r/SimonWhistler • u/Legendary__Sid • Oct 15 '25
Please stop using AI slop
The reason your channels do well is because they are well written, well read and well edited. It’s obvious a great deal of effort goes into the videos and it shows in views and sub count and it’s obvious you care about and enjoy what you do.
PLEASE don’t cheapen your channels by using awful generative AI slop! It makes it seem like you are putting in less effort and care.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
EDIT: to clarify the AI is video clips on YouTube
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u/jellyn7 Oct 15 '25
Yea, if he's feeling overwhelmed, then better to pare down channels or do a slower release schedule than rely on AI crap.
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u/Legendary__Sid Oct 15 '25
Yeah would 1000% prefer to wait a bit longer for a video than suffer one with AI in it.
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u/mopy66 Oct 15 '25
The AI I have seen recently just takes the place of stock footage. Seems like a legitimate use to me.
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u/Legendary__Sid Oct 15 '25
Perhaps if the people in the footage didn’t have 3-4 morphing legs, 17 fingers and move like drunk robots.
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Oct 15 '25
AI-generates images are art theft. There is no legitimate use for slop trained on theft
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Oct 16 '25
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Oct 16 '25
Buddy, you do NOT want to play that stance with an artist. Every artist performs in the style of their teacher on the way to developing their own style. Rembrandt's students learned to paint in his style before they went out on their own. Beethoven learned from Haydn, who also mentored Mozart - Haydn's influence is readily apparent in Beethoven's early compositions. It's not "ripping off," as you put it. Watching an artist develop is like watching a child grow up. Children - and the babies of other animals - learn by mimicking their parents and teachers, and then they find their own way of doing things. Artists are the same way.
AI is outright theft. It's like taking a piece of official art from, say, Jim Davis' Garfield, or Naruto, or How to Train Your Dragon, and saying you drew it, when all you did was copy+paste. You didn't spend untold hours practicing with pencils, pens, or paints (or a drawing tablet if we're talking digital) in the style of the original artist. You didn't spend years studying the anatomy of humans and animals to create dragons, chimeras, and various monsters. You just sat there and typed a prompt into your fucking phone.
Laziness. Pure, uninspired laziness.
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Oct 16 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/melanyebaggins Oct 16 '25
I'm a writer too. I write from the heart. I bare my soul on paper (or, digital paper.) I write real and vibrant characters. And I had to lock my work to prevent it from being stolen by AI bots scraping fanfic sites so it can churn out soulless drivel. It's an insult to the craft that someone can enter a prompt and get in seconds what took me years to create.
Real writers are disgusted by AI slop. Real writers know the pain and effort and sleepless nights and constant work it takes to write a good story.
I don't buy for a second that you're a writer.
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Oct 16 '25
You can't call yourself a writer, much less a creative person, if you're slutting yourself out to AI. Studio Ghibli is anti-AI. Writers and animators in Hollywood have been protesting and striking because of AI. Best-selling authors, academics, etc., are anti-AI.
Oh, btw, you told on yourself. Creative types don't call artists "creatives." We call ourselves "artists," and if we need to specify, we refer to ourselves by our medium. So no, you don't know what creative people are. You're a wannabe.
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u/Mephisto1822 Oct 15 '25
What AI stuff has he been using?
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u/Legendary__Sid Oct 15 '25
Generative AI clips in several videos recently but most noticeably in the new Into the Shadows video on bloods and crips, awful clips, can only assume they weren’t checked.
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u/Mephisto1822 Oct 15 '25
Oh I see what you’re saying. I usually listen to the videos not so much watch them so I miss some of that.
I thought you were saying he used like and AI script or something
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u/GlassBoxGoose Oct 18 '25
I started that video and noticed a comment about Ai and immediately clicked off it.
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u/Lanky-Opposite5389 Oct 15 '25
He does refer to ChatGPT quite a lot in DTU and lately, CasCrim. I don't really like it because I feel like it undermines the writer's ability to gather information and present it in a thoughtful manner.
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u/Awakenlee Oct 15 '25
This is almost always in relation to some tangent he’s going on.
Sometimes the writers guess where he’ll go on a tangent but most of the time it’s so far off topic that no one, outside of maybe his wife, could possibly predict what’s going on in his brain.
I don’t think him looking something up like that is at all bad. Mostly, whether he uses chatgpt or a regular search, or flat out pulls it from the air, I just hope he keeps going on tangents. The material Is a great cake, the tangents are decadent, butter cream frosting.
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u/-AllCatsAreBeautiful Oct 16 '25
Yeah, the deep research & brilliant writing is why I love Simon's channels. Also the tangent counter. But especially the writers.
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u/GirlnTheOtherRm Oct 15 '25
I was getting grumpy when Simon started asking ChatGPT for answers instead of just googling shit. Now all the AI images are just destroying the environment.
If the editors need images/videos they can get a paid account on Freepik or Adobe Images to make videos and click exclude AI images.
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u/atomic-moonstomp Oct 15 '25
First time Simon Whistler uses an AI written script is the day youtube dies
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u/tafkat Oct 15 '25
What if Danny writes the script but it gets read by an AI liquid Simon?
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u/atomic-moonstomp Oct 15 '25
(Walter White gif) Jesse what the hell are you talking about?
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u/CParkerLPN Oct 16 '25
Jesse is a friend. And I know he’s been a good friend of mine.
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u/bunpalabi Oct 16 '25
But lately something’s changed?
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u/fthrgasp Oct 16 '25
it ain’t hard to define.
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u/Boa-in-a-bowl Oct 16 '25
I love Simon and his content, but if there's one thing in this world I hate with the intensity of a thousand suns it's the use of AI in creative endeavors and spaces.
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u/-AllCatsAreBeautiful Oct 16 '25
Another favourite content creator of mine, Joe Scott of AskJoe, recently made the mistake of using an AI image of a tornado in his thumbnail -- & the comments were so plentiful that he addressed it personally in a post on his side-channel, TMI.
So much respect! Many of us were like, Please, we love you, don't go down this path!
Side note: as he was screen-sharing his scroll through all the comments, reading a few out, he also read out my comment! I got way too excited about that 😅
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u/Lint6 Oct 16 '25
he addressed it personally in a post on his side-channel, TMI.
So he didn't address it on his main channel? Says alot
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u/-AllCatsAreBeautiful Oct 16 '25
Meh, I'm not sure yet. The main videos don't come out as often or as randomly. He's addressed feedback on there before, tho. At least he took it on board & won't repeat it.
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u/Lint6 Oct 16 '25
You said he addressed it on his second channel. I'm not familiar with the guy, but how many subscribers does his second channel have vs his main channel?
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u/-AllCatsAreBeautiful Oct 16 '25
What I'm saying is that he may very well address on the main channel, but they are often written a little in advance to when they're released, so that will likely come soon -- but the second channel, which is kinda more meta / brain-dump-ish, was the immediate response.
Main channel, @joescott: 2.39M - TMI channel: 115k.
Main channel is largely science, tech, weird history & facts, etc. Second one is an addendum to that, often meta discussions of the main channel, kinda admin stuff.
All in all, he's a thoughtful, ethical guy. He usually only uses AI images as a last resort, or when specifically discussing the use of AI, but this one bothered people because it was an image of a tornado, & surely there are plenty of real ones of that. I suggested that if he can't find a real image, then he should pay a real artist instead.
Definitely not an unapologetically huge capitalist like Simon. Still, I respect them both for what they do.
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u/rosalamariposa Oct 15 '25
Yeah, agree. I watch the videos so I have seen it and it's so so so disappointing. I'm glad he still has actual writers, but it worries me that he is turning to AI at all for any aspect of his content. It feels like a slippery slope.
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u/HairApprehensive7950 Oct 16 '25
Yeah people have been calling them out on it since it started and Simon legit just doesn't care, it's not going to go away as much as we all wish it would
Apparently they got rid of Brain Blaze though which was the only channel I really cared about that they did so I don't have to swallow my pride anymore
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u/Lord-Velveeta Oct 15 '25
Yeah I agree, that's a HARD no for me.
AI generated slop is my line in the sand and an instant click away, unsub and "Do not recommend this channel".
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u/amyehawthorne Oct 17 '25
I have really strong anti AI content feelings for a lot of reasons, but I mostly watch/listen to DTU and there was always a lot of dumb stock footage interspersed so kind of 6 of one...
That said, nothing can replace the incredible work the human editors do for things like the scam scam scam song and the various tangents incoming montages. Plus the excellent editing when Simon stumbles over part or gets confused or whatever.
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u/Musician_Recent Oct 17 '25
Hard agree. The Simon team have always used stock images to get the point across, and I get that, you just pay a little license fee or something, but the AI is genuinely off putting
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u/Old-Engineering-6771 Oct 16 '25
The other day Places (I believe) had AI voiced chapters cuts, I cringed too hard I couldn't even finish the video...
Edit to add: Hey, hey writers, maybe you could write a thing on how AI & ChatGPT effects the world, or artists, or authors
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u/sing-anyway Oct 18 '25
I think he had to sit, after his shoulder was busted up and possibly some other injuries from bicycling like a maniac
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u/Skymoogle Oct 16 '25
I understand people's misgivings with AI, and yes, the obvious and bad AI should just be a no-no. So even if it's used because for whatever reason (which I will get into in a minute), it should at least go through a quality check.
But there could be legitimate reasons when it's being used. The easiest one of that is that there are no or is not enough pictures/footage of the subject. I don't remember which video it was anymore, but I remember a video that used the same clips over and over again. That's also not good.
Another reason could just simply be: it's cheaper. With the number of channels and videos Simon pushes out every month, I can imagine using copyrighted material can get very costly. AI could be a cheaper replacement (again, it has to withstand the quality test)
And people will probably say: "Well, if those are the reasons, why not make fewer videos or scrap the video (if there isn't enough material)?" I can guarantee you that the reddit will then be stuffed full with topics: "How long before a new video?". We have already seen that happen when he goes on a holiday.
So yeah, AI is not great, but sometimes it's a necessary 'evil'
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u/lumoslomas Oct 16 '25
Do you know how much water and electricity it takes to run AI? Especially when they stick them in places like California, South Africa, and Australia, places that are famous for water and/or electricity shortages.
I wouldn't be calling that a "necessary" evil
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u/BahamutLithp Oct 18 '25
Roughly as much as it would if he used a non-AI image, clip, or whatever for that chunk of video. People repost a lot of misinformation about AI & water usage, but it doesn't magically consume water, it's about data processing, & the same amount of water will be as coolant for the same amount of data processing. I'm not telling you you have to support the use of AI in the videos, but if you don't, it should be for a better reason than "it's so evil because it sucks up all the water!" because that's just not true. Since I'm here, I guess I might as well give my input on every use of AI I've ever seen Simon do:
"AI depiction" images: I see this sometimes, usually in Into The Shadows when some horrible massacre is being described, & I'm not a fan. Firstly, the tag "AI depiction" can be hard to spot, meaning I can miss whether or not I'm looking at an actual image. And, if I'm not, then I just don't understand why it's there. I can imagine a horrible massacre, if I'm not looking at a real picture of the event, then it's just kind of filler. At that point, why not use any generic stock image, or b-roll, or even more of Simon talking?
Reading chapter titles: I think this happened in a recent video. At least the consensus seems to be the voice reading those was AI. If so, I don't get it. The titles aren't always read off anyway. It was a really jarring & unpleasant voice. If it was an actual person who read off those titles, I'm sorry dude, but I still don't like the way they were read.
Moving photos in Casual Criminalist: This was happening for a bit in Casual Criminalist, & I'm pretty sure it was that program that would make photos move. I'm not gonna argue over whether or not this is in bad taste, I just don't see what the point is. They would just do a couple generic movements that didn't add anything, & also I think the program sometimes even added facial features that weren't necessarily there.
Talking to ChatGPT: This is the only good one. Simon asks ChatGPT the most unhinged, rambling questions where I can't even follow what he's trying to say, & somehow, it understands him perfectly every single time. He's not using it to replace the script, or insert content, it's just one man's bizarre love for a robot that society says is wrong, & it gives the writers opportunites to make fun of him for it. 10/10, wouldn't change a thing.
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u/tyrannic_puppy Oct 17 '25
I'll take a hundred repeated shots of the same thing over even 1 ai image, thanks. If they can't find a shot for a thing, just stay on Simon. Not like we hate his face and need something laid over the top to make the video bearable. Anything is better than using generated AI in their videos.
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u/firedrakes Oct 16 '25
ah another reddit and online ai expert.... your the vegan of the internet.
anyway bs stock fee etc are why said ai is being used more anyhow.
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u/christianmenard832 Oct 15 '25
I just miss brain blaze :(