MrBeast warns AI threatens YouTube’s creator economy (unless you’re creating with AI?)

YouTube’s top creator MrBeast expressed concern that AI-generated videos could threaten his livelihood and the broader creator economy. The billionaire content creator’s worries highlight how generative AI tools like OpenAI’s Sora 2 are becoming sophisticated enough to potentially replicate the spectacle-driven content that has made him famous.

What he’s saying: Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, YouTube’s first billionaire creator, posted his concerns on X over the weekend, questioning the future of content creation.

• “When AI videos are just as good as normal videos, I wonder what that will do to YouTube and how it will impact the millions of creators currently making content for a living,” he wrote.
• “Scary times,” he admitted.

Why this matters: The admission reveals how AI threatens even the most successful content creators, particularly those whose videos rely on reality-defying premises that AI excels at generating.

• MrBeast’s content typically features larger-than-life competitions and outrageous stunts like “Lamborghini Vs World’s Largest Shredder” — exactly the kind of spectacle-driven content that generative AI can now produce.
• His concerns come after OpenAI’s Sora 2 launch, which enables users to create short, photorealistic video clips with alarming ease.

The irony: MrBeast has previously experimented with AI tools himself, though it backfired spectacularly.

• Earlier this year, he announced using an “AI tool” to create video thumbnails for his young audience.
• Fans and critics alike demanded he hire human artists instead, forcing him to abandon AI thumbnail generation.
• “I thought people were going to be pretty excited about it, but I definitely missed the mark,” he said at the time, though he stopped short of issuing an apology.

The bigger picture: MrBeast’s anxiety reflects growing concerns across the creative industry about AI’s impact on human creators.

• Users have already begun creating AI-generated content spoofing public figures, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in various mocking scenarios like grilling a dead Pikachu or shoplifting from Target.
• The situation puts MrBeast in the position of empathizing with artists, musicians, and filmmakers whose work is being “stolen and regurgitated to fuel the rise of generative AI” — though it took a threat to his own bottom line to reach this realization.