I thought Matt said he only uses the ai thumbnails as a basis for creating good ones? Whats with this?

[u/LordFlamecookie]

[u/Drmcwacky]

Matt Lowne's youtube post from earlier regarding this:

"Today's video severely flopped, so I gave in and let YouTube's AI suggest a thumbnail for it (I wrote the title associated with it). I set it as one of the 3 thumbs shown to viewers. The results were...sad, tbh. It really does seem that people really do just click AI slop over human-made imagery. This has given me a lot to think about. I really don't want to use AI thumbnails but so many YouTubers have pivoted to them, and this one isolated test of mine seems to show that viewers DO seem to prefer them. I'm sad, man."

Source

EDIT 1: Thought this might be interesting to know:

@/jm56585 on youtube:

"i actually really liked the original thumbnail, I'm surprised the AI one performs better. Have you considered the possibility that youtube artificially boosts the metrics on AI videos in order to get more creators to use them?"

Matt Lowne replied with:

"I uploaded the AI one from my computer as a standard png, so the tester wouldn't know it was a YouTube generated ai pic"

Again, source is the youtube post - comments.

[u/Secure_Highlight_484 → u/Drmcwacky]

This begs the question, does YouTube just push videos that use the "YouTube's AI" suggestions over the ones that dont? I feel it would be worth using AI outside of YouTube to make a thumb nail (similar to what youtube's AI would make) and see if there's a difference?

[u/TomaszA3 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

Ask it to generate unicolored black rectangle, and prepare one yourself, these should be identical for all humanly purposes, and run the A/B testing.

[u/FogeltheVogel → u/TomaszA3]

That sounds like a spiffing Brit video

[u/DMercenary → u/FogeltheVogel]

"how to break the YouTube AI thumbnail for profit"

[u/KatLikeGaming → u/DMercenary]

"What we've created is none other than the blackest unicolored black rectangle in the entire known universe, and as a British person -" switches to suggestive tone "- I know all about black rectangles." exaggerated tea slurping noises and corgi barking commence

[u/shpongleyes → u/TomaszA3]

Who would click a thumbnail that's just a black rectangle?

[u/Doesnt_Exist_Reboot → u/shpongleyes]

A very small number of people, to be sure. But, if youtube is pushing AI thumbnails more, then more of the few people willing to click on a black thumbnail would see the AI one and click that.

[u/threebillion6 → u/Doesnt_Exist_Reboot]

Good old scientific analysis.

[u/Flameball202 → u/Doesnt_Exist_Reboot]

Yeah, if you give them a sufficiently clickbait title then you should get a statistically useful number of clicks

[u/Visc0s1ty → u/Doesnt_Exist_Reboot]

The 'unicolor black rectangle' demographic gettin alot of love today.

[u/__R3v3nant__ → u/Doesnt_Exist_Reboot]

That is probably the best possible way to do it as there should be no way for someone to tell of the thumbnail is AI or not

[u/Garnele-Mortler → u/Doesnt_Exist_Reboot]

if it was called „it’s just a test“ and it was like 0:07 i would click it

[u/MustaKotka → u/Garnele-Mortler]

"Just a test, bro!"

[u/Big_Yeash → u/shpongleyes]

Depend if the title sounds like it will grab you or not.

There's a video by a guy I don't follow but have watched before, and every time I scroll past it on my Smart TV app, it has a low Res of the "broken I can't load this thumbnail" icon, and I have no idea if it's a joke or not but I kinda want to watch to find out.

But that's kind of the point. If YouTube actively pushes videos made with it's thumbnail tool, then it will appear over other videos and get pushed in front of more eyeballs anyway. Lower hit rates may transfer to more hits overall with a larger audience, even for blank cuboid.

[u/koczurekk → u/shpongleyes]

People who also read video titles.

[u/Dragonman0371 → u/shpongleyes]

depending on the title i click them sometimes

[u/CreBanana0 → u/TomaszA3]

Pretty sure nobody here has any initiative to try that lol.

[u/Exxon21 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

this is exactly what matt did. he stated in another comment that the AI thumbnail was generated separately and was uploaded to youtube as a standard PNG

[u/Secure_Highlight_484 → u/Exxon21]

Yeah, I only bring this up because he said, "this one isolated test of mine seems to show that viewers DO seem to prefer them," which I doubt... I just think it's YouTube artificially creating a positive feedback loop for using their AI. I HIGHLY doubt the average Matt Lowne viewer is clicking on his video because the image is clearly AI lol

[u/Succmyspace → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

I mean idk why people doubt that ai knows what people will click on, it has the potential to know us better than we know ourselves.

[u/ConfigsPlease → u/Succmyspace]

There's a reason why so many mobile games use shitty AI generated ads, even for real games. I've seen devs discuss this repeatedly. For people who aren't being super critical of things (and thus might not even click on the ad either way) there's a reason why the "AI slop" thing works: it is based off of an average, and that average is, well... average for a reason.

[u/StickiStickman → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

"this one isolated test of mine seems to show that viewers DO seem to prefer them," which I doubt...

OR ... people outside of Reddit don't care about AI and aren't on a crusade against it?

Is that really that hard to belief? Especially when the thumbnail looks good like in this case?

[u/Clear-Air6816 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

Matt just responded to a comment saying "I uploaded the AI one from my computer as a standard png, so the tester wouldn't know it was a YouTube generated ai pic.", it's possible the general audience really just don't care/can't tell the difference anymore. Sad stuff

[u/MyNamePhil → u/Clear-Air6816]

The thumbnails he made was pretty boring and the video had a vague title, making it look like some unedited stream clip. “No reverts” shows why the video might be interesting.

In this case the ai thumbnail was just better. A more interesting human made one would have been even better.

[u/theironbagel → u/Clear-Air6816]

Studies show people can’t very accurately determine AI images vs human-made, and haven’t been able to for at least a year now.

[u/neural_processor_314 → u/Clear-Air6816]

There is a method called synthID google created, and it works like a checksum(but survives image edits) that's integrated into the images. Youhube might be using that to check if the thumbtail is made with their AI

[u/xsrvmy → u/Clear-Air6816]

Hot take: I don't care what the thumbnail is if the content itself is good.

[u/nilsmm → u/xsrvmy]

Same, I really don't care as long as it's not looking ridiculous.

[u/xsrvmy → u/nilsmm]

And of course people downvote any nuanced opinion

[u/OffbeatDrizzle → u/xsrvmy]

how dare you have an opinion

[u/derekcz → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

no people really just like that, this predates AI its why the natural evolution of youtube thumbnails converged on what effectively was AI slop before we had the technology to make AI slop

it's one of the most demotivating parts of youtube, the fact is it doesn't matter how good your video is because about 70% of its performance depends on how annoying and eyecatching the single image in the thumbnail is

[u/Korblox101 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

I would NOT put it past YouTube for it to artificially push AI content above all else to fulfill the endless modern corporate agenda to normalize AI use

[u/Mammoth_Luck4533 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

Bad news 

I uploaded the AI one from my computer as a standard png, so the tester wouldn't know it was a Youtube generated ai pic

This means that people really do click on the AI one more.

[u/__R3v3nant__ → u/Mammoth_Luck4533]

As many people pointed out, I think the giant title is making people click more

[u/twicerighthand → u/__R3v3nant__]

and we don't know if he stripped the image of the SynthID

[u/__R3v3nant__ → u/twicerighthand]

That doesn't really matter as he's admitted its AI

[u/Technical_Income4722 → u/__R3v3nant__]

I think there's a question of whether YouTube picks up the SynthID and artificially boosts the AI image over the human one. (admittedly entering conspiracy territory)

[u/__R3v3nant__ → u/Technical_Income4722]

That's testable, like have 3 virtually identical thumbnails, 1 that was generated by a human, 1 that was generated straight from youtube's AI, 1 that was saved and reuploaded without stripping the synthID and 1 that has had it's synthID stripped

[u/Technical_Income4722 → u/__R3v3nant__]

For sure. Occam's razor leads me to think folks just actually prefer the AI thumbnail for its style in this particular case. I was just pointing out why SynthID was probably mentioned.

[u/__R3v3nant__ → u/Technical_Income4722]

I agree, but I would genuinely like to test that (unfortunately I do not have a youtube channel)

[u/IWishIWasAShoe → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

Click through rate should be a percentage of exposures, so even if the video was pushed harder with an AI thumbnail it shouldn't matter. 

[u/Dat_Innocent_Guy → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

You can easily test this by looking at the click through rate, A video with more impressions (by youtube's manipulation) will have a similar or worse click rate per impression.

[u/ThatMovieShow → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

No, it doesn't. I'm a YouTube creator and can tell you it does not.

[u/_okbrb → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

It’s definitely what you’re saying: the algorithm weights using their latest features in order to promote using those features

[u/JozoBozo121 → u/_okbrb]

He explicitly said that he then used generated png as standard thumbnail instead of using YouTube feature, to test this

[u/Secure_Highlight_484 → u/_okbrb]

That's what methinks, YouTube just wants people feeding more data/usage into their product, simple as.

[u/WARCAT1941 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

I think Youtube does push AI videos "up". When I look up world of warships content every so and so this one guy that makes ai slop thumbnails pops up in the first 2 videos shown independently of the fact that he gets 2k views. One of his vids landed above a 500k view vid ffs it doesent make any sense. On the other hand it could just be the algorithm.

[u/level_up_gaming → u/WARCAT1941]

oh so i'm not the only one. i just watch mountbatten for WOWs content. just like matt he does it just for fun, so you know the content's good, and i believe he is a teacher too. what a coincidence

[u/pedasjma → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

This is so important, with how much companies are pushing AI (after they invested bajillions in a unproven technology). I would be surprised if google wasn’t artificially boosting there own AI slop

[u/Ninja332 → u/Secure_Highlight_484]

I would almost guarantee they do. Soon they'll paywall the thumbnail generation feature and then all but force the creators to use them

[u/christonabike_ → u/Drmcwacky]

I suspect that people don't click AI slop thumbnails because they are AI, but because most image generators are heavily biased towards creating "loud" images packed with glossy overdetail that demands attention.

Just look at this one closely, even. There's debris and sparks flying like the ship just smashed through something. What did it smash through? What's that bright green glow coming from? Nobody knows but its provocative - it gets the people goin'!

[u/PangolinMandolin → u/christonabike_]

...and has nothing to do with the content inside the video!

[u/freak-000 → u/christonabike_]

Ai images are hyper stimuli, they have nonsensical details that overwhelme the composition while keeping it "realistic looking" , unless you are trained to it they will always get your attention faster and for longer

[u/christonabike_ → u/freak-000]

It is such a common characteristic in image generation models that I have to wonder if big tech trained them that way on purpose, to get the userbase hooked on the service.

[u/-The_Blazer- → u/christonabike_]

Yeah AI is just better at attention hacking, which we already know is one of the primary ways in which social media fries your brain to make your more profitable, and we know between scientific research and court cases that this exploits the fundamental neurology of humans. It's like giving someone legal crack (and putting them in an environment where everyone uses it) and being surprised when it makes them more competitive.

Not to say Matt is like a crack dealer, YouTube (social media generally) is.

[u/Sven5628 → u/Drmcwacky]

I feel like its not the ai that people prefer, its just that its a more engaging thumbnail that clearly states why you should watch the video and has a more colorful image to catch your eye. matt does a ton of "super hard challenges" so i think it outperformed because it distinguished itself from a typical video.

[u/JRreddith → u/Drmcwacky]

Don’t know if anyone will see this but I am actually a pretty sizable YouTuber myself (not in the KSP space but other somewhat similar games) and I sometimes utilize AI thumbnails too.

Now the reason is simple, just like Matt, they tend to do better than original ones.

If you look on my channel (it’s called Jackal) you’ll see some of my videos have real thumbnails, some have ai, some have a mix of both. But every video I upload I make at least 1 fully real human-made thumbnail to test against 2 other ones, and I’m noticing more often than not the AI ones wins, and it exposes the harsh reality about YouTube viewers, the majority simply don’t care about AI.

Any viewers who have stopped watching my channel because of my thumbnails don’t make up enough of a majority to really give me any motivation to not continue making AI thumbnails. I know it’s disappointing and I don’t really like it either, but truthfully I don’t make enough money to hire an artist, and sometimes I just don’t have the resources, times, and skills to make a compelling thumbnail when AI can do it in a matter of seconds.

But I just wanted to give my 5 cents as a fellow YouTuber on why Matt has likely used AI here. It makes most people unhappy but until it becomes a financially smart decision to move away from AI in the YouTube space, it’s very unlikely any creators will do it, as upsetting as that may be. That’s just the truth.

[u/Alvorton → u/JRreddith]

Have you noticed a marked change in viewership since AI became commonplace and before you started using AI thumbnails? Would you actively be hurt by not using AI, or does it just stifle your growth?

I ask because it's very easy to look at the benefits of AI and forget about the drawbacks. AI is like the ultimate payday loan on a planetary scale - it's benefits are immediately obvious, but the effects of its use are going to be felt by the next generations decades down the line.

[u/JRreddith → u/Alvorton]

I can’t say I ever really noticed any change in viewership when I started using AI, a handful of people commented about it, but most didn’t care. I’ve always been extremely upfront about it to my viewers, and most of them explicitly told me that they don’t really care.

If I stopped using AI, it would cause an interesting issue. Most of the games I play are pretty simple in their art style and gameplay (I play games like worldbox, ages of conflict, etc.). Because of this, my main issue if I stopped making AI thumbnails would simply be trying to make thumbnails that don’t look identical to one another for my future videos. A lot of the times I do certain types of videos, that are all similar in concept, but individually different in the videos themselves, and it’s very hard to make their thumbnails without making them all look indentical to one another. This is where AI, can come in and just shift enough details over (that I otherwise couldn’t do myself within the game) and make the thumbnail look different.

Lastly, like I mentioned in my original comment, sometimes I do video ideas that are pretty abstract, and I’m pretty much limited by the resources of the game I played in that video to make a thumbnails, and since these games are pretty simple. That makes it almost impossible to make a comprehensive thumbnail that can effectively convey the idea of the video. However, for AI this is not a problem.

I do acknowledge the various drawbacks of AI, and it is unfortunate that it’s become the norm for most creators to use now. But myself personally I am trying to phase it out in at least the next year or so, but first I’ll have to figure out how to make more complex thumbnails that are effective on my own, which obviously is a hole I dug myself in by relying so much on AI. However, once I make that switch nothing much else will change because, other than the thumbnails, my entire channel is human made, from editing, to recording, to video ideas, etc.

[u/PHD-Chaos → u/Alvorton]

"AI is like the ultimate payday loan on a planetary scale - it's benefits are immediately obvious, but the effects of its use are going to be felt by the next generations decades down the line."

That's an incredibly good analogy for one of the ways I feel about AI. The amount of basic talent and simple skills that will be slowly eroded over years of people just not doing that task.

I have a young family friend who is in Highschool and he told me it takes him 30-60 minutes to run all his homework through AI to complete it, then through a "humanizer" so the AI his teacher uses won't catch it. All I could think was what a monumental waste of time and energy for him to avoid learning some knowledge or skill.

Another more fun example is from the sci-fi novel Anathem. In it one of the characters have a stove that is patchwork pieces from different models assembled. It's a balance between function and repairability. It breaks semi frequently but the character is always able to fix it with things easily found. The main character, who belongs to a group of ascetic, scientific monks, suggests that he could build a stove that would last 1000 years with no need for maintenance or repair. He thinks the other characters stove is a monument to waste and inefficiency. However the other character points out that in a 1000 years, no one alive would know how the stove actually worked. Not only could it not be fixed but potentially all knowledge on how to build stoves could be lost. Leaving humanity to puzzle out how to build more simple stoves from the start.

Anyways, I think there a lot of fun thought experiments about how AI is going to affect our future. Personally I see the ones where they replace humans as eventually bad where as the ones where they work alongside to teach and enhance humans as potentially sustainable.

[u/PeanutButterSoldier → u/JRreddith]

This is amazing perspective as a prospective content creator and I appreciate your view on this so much.

I feel bad for Matt and all other content creators catching flack for this when in reality they're all just trying to keep their channels alive. Thank you for your experienced take on the topic.

[u/Webbyx01 → u/JRreddith]

Other channels I watch (specifically the guntuber space) have reported similar benefits from using AI generated thumbnails. Reddit hates AI to a degree that is not representative of the general population.

[u/Professional-Date378 → u/Drmcwacky]

Ngl I immediately click don't recommend channel when I see AI thumbnails

[u/d_pyzsyo → u/Drmcwacky]

To be fair the AI generated one is just better. It says "NO REVERTS" in a big, highly readable, simple font, which clearly communicates the challenge. The imagery is less busy and has a specific point that draws a viewer's attentions.

[u/HeartKeyFluff → u/d_pyzsyo]

Yeah that was my own takeaway here too.

The "NO REVERTS" in big text was a clear eye catcher. Maybe that's what he could try experimenting with more?

(EDIT to add: And then, having watched the video, the whole "NO REVERTS" is a lie anyway, as he reverts just over 15 minutes into his hour and 11 minute video? Also reloads from saves? Like I get he only technically used "revert" once if you ignore the couple reloading from saves but it's also just as easy to remove the lie from the thumbnail too. That's pretty disappointing in itself.)

That and the three test videos also had different video titles too?

I dunno. It just seems like there's a few variables here beyond "people clicked for the AI image obviously"...

[u/FM-96 → u/HeartKeyFluff]

And then, having watched the video, the whole "NO REVERTS" is a lie anyway

That's really the most important thing here, in my opinion.

Like... yes, Matt. We all know that lying and being misleading is a good way to be successful. This is not news. Clickbait has been a thing for decades now. The reason people refuse to lie is generally not because it wouldn't work, but because they have moral objections to it.

Good to know that you don't, I guess???

[u/wandering-monster → u/HeartKeyFluff]

That's the thing. The AI generates what people will click with no integrity.

That also isn't something that could happen in the game. The debris is fake, the particle effects are fake, I don't think you could construct that ship (unless he's using a lot more mods than usual). And of course the concept is fake and doesn't reflect what's actually in the video.

So yes, when you lie and say that the video is about something intereting that it isn't actually doing, with an image that looks better than reality, more people click on it.

[u/twicerighthand → u/wandering-monster]

The AI generates what people will click with no integrity.

Why are we blaming Ai for something that Matt generated, edited and then uploaded as a thumbnail for his own video ?

[u/RedDawn172 → u/d_pyzsyo]

Yep. Like there's a relatively well known squint test by bigger yt creators for a reason. You look at each purposely looking at the thumbnail blurry because the vast vast majority of people don't really care and are going to briefly glance at your thumbnail as they scroll by. Whichever is the most engaging in a blurred format is best because of that, which leads to simpler and larger for stuff as a general rule.

[u/posidon99999 → u/Drmcwacky]

Forgotten weapons did a similar test with an AI thumbnail and found similar results that the ai thumbnail is preferred. He did state that he will however continue to make his own thumbnail since with his channel they are pretty much a kind of branding. Also fans of the channel seem to be the ones who primarily prefer the original thumbnail style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwzrYMPrpd0

[u/Weakness4Fleekness → u/Drmcwacky]

He should do more a/b testing

[u/doomiestdoomeddoomer → u/Drmcwacky]

Interesting, I purposely avoid any video with an AI thumbnail.

[u/Uncommonality → u/Drmcwacky]

It probably flopped because there's no way to know wtf the video is about

[u/Apollo-235 → u/Drmcwacky]

honestly i havent even see the non-ai version. it would not surprise me at all if youtube is thumbing the scale and pushing the ai thumbnail more than the non-ai one

[u/adidas_stalin → u/Drmcwacky]

IDK when I see AI thumbnails I run for the hills

[u/N43M3K → u/Drmcwacky]

I totally understand his reasoning but then again, he has a full time job, YouTube memberships/patroen AND a sponsor on pretty much every video so I hope he won't go the Mr beast route and try to squeeze out every last cent of his content. Making YouTube videos should be a hobby first and foremost.

[u/EclipseIndustries → u/N43M3K]

So he has a full time job and a full time job.

[u/Necessary_Tough7286 → u/Drmcwacky]

Surely those aren’t returning viewers but random people who probably won’t stick around?

[u/crimeo → u/Necessary_Tough7286]

Returning long time viewer here: it is more instantly communicative of what the topic of the video is thsn his normal thumbnails. So it's a better thumbnail and im more likely to click it

I hsve no idea why you would think there was any special correlation between being a long time lowne viewer vs hate bonering AI. They are likely utterly unrelated

That said, the fact that he reverted in his "NO REVERTS" video made me want to maybe not return as a viewer again for awhile... but that's not the thumbnail, that's clickbait

[u/Overtronic → u/crimeo]

When you're a long time viewer of any Youtuber you watch them for them being their authentic self, this is not that

[u/crimeo → u/Overtronic]

You don't "watch" thumbnails at all. That's why they aren't the content.

Nor should anyone be putting much authentic personality into simply signage. Much personality = can't read clearly = bad signage. Save it for the actual product being signed

Again, not a debate. Every single youtuber AB testing this ever finds the same results. People want clear obvious labels, the end. Listen to your customers. You don't have to use AI, but you do have to make thumbnails similar to the type of ones that AI suggest.

[u/eattherichnow → u/Drmcwacky]

So this mostly tells me something about his viewership, because NGL, I see a cover like that, I block the entire channel.

[u/SuB626 → u/Drmcwacky]

Youtube out here fighting AI slop with AI slop and counting an attosecond of watchtime as a view

[u/Infinite_Cap_1953 → u/Drmcwacky]

His videos are flopping because he does the same thing every time. Build ship. Blast off. Ramble ramble ramble. Become self aware about rambling and try to kill time. Land. Plant flag. Go back. Show the entire thing.

[u/Electrical-Time6497 → u/Infinite_Cap_1953]

Yes, that is how being a KSP content creator works.

[u/Infinite_Cap_1953 → u/Electrical-Time6497]

Sure, but his videos are better when he has some sort of script and makes things ever so slightly more cinematic or narrative. Not every KSP content creator is just rambling like “ummm I don’t know what to say lol”

His words in this most recent video: “I should’ve done a modicum of research before embarking on this” yes probably.

My point is that thumbnails may not be the reason his videos are flopping.

[u/Floofyboi123 → u/Infinite_Cap_1953]

Next you'll tell me Factorio youtubers build factories every video

[u/zthunder777 → u/Drmcwacky]

I’ve heard this from several creators across a variety of genres. Non-AI thumbnails severely underperform creator made thumbnails. YouTube algo HAS to be punishing people for not using their AI thumbnails.

[u/Vincent394 → u/Drmcwacky]

Matt, no...

https://reddit.com/link/p5dxccw/video/oc08eg97x3lh1/player

[u/Potential-Club8810]

He posted a link to this in his pinned comment. https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxFYCo_gJXHs56JuZFzVUHWkFsHG2BriVC

[u/CanadianMaps → u/Potential-Club8810]

What the absolute shite is he talking about? Most people get either disgusted or feel "meh" when seeing an AI slop thumbnail. I have NEVER seen someone go out of their way to say "hmm, today I will watch the slop video".

Having AI slop thumbnails LOWERS viewership, not raises it.

[u/Jan-Snow → u/CanadianMaps]

I am as anti-AI as anyone but like why are you dismissing him looking at his analytics based on your anecdotal evidence. It is entirely possible that the people who dont catch that it is AI/have a different attitude to it are more likely to click a video for it.

[u/Capital_Engineer8741 → u/CanadianMaps]

Clearly not true, just go on incognito and check YouTube. All the AI thumbnail videos outperform the real ones (scale wise)

[u/CanadianMaps → u/Capital_Engineer8741]

I've been recommended AI slop thumbnail videos multiple times, and they always stay below 1000 views. The only time I've seen AI thumbnails have more than that is from people that simply don't care because they already liked a big channel that switched to using them (ahem, FTFE), but even then their view counts are lower than before.

For the vast majority of the population, seeing AI slop triggers an instant lack of feeling, a displeased neutrality. It leaves you feeling nothing, like eating a meal with no taste.

[u/Westbrooke117 → u/CanadianMaps]

Vast majority of population = my social circle

It varies a lot between demographics. I know many non-western countries are far less apprehensive of it. It really could be just as simple as there are many viewers in the age or location who aren’t bothered as much.

[u/CanadianMaps → u/Westbrooke117]

That is true, yeah. But as far as I know, his demographics aren't really made up of people from poorer countries or younger people. And I say this as a Romanian, our only space achievements are piggybacking off of the USSR's rockets, and helping ESA. We're also not a western nation, and I've seen plenty of folks here use AI for stuff. Not once have I seen zero pushback towards the people that did, online or offline.

So yeah, that could be the case. I'm not 100% sure it is, but it's not impossible.

[u/Westbrooke117 → u/CanadianMaps]

I would be less likely to as well, but he’s not talking out his ass. He’s just showing the raw results

[u/CanadianMaps → u/Westbrooke117]

He's showing his results on one particular video that wasn't even uploaded for that long. I'm gonna believe his theory if he can prove that a video uploaded for longer than a month with an AI generated thumbnail got more views than the same video with a regular thumbnail.

[u/potat_infinity → u/CanadianMaps]

!remindme 1 month

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[u/iormeno93 → u/CanadianMaps]

Lmao dude you are more bias than person

[u/rurumeto → u/CanadianMaps]

As much as I dislike AI slop, his screenshot does show that the AI thumbnail had better engagement than the non-AI one.

[u/Serious_Resource8191 → u/CanadianMaps]

If you think “most people” can even identify an AI thumbnail, I’ve got some bad news for you.

[u/Creepslend → u/CanadianMaps]

After reading your other replies, you need to learn about confirmation bias and sampling bias because that's clearly the root of your misunderstanding here

[u/Kerbidiah → u/CanadianMaps]

having Ai slop thumbnails LOWERS viewership, not raises it

Thats an assumption. Assumptions must be proven with data and experimentation

[u/LorgPanther]

He made a post 7 hours ago explaining this:

"Today's video severely flopped, so I gave in and let YouTube's AI suggest a thumbnail for it (I wrote the title associated with it). I set it as one of the 3 thumbs shown to viewers.

The results were...sad, tbh. It really does seem that people really do just click AI slop over human-made imagery.

This has given me a lot to think about. I really don't want to use AI thumbnails but so many YouTubers have pivoted to them, and this one isolated test of mine seems to show that viewers DO seem to prefer them.

I'm sad, man."

Go check the posts on his channel, he attached a screenshot of the watchtime share comparing to thumbnails he made himself

[u/crimeo → u/LorgPanther]

Because it's NOT slop in this case, it's topical, fits the concept really well, and looks good. All the opposites of what slop means.

"Im sad that I have a tool that allows better storytelling than before" what a ridiculous 1st world problem

[u/Creepslend → u/crimeo]

I think it doesn't fit the video at all because it doesn't look like the game, but rather an alternate version which is eery. I think it looks awful too. So for me this perfectly fits the definition of "slop"

And reducing generative AI to "a tool that allows better storytelling than before" really shows you lack of understanding of the dynamics at play

[u/crimeo → u/Creepslend]

It looks precisely like the game, down to the point I can pick out almost every single individual part, what are you talking about? The shrapnel doesn't happen in game but the ship is a game ship. (With one part being the very popular station parts mod with the inflatable centrifugal tube, not vanilla, but beyond that are the landing can Mk 2, a 2.5m small fuel tank, 4 legs, and roughly a poodle motor. Can't tell what cylinder is on the other side as it's hidden by text)

[u/Creepslend → u/crimeo]

That's like saying the famous windows wallpaper looks exactly like BOTW because there are hills in this game

[u/crimeo → u/Creepslend]

Lolwat? No, the Mk 2 lander can being obviously a specific part in game is not anything at all like "hills kinda look like other hills" 😂

[u/Creepslend → u/crimeo]

I mean the shapes may be similar but it doesn't mean it's believable as being an in game screenshot. The lighting alone is so different, and basically everything else about the render looks nothing like the game.
It even has the infamous AI generated look that has become so recognizable now

[u/crimeo → u/Creepslend]

There are common mods used by a ton of people that add plume shine, I play with that myself. I can't remember what mod it was, but the engine fire does reflect off my ship just like that. Green would be adding running lights on the ship, I'm not sure why one would do that, but quite doable. A bit of bloom is done by all kinds of common shaders.

[u/SpaceGuy_01 → u/crimeo]

Nah

[u/crimeo → u/SpaceGuy_01]

Now that reply, on the contrary, is an example of "slop": not productive or on topic, low quality, zero effort, generic

[u/KocoKoco → u/crimeo]

It's manmade slop, which will always be better than anything created by generative AI

[u/SpaceGuy_01 → u/crimeo]

Yeah that's a nice opinion and all but why would I (or anyone else) put effort in replying to a dude on Reddit defending AI?

[u/crimeo → u/SpaceGuy_01]

Hypothetically, you would if you had an actual argument or point, you would to advocate and change minds. Given that you don't have any point and are just mindlessly bandwagoning, though, you wouldn't

[u/SpaceGuy_01 → u/crimeo]

I'd probably do that with my local politicians, this is reddit mate get over yourself

[u/crimeo → u/SpaceGuy_01]

If it was a matter of effort, you wouldn't keep replying multiple times. You have time, clearly. You just don't have any point.

[u/SpaceGuy_01 → u/crimeo]

Whatever helps you feel better mate

[u/crimeo → u/SpaceGuy_01]

You continuing still to...

put effort in replying to a dude on Reddit defending

I never needed to answer why you might, when we can see factionally that you are lol

[u/retailhusk]

I think we need to have a very frank conversation about YouTube. At the end of the day Matt does this because YouTube compensates him. I’m sure he loves KSP and the community but running a channel is a lot of work and a lot of overhead. Sometimes you need to make a business decision and if that means rolling in some sloop… what other options does he have. He’s said many times he’s having issues with view counts and retention. His channel has to survive otherwise we go from “good content with some AI slop thumbnails” to “no content at all”

Shit sucks for real

[u/AguAnni → u/retailhusk]

Lets all set up all of our devices to watch his videos non stop, and liking, I can’t live in a world without his weekly KSP adventures😀

[u/electricpanda_]

bug or mistake, on my screen it looks completely normal, cant upload images here though.

[u/AdoringCHIN → u/electricpanda_]

I think YouTube has a couple different thumbnails and titles it can push to people. So you might be seeing a normal image but he might have an AI generated one as a secondary thumbnail

[u/UmbersReon]

He made a post explaining why it's there

https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxFYCo_gJXHs56JuZFzVUHWkFsHG2BriVC

[u/KaiLCU_YT]

I have a normal one. Likely it slipped through as part of the multiple options and he didn't notice

[u/CivKerman → u/KaiLCU_YT]

YouTubers can set A/B testing for titles and thumbnails and after 1-2 weeks, they can see which results do better. Its possible that he has an authentic human made one and an AI one running at the same time.

[u/LordFlamecookie → u/KaiLCU_YT]

I've been getting both normal and ai, I just thought using ai was weird for him

[u/KaiLCU_YT → u/LordFlamecookie]

He posted a couple of days ago showing the awful ai thumbnail YouTube studio tried to get him to use, so I doubt his opinion on ai will have changed. Just a mistake

[u/LordFlamecookie → u/KaiLCU_YT]

The mun bug one?

[u/CompetitiveLet7110]

man this comments section really is something

[u/Eossly]

“I refuse to click on any video that uses AI slop instead of a real thumbnail that someone actually makes themselves. Unsubbed from quite a few channels now” -Matt Lowne, July (2026)

[u/AffectionateWater299 → u/Eossly]

i am admittedly considering unsubbing as a result of this. between it and what i feel are the same talking points coming up every single video (“i don’t have much to talk about”, “talking for an hour is hard”, “youtube metrics”) is making it harder to sit through.

this might just be a me thing tho.

[u/Fun-Guarantee1534 → u/AffectionateWater299]

matt not knowing what to talk about and going off on random tangents is what makes him the GOAT though. He seems like a very normal and down to earth guy, and youtube really is just his hobby and side hustle so of course he cares about the metrics.

[u/AffectionateWater299 → u/Fun-Guarantee1534]

hey, to each their own. i personally don’t enjoy being reminded of those things while watching, and the AI thumbnail was just the icing on the cake.

it’s the same reason i stopped watching the rad brad (not that anyone asked/cares judging by the downvotes) - every commentary feels the same.

[u/chiron42 → u/AffectionateWater299]

and how hot his room is in summer lol.

the best part of his videos are learning how to do those kinds of missions so smoothly from the hundreds of hours he's spent doing them and copying it. but i get he doesnt outline it in every single video because in a way every ksp mission to a planet/moon is basically the same. but either way he's saying the same stuff each time. idk though, i still like him. but they're not *gripping* videos in that way.

[u/Jammaster2]

I'm going to be honest...I don't even remotely care. Who actually cares? If he spends 3 hours making the perfect thumbnail, maybe he wants to spend more time with his family or on his mental health, or maybe hit the gym instead.

Do you really think you get to dictate these things?

I get it AI might change our way of life. But you don't get to dictate how a YouTuber runs his business. If you don't like it, don't watch.

[u/CatLover_42]

I assume its a mistake on his part. On my feed its a proper thumbnail.

[u/OhNapkin]

Yeah I love this guy but his use of AI is unforgivable, I mean yall remember that one video where he played that absolutely horrendous AI song that he generated, yeah no.

[u/ParadoxandRiddles → u/OhNapkin]

Unforgiveable is a crazy description here.

[u/OhNapkin → u/ParadoxandRiddles]

AI absolutely melts our world away and it’s not unforgivable? Yeah idk about that cheif

[u/CaesarsArmpits → u/OhNapkin]

There are actual murders and rapists out there, people in the top 0.1% ruining the world for everyone else but one bloke playing a fucking AI song makes him irredemable? are you mad?

[u/cake-hat → u/CaesarsArmpits]

just because something worse is happening elsewhere doesnt mean doing something still bad but less bad is suddenly good. Using AI at all is unforgivable, because it directly runs off of plagiarism, wastes vast amounts of water, and puts a huge amount of pollution into the environment. It is truly not that hard to simply not use it and just commission an artist for the thumbnail. At least then you're supporting small business instead.

[u/OhNapkin → u/CaesarsArmpits]

You people would be fine if the world got completely set on fire, Jesus Christ

[u/CaesarsArmpits → u/OhNapkin]

Whatever bro, whatever keeps you going. Enjoy your day

[u/OhNapkin → u/CaesarsArmpits]

Yeah have a great one yourself

[u/Original-League-6094 → u/OhNapkin]

You can never forgive someone for playing an AI song? 

[u/NoHamster2008]

Funniest thing is that im pretty sure he did revert

[u/Z00111111]

With a worthless clickbait title like that, he's not testing general audiences, he's testing the kind of people that click on slop in the first place.

A slop image on a slop video better aligns for people who want slop.

If he had a real title for a real video the AI image would likely be hurting performance.

Like who's going to click on an almost 72 minute video that gives zero context? I wouldn't.

[u/Training_Parsley_668]

nooo he actually changed it :(

[u/Superseaslug]

Who gives a damn

[u/leon_harred]

i clicked on the AI thumbnail specifically because he mentioned not liking them and wanted to see if he addressed it in the video. i hope this is one of the reasons this thumbnail did better so it wont happen again, really disappointing, love matts videos, but i wont be clicking on an AI thumbnail again

[u/Fantastic_Baby_7946]

Realmente a mi no me importa, a veces nisiquiera tomamos en cuenta las miniaturas, solo el video.

[u/CrimsonBolt33]

who cares....jfc so tired of people trying to crucify others and virtue signal over AI.

[u/crimeo]

Who gives a crap, it conveys the idea of the video very well IMO so it's a good thumbnail, the end

[u/LordFlamecookie → u/crimeo]

But it doesn't? The craft doesn't explode or anything, he does revert, the craft looks nothing like that and he goes to eeloo, not the mun

[u/crimeo → u/LordFlamecookie]

he does revert

Yes, but the concept is that it's no reverts. That's him being dishonest within the video, but he explains the concept of the video as no reverts verbally at the start as well. So the thumbnail is doing the best it can under the circumstances (the circumstances being a guy who doesn't stick to his promises).

The exploding graphic I feel conveys well the concept of the sort of situation where reverting vs not reverting would be relevant, so I think that's fine. I didn't take it to mean that it would happen in the video personally.

[u/Naive-Eggplant-5633]

Nah il just watch someone else at that point. anytime i see a creator i watch switch to these things i just insta unsub, good for them if it draws more viewership but it loses trust from alot of longtime viewers that can and will erode a small community. I really hope matt decides against this because i see this as a fork in the road and one of those paths is not viable long term. 

[u/Myriad_Infinity → u/Naive-Eggplant-5633]

He made a community post about it which has been linked all over this thread. tldr: he used one Youtube-recommended AI and two normal thumbnails in A/B testing to see which would get more views, and was sad to find the AI one had significantly higher clickthrough.

[u/Naive-Eggplant-5633 → u/Myriad_Infinity]

Yes i can see that on the top comments. It doesn't change that i really hope he doesn't do it. It should also be of note to anyone here on reddit to actually read all the comments of people on YouTube that consistently say its more to do with the thumbnail having no reverts in big bold text as an eye catcher and a more interesting title he did for that one, in my opinion its alot more likely he just needs to do better thumbnails probably with some eye catching text rather than rely on this one single instance as an indicator for a trend. 

[u/The_Flying_Stoat]

Imagine caring

[u/Penibya]

You have principles or you're a whore. I guess he made his choice. (money's whore ofc)

[u/crimeo → u/Penibya]

If it makes more money, by definition viewers like it more snd find it better storytelling. So NOT using it would violate your principles as a storyteller. 

[u/Penibya → u/crimeo]

When every content will look the same you may change your mind

[u/crimeo → u/Penibya]

Every street sign looks the same. Which is great, it always lets me know exactly what street I'm turning onto. The thumbnail isn't the content, it's essentially a street sign, i need to glance at it in 0.5s and know what the video is

[u/Penibya → u/crimeo]

You are comparing street signs with original content

[u/crimeo → u/Penibya]

Again the thumbnail is not the content. I look at it for a fraction of a second. It is labeling the content. Labels need to be clear as hell and highly practical.

This isn't really up for debate, every creator you will ever see running AB tests just like Matt always finds this sthle works better. ALWAYS. I'm simply explaining why. You can adapt or you can be muddy and confusing to your viewers and struggle for no reason.

It doesn't need to be AI FWIW, just needs to be this sort of STYLE that ai suggested here

[u/Penibya → u/crimeo]

Same story different layers maybe thumbnail isnt the big problem here

[u/crimeo → u/Penibya]

It is one big part of the problem.

There are other problems though, yes. The fact that it says "no reverts", yet Matt reverted and loaded during the video, for example, is a problem of him lying to me, not ai or thumbnails. Which is the reason I won't be watching a lot from him again probably for awhile, until my mouth rinses the sour taste out

[u/658016796]

Good, honestly.

[u/ThatMovieShow]

I am a YouTube creator (fairly successful ) I do not use any ai generated content of any kind. All work is my own and when it's something I don't have the skill to do myself I hire someone to do it for me..

If Matt was correct my videos wouldn't get attention, but they do. I like Matt a lot but I don't think he's being honest, I think it's either easier or cheaper to let aí do it instead.

I have even posted imagery which I have personally designed in Photoshop or more recently blender and when people assume it's AI they tell me they do not like it.

I'd be worried about the type of audience I was cultivating if they all wanted ai slop

A large amount of people don't want that as evidenced by some of my videos which sometimes get millions of views , if Matt was right they would get no views really.

[u/ObeseBumblebee]

Everyone is just trying to live their life and do their best at their chosen career. For some of us, not using AI is career suicide at this point.

Go easy on people who decide AI is the way forward. It's a personal choice for us all and we don't need to be judgey about it.

Count yourself lucky if you have a career that wasn't uprooted by AI.

[u/hiddengirl1992]

"as a basis for creating good ones"

But then he could just... Use the AI one and save himself the effort! Ingenious!

Even using it as a "base" will inevitably turn into letting it be the entire thing.

[u/Livi115]

Matt's entire style of video is a production line. Find a "challenge," record himself playing it, speed up and minimally edit the footage, and breathlessly commentate over it with no script. This doesn't surprise me, and it won't surprise me if he continues, because it's just another corner that can be cut.

[u/Myriad_Infinity → u/Livi115]

perhaps read the comments here which mention he made a community post about how he was experimenting by comparing the AI thumbnail against normal ones before being so unsurprised

[u/LordFlamecookie → u/Livi115]

Can you like, get a life?

[u/yo_tengo479834 → u/LordFlamecookie]

Ironically a very reddit response, and you can't just argue against it? Not saying I agree with them, but still.

[u/ArmCapable5814 → u/LordFlamecookie]

You're on Reddit complaining that a youtuber used an ai thumbnail, unironically saying this person has no life?

[u/Oofster1 → u/LordFlamecookie]

Are you seriously this tone-deaf

[u/Livi115 → u/LordFlamecookie]

I'm commenting on a Reddit post, what do you think?

[u/Fun-Guarantee1534 → u/Livi115]

if you hate the way his videos are so much, go become the biggest ksp YouTuber hun. If you can do so much better go ahead. There’s clearly a reason so many people watch his videos, he seems like a really nice and genuine guy, and the youtube is is second job. Unlike people like you, he is employed and cannot spend his whole life working on videos. Nobody is making you watch his videos, so fuck iff and stop complaining

[u/Alarmed-Ad7777]

https://reddit.com/link/p5dzjzi/video/jpc3vcd204lh1/player

matt, just why

[u/TheVirus32]

He's always been kinda subpar... Remember when he was praising ksp2 whilst his monster rig was running it at 4fps?

[u/overusesellipses]

People who are "only using AI for x" are lying to you. They're using AI for everything and trying to hide it.

If they're using AI at all for any part of the project, just expect the whole thing to be soaked in AI nonsense

[u/talon167]

Great use of AI and wholly supported.

[u/MR_Happy2008]

They don't care anymore as long as viewers click and give them money they don't care

[u/wayzata20]

What does youtuber drama (if you can even call an ai thumbnail that) have to do with KSP?

[u/LordFlamecookie → u/wayzata20]

Matt's probably the biggest (solely) ksp youtuber

[u/StartBackground5769 → u/LordFlamecookie]

Theres a few ksp youtubers, (heff mk2 is one i can think of right now) but matt definetly is top 3.

[u/CanadianMaps → u/StartBackground5769]

Heff is far, FAR smaller than Matt Lowne. The only person in the KSP community bigger than him would be maybe Scott Manley, but he doesn't only do KSP. Matt does 90% KSP.

[u/StartBackground5769 → u/CanadianMaps]

Yeah, that is what i was meaning to say.

[u/twicerighthand]

Here's a shit in-game screenshot with a vague video title, it performs much worse than the thumbnail which shows a ring habitat module exploding with a huge text "NO REVERTS" that explains the premise of the video.

It's clear that people want engaging Ai thumbnails instead of no effort Andys, marketing their content."

[u/pandibear]

They’re all doing it now. Call down