YouTuber Hank Green has acknowledged that his use of AI tools like ChatGPT has become problematic, saying the level of dopamine he gets from interacting with large language models and 'doing more and more and more' is 'not healthy for me or good for the world.'
Green's admission came after viewers noticed he had accidentally included the phrase 'I appreciate the pushback' in a Complexly video, which appeared to be a chatbot's response to one of his prompts rather than his own words. He acknowledged on X that he produced the video 'under a ton of pressure' and used ChatGPT for research, though he insisted the words and 'takes' remained his own.
On Reddit, Green said he was 'mortified' and admitted it's fair to criticize him for 'diluting' himself. He expressed concern about the technology's impact on climate change and 'the speed at which these companies are trying to consolidate economic power.' Green said he's most scared of 'ruining myself for people' and not managing his impulses well.
As a result, Green plans to pause or reduce posting to his YouTube channels and do more work like a recent meditative video 'where the writing was the whole thing.' He also said he'll likely make more 'dumb unscripted straight to camera thoughts' to reconnect with his audience.