In a video uploaded Friday, prolific internet creator Hank Green said he had taken time to reconsider his use of AI, acknowledging that he had become “too reliant on [LLMs] for advice, for editing and for sourcing.” He pledged to create an “AI policy for himself,” and encouraged other creators to take a similar approach.

These remarks follow viewers’ claims that one of Green’s videos contained an AI-generated script. Last week, the YouTuber said he had used AI “to locate papers and other resources for learning about topics” and apologized for not being transparent. He said he would “readjust” and scale back his projects. In other words, make fewer things. 

This is a big deal, because Hank Green is widely known for making things. He’s built the popular app Focus Friend, co-created the educational YouTube channel Crash Course, invented 2D glasses and written two New York Times bestselling novels. Green has done more in the last 20 years than most people could in 200. 

I’ve watched his YouTube videos almost every week since 2012. Green publishes to his Vlogbrothers channel every Friday, even when he’s on vacation. (In June, he posted a video titled “No Video Today!!” that was, in fact, a video.) Nothing, not even cancer, seems able to stop him – within months of announcing he was in remission, he performed a comedy special about his experience with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

But now, because of generative AI, Green is pumping the brakes. 

Instead of uploading a video last Friday, he wrote a lengthy Reddit post, stating, “the level of dopamine I’ve been getting from interacting with LLMs … with doing more and more and more and more … is not healthy for me or good for the world. It is careless and has disconnected me from where people are on this.” 

In a now-deleted tweet, Green commented on the video that sparked the controversy, “I produced this under a ton of pressure … I did use ChatGPT for research on this script and watching it I definitely get an AI feel.”

I don’t think Green used generative AI with the intention of deceiving his audience. I think he used it because it was a tool to help him keep up with the pace of his own ideas and ambitions. And I don’t think he’s the only one guilty of doing this.

AI-generated content is everywhere. It provides instant results that can feel magical. Under the pressure of deadlines, it might make sense to resort to using AI, especially if it seems like everyone else is doing it.

I imagine Green was caught up in too many projects (Here’s a list of most of them, provided by his brother and frequent collaborator, John) and saw the potential of AI to help him be more productive. 

There are some cases when AI can be genuinely helpful. However, I’m wary of claims that AI will increase our output and save us time, without costing us something else. 

What we generate with AI tends to lack intention. It’s true that users of ChatGPT or Claude will make choices in the process of creating a prompt, and those prompts can be continually refined. But the resulting AI-generated images or writing ultimately comes from a machine. And when we outsource our thinking to machines, we lose what makes our thoughts unique in the first place.

I’m interested in what Hank Green personally has to say – not what his LLMs generate. Even if he “did not use AI to write or fact-check”, there’s something about his video’s proximity to ChatGPT that rubs me the wrong way.

I applaud him for stopping to reflect on the situation. With AI promising us more productivity and more content and more everything, it often feels counterintuitive to slow down. Sometimes, it takes more effort to do less — and do better.

Jason Chun is a CNET writer covering a range of topics in tech, home, wellness, finance and streaming services. He is passionate about language and technology, and has been an avid writer/reader of science fiction for most of his life. He holds a BA from UC Santa Barbara and an MFA from The New School.

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