Longtime YouTuber and science content creator Hank Green has announced that his main channel will likely be “paused” as he deals with his admitted overreliance on ChatGPT and other AI tools after some fans claimed a recent video included him reading AI-generated language.
On July 29, a new episode of Ask Hank Anything was uploaded to the YouTube channel Complexly, a popular science-focused education channel created in 2017 that is part of a larger network of educational channels and programs that Hank and his brother John Green started nearly 15 years ago. In the recent episode, TikToker SoupyTime appeared and asked Hank Green some questions, which he then answered in a silly but informative way. Pretty standard stuff for the channel.
But one moment went viral online that had Green, in a segment recorded later, saying “I appreciate the pushback” in the context of discussing a disagreement seen earlier in the episode. Some claimed this was him reading the kind of answer you might get from ChatGPT when generating content and asking the AI to make changes.
Not long after that clip started spreading online and people were accusing him of writing scripts with AI, Green posted a tweet denying that the line in question was written by AI or by himself; instead, it was an ad lib he added during filming. But he also admitted that he does use ChatGPT for research and agreed that his script sounded too much like AI.
“I think it’s fair to say I was relying too much on [AI] generated notes,” tweeted Green. “That’s a thing I’ve been doing, and it’s a bad habit at a time when I’ve overcommitted myself.”
Green has since deleted the tweet, but publicly shared a link to a Reddit post that includes an image of the original tweet. Green offered up a lengthy reply in the comments below that Reddit post, apologizing to fans he let down while also explaining how he is likely going to pause his main channel and try to stop creating as much content as he currently does. He also acknowledged that he has an unhealthy relationship with generative AI tools like ChatGPT.
“I need to come to terms with the fact that 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,” said Green. “It is careless, and has disconnected me from where people are on this. I was talking about this with [my wife] last night, and she did not pull any punches. Frankly, neither did [my brother]. Neither of them think I’ve been being healthy. I need to readjust.”
While some shared criticism about his apology and pointed to Green’s dependency on AI as a sign of how this tech can rot even smart people’s brains, many of his fans seemed happy that Hank was seemingly listening and changing.
“As someone who also struggles to know when to slow down versus when to dive into my interests and create,” said a fan on Reddit, “I appreciate your candor about the balance between the two.”
“I am also in agreement with everyone here that we do not want to see your personality fade from the forefront of your content,” said another fan in a reply that Green called “kind-hearted.”