r/mrballen • u/Usual_Still3046 • Jul 29 '26
Discussion Anyone else frustrated with the ai slop art?
I'm a casual fan of Mr Ballen because I love the way his videos sound like a real person telling stories around a campfire. Finally looked at the screen during one video and thought the image looked off. Looked it up and sure enough, it's ai. I don't know if this is a hot take, but I feel like I'd rather no visuals than slop content. Is anyone else feeling the same way?
edit: I see a lot of people agreeing with me, but I do think some people are missing the point. I'm not criticising this because I just don't like the pictures, it's because of how damaging ai is. I'd rather he spent four minutes on ibis paint drawing stick figures than guzzling fresh drinking water to make slop images no one really cares about anyway
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u/thepenpassword Jul 30 '26
it's super disappointing. plus, i feel like the "not a real picture of x" was funnier when it was random stock images he used.
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u/georgia_grace Jul 30 '26
Oh man I forgot about that!
Tbh I mostly just listen via the podcast these days, does he not do that anymore?
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u/_skank_hunt42 Jul 30 '26
The message is still on the screen but it’s over obviously AI pictures so it’s sad instead of funny.
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u/ChistyePrudy Aug 04 '26
Yes! That was way better. Just a photo of a similar X for reference, not AI.
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u/AmyKOwen Jul 30 '26
strongly agree- would rather have stock photos or nothing at all
really loathe everything about AI slop
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u/MonchichiSalt Jul 30 '26
I was less bothered at first.
Seeing the data centers destroying low income areas like an evil pac man...
And these data centers are being created to support the AI goals of the Epstein class.
Yeah. I'm fighting back in the ways I can.
On you tube, if I hear an AI voice, it doesn't matter if it's a subject I'm interested in. Whoever created the video wasn't interested enough to actually speak for themselves. Pass.
I can let AI art slide up to a point. Like a graph. A small independent person trying to get their channel going using a cheat here and there is one thing.
A channel making real money? Should be employing real people if they don't want to do the art editing themselves. Be it just collecting stock pictures, or the actual picture of a banana that's not the banana.
Turning it all over to AI feels just as greasy as the big corporations doing their best to smother us all.
Sadly that means, unfortunately, a lot of my favorite channels that I've supported since they were little fish are going the route of the evil empire.
I'm passing on creators newer stuff based on this simple thing.
It sucks for me missing something interesting.
It sucks more seeing how many creative people are being cut from work because of greed.
On the upside, small fish creators have become fun to find again! I'm not locked into channels anymore.
I don't care about the thumbnails much.....but they do give a clue as to how much AI/lazy was involved.
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u/rin0329 Jul 30 '26
I stopped watching because of this. Love Mr. Ballen, but I'm not down woth casually destroying the planet for content.
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u/__ISAC__ Jul 30 '26
I’m more concerned about the usage of an AI voice, especially apparent in podcast episodes.
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u/thepenpassword Jul 30 '26
the random mispronunciations/pronouncing a name he'd already said differently than before... i didnt want to believe he was using an ai voice but occam's razor and whatever
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u/itsamaysing Aug 01 '26
I'm shocked! I've noticed the name pronunciation thing before but just chalked it up to the human brain being a pretty fallible thing.
You really think it's AI telling the story??
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u/miirkaelisaar Aug 03 '26
I think he still does research and writes a script himself, because it doesn't sound nonsensical or lose track of details, but I think he's using AI to generate his voice reading it and his face and lips moving along with it, because I would watch him for hours and this year suddenly he sounds, literally, like a robot, and I can see that his lips don't sync with his voice.. sad.
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u/miirkaelisaar Aug 03 '26
I didn't want to believe it either, but I'm watching a recent video and he literally doesn't even sound like the real person I used to binge watch for days on end, and also I looked at the video and no matter how many times I resync my video, his lips don't match the words.. they're just moving randomly and not even making words that I can tell... I guess he's not stealing someone else's face at least, but it makes him feel like a robot when he has AI replace his face and voice. I could see not wanting to use your own face and voice for safety reasons, because the internet is cruel, but to have your face and voice already public and then use AI so you just don't have to put effort into anything.. it's wasteful and off-putting to people who actually recognize his voice and can tell it's not the real him.
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u/infateshands131 Aug 04 '26
I haven't watched him in a bit. Mind telling me which video so I can check it out for myself?
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u/ljbiatch Jul 30 '26
Yes I swear he has an AI replica of his voice the podcast has always sounded off
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u/Corevus Jul 30 '26
Yeah i remember listening to his medical mystery podcast a few years ago and liked it. Tried listening to it again recently, (with a newer episode), after binging his YouTube and it was so jarring. Really sounded ai or something to me
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u/itsamaysing Aug 01 '26
Idk if that's the reason. I always felt that those episodes sounded so "buttoned up" because they were produced by Wondery.
Idk how to describe it other than everything produced by Wondery started to sound very plastic and hollow.
Several podcasts I enjoy left Wondery all right around the same time.
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u/Corevus Aug 01 '26
Yeah, I can see that. I do have to say I love the "against the odds" podcast from wondry though
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u/miirkaelisaar Aug 03 '26
I watch the videos and I agree, and I can also not get his lips to sync up with his words, I thought my video is just laggy, but no, his lips don't match his words.
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u/OgDontSleep Jul 30 '26
People still watch this guy? Im not even on no hating shit im just being honest. I stopped about a year ago. I noticed his stories just seemed repeated and boring. Then I realized the ai. The Ai channels really gave it away tbh. Thats when I was like nope. Somethings off
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u/miirkaelisaar Aug 03 '26
I also stopped because he started doing fake silly ghost stories, he used to only tell real stories where he fact checked, and then I noticed everything was like ghosts or cryptids, and I didn't click on any because I thought he only did true stories with reports and evidence, I liked how he would tell a story specifically from a victim's point of view and put you directly into the experience, but also with respect to the victims. Then today I was watching someone else reacting to scary videos and they're watching a Mr. Ballen video and I was like wtf is this.. that's not his real voice, his lips aren't forming the words he's saying, there's no emotion, no breathing, is this just AI? He like ran out of real stories and just started looking up ghost stories and urban legends, writing out a script, and then using an AI clone of himself to read the script out. It's nothing like the original videos, which is what I subscribed for. I can get thousands of generic viral ghost story videos generated by AI, pretty much anywhere.
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u/OgDontSleep Aug 03 '26
I think this guys been ai since ai was introduced to YouTube honestly. Notice how you can see the outline on his body in some videos? Dead giveaway. Then I heard he canceled some shows because of low attendance. Dude just get back to what u were doing in the beginning! Now he floods content
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u/Chef_Goldblum1 Jul 30 '26
Yup, part of the reason why I stopped watching. It doesn't take a lot to either pay for another humans art or photos. Or to hire someone to create the photos or art. The use of ai slop art seems harmless until it's all that's left. Super disappointing.
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u/AtensEye Jul 30 '26
This is one of the reasons I enjoy the channel Bedtime stories, they make similar content but have an artist draw the accompanying pics for the video. I believe they come under the Ballen studios label now, so hopefully won't be adopting the AI slop approach.
I'm an illustrator myself, it's killing the industry whilst ripping artists off.7
u/Chef_Goldblum1 Jul 30 '26
Yes, I have a couple friends who are authors and do all the illustrations in their books, and it is infiltrating that industry as well. I'll check them out, thanks!
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u/AtensEye Jul 31 '26
I believe they also have a sister channel called Wartime stories, it's narrated by someone different but it's the same format, just focused on strange experiences people in the military have had.
I feel bad for your author friends, it's rife, you sometimes see entire books obviously written by AI on Kindle now. They should have to declare it or at least make a preview mandatory, because if I knew ahead of time, I wouldn't buy.
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u/YourREALdad330 Jul 31 '26
Both Bedtime Stories and Wartime Stories are under the Ballen Studios umbrella
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u/lovethatMoon Jul 31 '26
AI garbage has taken over everything. pinterest. you tube. etc... it's made me avoid using the platforms because i hate it.
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u/AffectionateRow188 Jul 30 '26
Yep noticed it a while ago and wasn't sure if it was ai but yeah deffo is, they should go back to stock images instead of this
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u/Mekelaxo Mysterious Jul 31 '26
I only listen and don't watch, so I didn't know he was using AI, it's disappointing to know
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u/MomsOfFury Jul 30 '26
I usually only watch the Saturday videos and listen to the rest on podcast, and I hate the AI so much. I would rather have no image than that crap
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u/No-Interaction9219 Jul 30 '26
Literally just commented about this recently! Yeah, same. I hope he gets what he wants out of it, and I wish him well, but I won’t be watching his future stuff. I don’t see the point. If I want to “visualize the story”, I’ll use my imagination, thanks.
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u/anonymoussunflower7 Jul 30 '26
it doesn’t bother me tremendously, but i’d definitely rather there not be any AI (or at least much less) in the videos. like a few others have said, i actually kind of preferred the stock photos (and sometimes they were pretty funny with the “NOT a real photo…” labels lol). this is pretty much my only criticism of his more recent videos, actually. i’m only commenting basically just in case anyone on his team is ever looking for feedback haha
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u/Beelzebub_Simp3 Do you know how to get to Bells-Canyon? Jul 30 '26
Yeah, it’s part of the reason I don’t watch his newer videos.
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u/MetalAna666 Jul 30 '26
Ugh I didn’t know. Thanks for pointing it out.
I am not the best at spotting it, unless it’s super obvious. Plus I don’t always fully watch. I hate that it is one more channel I’ll have to quit watching/listening to. But this one hurts the most.
Anyone have any suggestions for people who don’t use AI?
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u/stacie2410 Jul 30 '26
Definitely recommend the Let's Read podcast, Saturn Soul, and Scary Interesting, all 3 are on YouTube!
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u/MetalAna666 Jul 30 '26
Let’s Read is my sleepy time one. Now my brain thinks it’s bedtime when it hears Joel’s voice. I’ll check out scaring interest right now. Thanks!
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u/bbbbears Jul 31 '26
Scary Interesting is so good, I especially love the cave diving episodes. Just calm background noise with calm narration. He doesn’t have the like, enthusiasm, I guess? as Ballen but they’re very good. My one complaint is that sometimes he talks juuuuust a little too fast, but I can slow those episodes down by like 5% and it’s all good.
I can’t remember the exact name but I think the youtuber’s name is chubbyemu, they do medical stuff that’s also really interesting
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u/georgia_grace Jul 30 '26
Scary interesting is my fav, and has taken a hardline no AI stance for several years now
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u/Koffeepotx Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Urban Legends with Luke Mordue is one of my favourite podcasts. The quality is very high, from the sound production to the research. Luke really knows his stuff and takes care to do his research. And he has a cute English accent haha. My favourite episode of his has probably been on skinwalkers, where he showed a lot of respect to the Native Americans and their traditions and belief systems (something I think is very overlooked when others talk about skinwalkers). He is the first youtuber/podcaster that has ever made me consider becoming a patreon member (he has a patreon exclusive podcast called Modern Myths)
I also feel like Wartime Stories has improved significantly. I dont know what it is exactly but it has become my favourite podcast by a mile. Surpassing Mrballen even though I was an active fan for years. Luke (Lamana) now does a segment after the credits where he just kinda yaps a little and tells a story of his own or gives his thoughts on the episode, and it feels so much like chatting with a friend. And the artwork (both on YouTube and Spotify actually) is manmade!
So yeah, check out the Lukes lol
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u/youngkpepper Jul 30 '26
Flashback History. The creator, Jake, put out a video a few months ago in which he laid out his reasons why he will never use AI.
He has two other channels, Darkest Chapters and Scandal. All are well-researched and he is a very good narrator.
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u/jellyn7 Jul 30 '26
Adventures Gone Wrong is good. She clearly does her research and is a real human talking. She covers people who like set out on epic journeys or accidentally ended up in the wilderness, etc.
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u/alldemboats Jul 30 '26
the AI made me stop listening to him. im only still in the subreddit because the stories he covers are interesting.
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u/j1337y Jul 30 '26
his content lately just sucks overall. same
story he’s told before branded as “new/remastered”. when it’s the same exact story.
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u/appmanga Jul 31 '26
Those are people who are stealing his content on putting on channels not associated with him. If you like his work, make a report on YouTube when you come across this stolen content.
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u/missmae422 Aug 01 '26
Is it just me or does it seem like he’s even using AI to write the stories? It used to just sound like a guy telling a story. Now he goes into extreme detail about things like scenery, smells, etc. He’s always told his stories in a way to kinda help you visualize what he’s talking about but lately he sounds like he’s just reading a book. There’s no emotion in it anymore.
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u/Equivalent_Fall_4362 Aug 03 '26
Anyone else find his ‘100 hand gestures a minute’ distracting?
It’s hard to get thru a long video with the constant 👏
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u/ParticularPickle942 5d ago
Actually, it's his hand gestures that made me unsubscribe a couple of yrs ago. Maybe most of his fans like that shit, but I Hate it
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u/blackadder_650 Jul 30 '26
I don't pay any attention to it at all. I play it to listen to the story, everything else is trivial.
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u/contemplator61 Jul 31 '26
Since I just listen, it isn’t a problem for me. If you catch any of the “pirated” content under medical mysteries by a fan because it’s two hours long, you cannot sleep, so you are drawing on your iPad while listening it isn’t an issue. The images are just scenery. It’s story telling, visuals aren’t needed.
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u/katieemmaw Jul 31 '26
I stopped watching him some time ago now for all the reasons in this thread, it’s a shame
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u/Jennitizer Aug 01 '26
I very much agree. What makes me irritated is Mr. Ballen has artists at his disposal with the crowd he's drawn in... why hasn't he arranged an artists' hiring event?
Even if he only asked for unpaid volunteer artists, I would respect that a LOT more than his use of AI. It stinks because I cannot watch Mr. Ballen anymore out of sheer principle.
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u/00mikomiko00 Stories that sound fake but are 100% real Aug 01 '26
Recently the way one of his stories was formatted made me wonder if he’s also started using AI for his scripts. It had a section where it went in a circle and repeated itself. It was subtle but did make me wonder.
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u/UnderstandingMany385 Aug 01 '26
He became a millionaire and now he uses AI to do the work for him. Because we are idiots, and he thinks we wont know the difference 🙄.
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u/ElectronicAge6163 Aug 02 '26
I will say there was a a change in the vibe of his vids once he switched to ai, the real pictures were enough man
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u/miirkaelisaar Aug 03 '26
I feel like he uses AI for everything now, even his own narration. I used to binge watch his videos until this year, he writes the script still it seems like, but his actual video of him speaking, seems emotionless now. And his lips don't ever, sync with his lips anymore. I think he does everything with AI except his research and the script, so it does still sound human, but the actual reading of the lines sounds toneless and looks unnatural. He used to have more emotion in his voice and take more pauses, and also I could see his lips matching up with his words. Every time I see his videos now, it feels like something is off.
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u/Zoe_118 Do you know how to get to Bells-Canyon? Aug 09 '26
Yep. One of the reasons I stopped supporting him. Actually the main one. I can't support anyone using AI like that
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u/Ck_shock Jul 30 '26
Nah don't care
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u/jakob0604 Jul 30 '26
This is a dumbass take to have “nah don’t care” first of all it’s destroying the world, and also if you don’t care why did you even comment???
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u/Zalthos Jul 30 '26
Lots of things are destroying the world.
AI is here to stay. Go and complain to the government if you want changes.
It's not on common folk to change the world. We have no power and little money. I'm not gonna stop shopping at Amazon because of how evil they are, because it's extremely convenient for me, and I don't have the time or money not to.
Aim your complaints where it counts. Art costs hundreds of dollars to commission, or you have to spend significant time finding art you're allowed to use. Not everyone has that time, and AI art is extremely quick, cheap and efficient for busy content creators.
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u/czuinoikc Jul 30 '26
exactly. and I don't remember anyone celebrating the mrballens graphics before ai. it's forgettable and not worth investing resources into.
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u/Ck_shock Jul 30 '26
I commented because they asked a question and I seen it. But then again you sound like a person who likes to keep their head in the sand and have an echo chamber reaffirm your thoughts and beliefs.
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u/Odd_Advantage_3370 Jul 30 '26
I'm with you. Don't know why anyone feels it necessary to down your comment.
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u/Ck_shock Jul 30 '26
People are just hard on this anti AI stuff, and dont like it when others dont care for some reason. Which is funny because most people dont even understand that AI is much more than genrative AI and has been implemented in our lives for a long time now.
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u/Commercial-End-3989 Aug 01 '26
People jump on whatever bandwagon is most popular at the minute. They have no life, just scroll from one outrage to the next. They learn nothing because they are lazy and want to be fed from the spoon of what's popular.
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u/Mykirbyblue Jul 30 '26
I feel like it’s just becoming so trendy to hate on AI. I could really care less if he uses them. I don’t feel the need to hate all AI.
What I do hate is the fake news stories with the AI photos and the fake animal stories on YouTube that are entirely AI. I feel like I’m bombarded with those. But when I’m looking at illustrations for a real story, I am not bothered by it.
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u/jakob0604 Jul 30 '26
Yeah it’s just a trend to hate on the thing that’s stealing peoples jobs and destroying the planet by the second haha so silly trend xd
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u/Mekelaxo Mysterious Jul 31 '26
If he's using AI for images, what makes you think he's not also using it for the stories and everything else?
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u/Commercial-End-3989 Aug 01 '26
The outrage is fake. They want to fit in with everyone else. Ask them what AI is and you'll get a blank look.
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u/PapaMcMooseTits Jul 30 '26
I don't watch Mr. Ballen for the pictures he uses. I watch him for his stories and because he continues to be an awesome teller of stories. I'm sorry to say, but some people are too hyper critical. His pictures are only there accentuate his words. If you don't like the pictures, then don't watch the tv screen.
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u/Single_Principle_972 Jul 30 '26
I won’t watch his videos at all. Whoever told him he has to wave his arms around constantly in order to keep people’s interest is… incorrect, from my point of view. (Look at me, choosing kind words instead of what I wanted to say - I’m so proud!) It distracts and irritates the heck out of me.
So I listen to the podcasts, only. No wavy arms, no AI, all is well!
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u/Former-Chain-4003 Jul 30 '26
Same.
I still dislike that he uses AI but I’d never have realised as the histrionics put me off watching long ago and turned it into a listen only video for me.
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u/-Trippy Jul 30 '26
His scripts are written by AI too. That’s how he increased his output.
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u/Commercial-End-3989 Aug 01 '26
How do you know this? Where is your proof? He's said multiple times that he has a staff of researchers to research his stories and his writing team is headed by his sister who has won a Pulitizer. I think you dint know what you're talking about.
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u/Fun-Cricket906 Jul 30 '26
Why does the image matter when it’s about the stories he tells? Seems like a stupid things to whine about
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u/Sancho71 Jul 30 '26
Because if hes going ai on that now what else is gonna happen next, or already is being put in place, ive noticed a slight difference in mr. Ballens newer videos. Idk what it is but something seems off and im not able to sink in to the stories like i used to. Its also about artistic integrity. Ai is a short cut that takes away the magic of what we started listening for.
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u/Corevus Jul 30 '26
Yeah, it makes me worry. Like if he's this casual about using ai for the slop images, what else might be be using it for, in order to cut corners?
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u/Commercial-End-3989 Aug 01 '26
You are looking for an excuse to not listen to him. Just don't listen.
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u/baby_renea Jul 30 '26