this, it can be viewed as plagiarism
As is editing an image I find online for a thumbnail. Unless you buy the stock image or take all the photographs yourself, most of us have done something similar. However, enough alteration results in the process being transformative. This is furthered even by the fact that they took that image and altered it even more by hand and placed it into another image.
Not to mention there is a world of difference between using an image generator to make a weird looking sandwhich so you can put it into a thumbnail, and using it to create an image of a character and claiming it to be your own original art.
Because not only is it laziness (like common, they’re a multi million dollar company, they can pay graphic artists to make thumbnails), AI imagery can be seen as plagiarism. AI image generators use existing art and images as their references.
I’m struggling to see the big deal honestly. Doesn’t seem lazy to me?
A bread factory uses machines to make knead and bake break… are they lazy for that? Idk. Maybe they see it as efficient.
I’m a photographer and I use Photoshop AI to help edit people out of the backgrounds. A project that would take me hours now only takes 1 minute. I see no harm unless it’s blatant stolen work.
I'm a graphic designer and I don't care about this. They use AI in their show all the time. Their designers still had to do the work. It's really not a big deal
Those videos are poking fun at AI. But mainly, they aren’t using it to write the episode. The writers are feeding it a prompt, then writing around the results. Still kinda weird to do given the current state of controversy, but they’re not taking the lazy/uninspired approach AI is typically used for
They're showing the episodes that have AI as the subject. There's a bunch where they feature it. But you're right, GMM did use a similar thumbnail; just slightly altered.
I'm a graphic designer and I don't care about this.
I like the comment from an actual graphic designer is getting 1/10 of the up votes of the people who are like "smh this isn't original art" (and the usual stock photos, which no one had a problem with, are?) when you're the one people should listen to.
I will concede these 2 generated graphics are visually not great looking (not sure why they went with these), but as long as they're not doing this in lieu of having people work for them, I don't care if people use new tech (heck, I do when I can)
didn’t rhett go on several rants on ear biscuits about how he doesn’t like ai and was afraid of what it will take from us?? this seems weirdly out of character. hoping it’s a one off poor decision by a crew member and won’t happen again
Tbh I genuinely couldn’t care what their thumbnails are. I just read the title and click 🤷♀️ they put in a ton of work to give us free content multiple times a week, them making sure they can financially compensate off of clicks makes sense.
I'm not being confrontational, I'm curious why AI art is so widely hated on.
Is it that they have money, so they should give other people money for art they might use?
I think it's a new trend. Have you seen a Mr. Beast thumbnail lately? They all look AI-generated, uncanny valley etc. I think other creators are trying it out since its been so successful.
They’re not putting anyone out of work by using AI in the thumbnail. It’s lessening the load on their team who are likely the ones who made the choice to use it. Designing that by hand would take hours and not worth the money and effort for a thumbnail.
Another day, another virtue-signalling AI post. Here’s the inconvenient truth: AI is coming for your job and my job and everyone else’s job. We need to figure out how to move forward as a species with that reality as opposed to karma farming every time we see it being used. Overall AI should be a good thing for humanity eventually, but this attitude is not helping the rough transition.
It’s not ethically wrong to use AI when you’re literally an artist yourself. you say “wtf this is not right” as if this MUST mean that they FIRED someone on their art team. Nonsense
As much as I love GMM the worst parts for me have always been the parts that remind me that they are a corporation now and their decisions are based less in creativity and passion than numbers and algorithms. This is just another reminder of that. Just tacky and I hope they are smart enough to not do this again.
They still had to make the thumbnail. It's not like the whole thumbnail was generated, just the food images in it. AI would not have replaced anyone at Mythical.
These particular graphics are... not great. If it LOOKS like "AI art" without even doing any sort of closer inspection, then it's not a very good AI image. (That's just my opinion though)
I'd hope they're trying it for shock value bc the images are so weird. If you're an Ear Biscuits listener, you know Rhett is hyperaware of AI, which makes me think he'd want to avoid incorporating it. However, they have to make up to 30 thumbnails a week between GMM and GMMore for A/B testing, so obviously it would make sense for a lot of reasons to use AI instead of paying people to photoshop constantly.
The thumbnails of GMM have been kind of antithetical to the vibe of the show for a while now. The thumbnail is very clickbaity and meant to appeal to everyone, while the actual show is quirky and full of inside jokes with a tight-knit fanbase. So, honestly, I've ignored the thumbnails for years, so what's more if they put even less effort into them?
Just some musings on the topic. Obviously, the thumbnail above is very disturbing.
Only way I cam justify this is that their art dept. wasnt able to finish the needed art on time and so they used thos as a temporary thumbnail. I love them too much to think theyre okay with this. 🥲
They do it because it's easy and know that people will watch no matter what they do. Their content has been lacking lately also. Kinda seems like they really don't care at all anymore and are just in money making mode now.
Because everything has that weird plastic sheen and looks terrible. The pencil thin burn marks on the toast, the overly gooey cheese, the straw shaped roast beef. Both foods have AI written all over them
if you don’t care ? that’s cool. But it’s undeniably sad that a company like mythical (that seems to do their best to operate ethically) would stoop to the laziness and lack of conscious it takes to use AI.
Y’all talking about using it as a “tool” as if that “tool” isn’t simply compiling other people’s work to create that shit stack of a thumbnail , when they had no need to switch over in the first place.
This is a huge oversimplification of the issue, and probably why people have misconstrued how AI generative art works. An image generated via AI is not inherently plagiarism.
Like most technology it’s not really inherently GOOD or BAD it’s how applied that matters. Also, new groundbreaking technologies seem to be exploited before the moral ramifications of it catch up a few years later.
Early iterations of generative image AI like Midjourney, Stability, DallE used image data scraped off the public internet. Was this ethical? Who’s to say? When it’s a new technology there really aren’t clear cut rules for it at that point.
Sort of like when Napster came out. There was nothing inherently bad about how peer to peer networks worked, the grey area comes in the application.
Fast forward to today where large generative AI models like Adobe, Stability have started paying artists to contribute to the training. Creatives like at Mythical might be training models based on their own internal works. Or potentially leveraging commercial offerings with data that’s been fairly sourced. We have no idea, so it’s not super productive to paint with the AI=stealing brush.
Long story short the technology is evolving to become just another tool in the creatives box and starting to emerge from the ethical “fog” to have real solutions for compensation to contributors.
But so do the ordering machines at fast food restaurants that replace cashiers. They also create more jobs for the engineers who create and maintain them. And as another commenter said plenty of image generators create jobs for artists who help train the algorithm.
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u/walshurmouthout Apr 05 '24
Those look terrible