Will AI take away the job of creating thumbnails for YouTube videos?
The 'thumbnail' displayed in YouTube videos is an important factor for attracting viewers, and the number of views of the video changes greatly depending on the thumbnail. Thumbnail production has become such a big market that specialized designers are born, but it is also true that the birth of image generation AI is depriving human designers of their jobs. Rest of World summarizes such thumbnail production by AI and the voice of the site.
AI comes for YouTube's thumbnail industry - Rest of World
For YouTubers, thumbnails are an important factor that determines the number of views of videos. Top creators like MrBeast test up to 20 different thumbnail variations in one video and sometimes pay designers up to $ 10,000 (about 1.4 million yen). While this demand has created employment for YouTube thumbnail artists around the world, more and more YouTubers and companies want to use AI instead of humans.
In March 2023, US-based AI researcher Anand Ahuja announced CTRHero, an ``AI that replaces thumbnail artists''. CTRHero was trained with millions of successful thumbnails on numerous social media platforms and was touted as capable of creating thumbnails within minutes and using YouTuber faces. However, many artists were outraged by the appearance of CTRHero, and some even threatened to harm Mr. Ahuja.
With this backlash, Mr. Ahuja quickly sold CTRHero. 'I can understand some of the backlash from people, but for me it's smarter to avoid distractions and focus,' he said.
Designers and artists Rest of World spoke to said they 'watch with a mixture of anxiety and curiosity' the rise of text-to-image generation AI tools like Midjourney and AlphaCTR. .
Calvin Rolland, a French thumbnail designer, said of the thumbnail generation AI, ``In the past, if an artist wanted to put a popular YouTuber's face next to a fancy gold luxury car and make it into a thumbnail, they would create a custom 3D image of that car. You would have had to make a model or find a picture of the car at the correct angle, but with regular AI tools like Midjourney or Generative Fill, you can just ask it to generate an image at the correct angle. With a little fine-tuning, you can get what you're looking for,' he calmly analyzes. While acknowledging the power of AI, Mr. Loran did not support such thumbnail generation AI and said that he was initially angry with CTRHero.
On the other hand, some artists have already incorporated AI tools such as Midjourney or Photoshop's image generator into their workflows, or plan to do so in the near future.
Until 2020, there were only a handful of thumbnail artists working full-time, but due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, the number of views on YouTube has increased significantly, and many graphic design professionals working full-time for YouTubers have emerged. Now
According to YouTube-related job site YT Jobs, out of the more than 2,000 job postings posted on the site in May 2023, thumbnail designers are the second most in-demand occupation, accounting for 19.3% of the number of postings. It seems to have been occupied. Creators who used to make their own thumbnails or paid graphic designers only a small fee of $ 20 (about 2800 yen) at most, will pay tens of thousands of yen for one image in 2023. YT Jobs creator Paddy Galloway analyzes it.
Among the artists who are responsible for thumbnail production through such job information, there are some artists who incorporate AI. Muaz Shail, who actually uses AI, said, ``The latest request was to line up neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a paired style. We use Photoshop to generate images in a few seconds using AI.We charged $ 250 (about 36,000 yen) for this request.' 70% of the thumbnails Mr. Shail generated for the request were generated by AI.
Shile is a prolific thumbnail artist who touts himself in his profile as having 'attracted 250 million clicks in just over a year.'
Arian Anurag, a YouTube consultant, said he is hiring 'a person who handles AI' for a third of the amount he used to spend on screenwriters. This employee uses ChatGPT Plus to draft scripts and thumbnail ideas for YouTube videos, and uses Midjourney to generate illustrations.
Avi Gandhi, founder and author of the Creator Economy newsletter Creator Logic, told Rest of World, 'I don't think YouTube thumbnail designer will be a thing of the past. In the same way that 'handmade' is the proof of the quality of products in this era, 'human-made' is the proof of the quality of digital products in the age of AI. You have to be very good to be successful,' he said.
Related Posts:
in Web Service, Posted by log1p_kr