Popular YouTuber and vlogger Hank Green, who founded the Vlogbrothers channel way back in 2007 with his brother, The Fault in Our Stars author John Green, found himself at the center of an internet firestorm over the weekend after admitting to using ChatGPT for his educational videos.

There has been plenty of confusion regarding what exactly Hank used AI for, with deleted posts, comments made on various social media platforms, and countless debates over the ethics of AI muddying the waters. So, now that the dust has settled, let's walk through exactly what happened step-by-step to offer a clearer picture.

The Allegations

On July 30, the YouTube channel Complexly uploaded a 55-minute episode of Ask Hank Anything, featuring TikTok creator Soupytime. During a 'Future Hank' segment in which Hank Green monologues to camera, he said, "I appreciate the pushback," a telltale sign of an AI script.

Allegations were raised on social media almost immediately after this snippet was first spotted, as critics highlighted that there was nobody for Hank to 'push back' against in the segment, presuming it was a hangover of Hank pushing back against an LLM when discussing the script. Hank denied that he had written the script using AI, and claimed that this was an ad lib referring to an earlier chat with his guest. However, he did admit to using AI to proofread and that it might have influenced his writing.

The Response

"I produced this under a ton of pressure so I went and checked my process from start to finish," Hank said in a now-deleted X post. "I did use ChatGPT for research on this script and watching it I definitely get an AI feel, so I think it's fair to say I was relying too much on generated notes.

"That's a thing I've been doing and it's a bad habit at a time when I've overcommitted myself," he continued. "But I just went to the notes and the script for this and neither contain the 'I appreciate the pushback' line, so that particular moment was an ad lib in reference to my guest pushing back on me saying that word are purely made up."

Given Hank's public criticism of AI in the past (posting a video just two months ago titled "Educational Video in the Age of AI"), he quickly found himself under intense scrutiny for using ChatGPT to help produce videos. It undermined his integrity, casting doubt on other videos and channels that he had worked on — eroding his audience's trust. So, on July 31, he penned a more in-depth apology and explanation on Reddit to clear the air.

The Future

"I'm mortified that I have let so many people down and I think I understand how that happened," Hank commented on a r/nerdfighters post. "I'm going to change things about how I make stuff."

In this comment, Hank explained that he does not use ChatGPT to write scripts, but to locate research papers and other resources more efficiently. "You are still getting my takes based on what I read, know, and learn," he assured. Though he also confessed that he has "been relying too heavily on AI as a research aid" to the detriment of his work.

The core issue is that Hank is spreading himself too thin, and has too many ideas. Typically, he pushes through the "little" videos faster so that he can get to "the more important stuff." And because he diluted himself across so many of these different projects and videos, Hank found himself using AI as a crutch to get them out faster.

"Making more things does not make me make better things," he said. "It does not make the big thing that we've been doing for 20 years better. I know that I can manage myself more effectively. I want to make videos like the one I made yesterday on hankschannel where the writing was the whole thing and I felt it all the way down and have been so enriched by people's responses to it. And sure, I'm probably going to make dumb unscripted straight to camera thoughts videos sometimes. And then I'll play connections."

While Hank has positioned himself as an AI skeptic in the past, he actually has a more measured outlook on the technology, and explained his views on tools like ChatGPT in the post.

"I'm not a pure AI-hater, which people in the AI industry know," Hank said. "So when I say that the way these models were trained deeply disturbs me, that lands differently. When I say that I think that the speed at which these companies are trying to consolidate economic power should freak out everyone in the world, that's coming from someone who has 'nuanced takes.' When I say I worry about the climate impacts of this rollout, that is not me saying, 'I don't think this tech should ever exist" it's me saying, "for god's sake please don't make our biggest problem worse.'"

However, in using these tools, Hank has found himself forming an unhealthy attachment to AI. "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," he explained. "It is careless, and has disconnected me from where people are on this. I was talking about this with [my wife] Katherine last night and she did not pull any punches. Frankly, neither did John. Neither of them think I've been being healthy. I need to readjust."

So, Hank laid out the changes that he plans to make:

  • Potentially hitting pause on Hankschannel so that it can return with writing and research support or fewer videos.
  • Pausing his web games Smush and 4x3.

Hank's New Book

It's a vital step towards addressing burnout and ensuring his videos remain high-quality without relying on ChatGPT or other LLMs, earning back some of the lost goodwill from his community. However, there's still the question of how far his use of AI extends.

For example, Hank admitted on the Delete This podcast to using an LLM to help write his new book, as pointed out on r/nerdfighters. Amid the more recent backlash, this comment has been spreading online, with many now claiming that he merged two chapters together using the tools.

Hank clarified in the comments, "This book is 100% human typing [...] I asked an LLM for advice on the merge and talked through some various options before deciding how I wanted to do it. Maybe I shouldn't've done that, but I didn't say, like 'Please turn these two chapters into one chapter.' I cut it out of the final episode (if I remember correctly) because Katherine and I ended up having a somewhat tense conversation about me working so much on Smush and 4x3. Or maybe I cut it out because I thought it sounded bad and was afraid people would clip it."

It appears that Hank used LLMs for guidance, to find research papers, and to proofread his work, rather than to write scripts or supplement his own voice. Nonetheless, given the environmental impacts of such tools, the frequent mistakes they can make (especially in his position as an educational YouTuber), and his outspokenness against AI in the past, the use of these tools has put his recent work in a new light. It'll take some doing to repair trust with his followers, but complete transparency is a solid first step.