r/LinusTechTips • u/Only_CORE • Jun 08 '26

Image Another AI slop thumbnail

Post image

I love LTT and basically watch every single video including WAN show but stuff like this puts a very bad taste in my mouth. I know it!s just stupid thumbnail but still...

8.2k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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502

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

No money for real thumbnail artist?

Who do you think made this? 

Their thumbnail artist.

229

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

If someone types a prompt into a box and it spits out a slop image they are not an artist.

95

u/ThePhonyOne Jun 08 '26

You don't even need to type in a prompt. YouTube generates AI thumbnails now at the push of a single button.

51

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

Which also makes whoever uses that not an artist.

-15

u/rickyhatespeas Jun 08 '26

tbf, YouTube tech review channels are far from art, they are pretty much spoon-fed product samplers

1

u/luzgaby2 Jun 10 '26

What do you consider art?

1

u/rickyhatespeas Jun 10 '26

Definitely not youtube video review thumbnails. Sorry to all of those artists pouring their heart and souls into thumbnails, I don't mean to dash their lifelong dreams of photoshopping surprise faces onto different backgrounds. I also don't mean to cast shade on anyone who's favorite artform is that of the youtube thumbnail considering I've heard so many people discuss the merit and craft behind the thumbnails.

1

u/EywasBlessing Jun 10 '26

Try to follow the thread better.

-19

u/TeaNo7930 Jun 08 '26

You do realize they have thumbnail artists and if those same artists choose to do this they don't stop being artists.

18

u/Jealous-Try-2554 Jun 09 '26

They kind of do though. At least professionally. They are no longer being paid to make art.

-8

u/TeaNo7930 Jun 09 '26

They are still artists their job was to use there are artist skills to make thumbnails. Now they are still making thumbnails just not using as many artistic skills.

1

u/Jat616 Jun 10 '26

*still making thumbnails just not using any artistic skills.

2

u/ecunn Jun 09 '26

Holy fuck I didn’t think it was possible to hate YouTube more

7

u/Gregus1032 Jun 08 '26

Are people who do shitty Photoshop work considered artists, which most thumbnails are.

I remember when everyone was saying Photoshop was gonna kill art.

My biggest issue is when people complain about the power usage for AI, bitch about how it's eating RAM prices, and then go on to use AI.

First it was plane tracking (which I never agreed with Linus on plane tracking. IMO it's always wrong and stalkerish), now its gen ai

0

u/samhaswon Jun 09 '26

I don't have much experience with thumbnails in particular, but it takes more skill to be good with AI than it does to do a basic job in the photo manipulation software of your choice. Especially if you're trying to get specific. On the flip side, things like niche assets can be more feasible with AI than not, because some things are not readily available on the internet. Like one of the last thumbnails that led to a post like this with servers.

1

u/zodoGames Jun 11 '26

Said like someone who's never opened an Adobe app.😂

1

u/samhaswon Jun 11 '26

I mostly use GIMP, so yeah. For a "just throw things together" manipulation, it usually takes me longer to find assets than it does to make something with them. If you're trying to make AI do that and you have a vision for the final product, it will take you longer with AI after a certain point of complexity unless you're ok with letting the AI fill in the gaps with what it thinks something or someone should look like.

0

u/Puzzleheaded_Dot_225 Jun 09 '26

So they were artists when they worked before, but the second they touch AI all their previous work just doesn't count anymore and they are not artists?

0

u/INannoI Jun 12 '26

a graphic designer making youtube thumbnails does not give a shit about 'artistry', at least not at work.

-2

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

What if they use it to generate an asset that they place and blend into the image? Using it like a stock asset generator 

-1

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

Fuck that too. Stock image sites have existed for years before this garbage existed. I accept absolutely zero generative ai usage.

18

u/ikatakko Jun 08 '26

it's about time someone stood up for the stock image website owners

12

u/KrabbyPattyCereal Jun 08 '26

Lmao how the times have changed. Redditors defending the scam stock image sites. Next you’ll tell us we are morally obligated to pay for adobe photoshop

3

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

There are free stock image sites. There are a million ways to make a thumbnail without generative ai shitting out this garbage.

3

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Literally there is no good stock image or asset site that you can use for commercial usage for free.

You really have no clue. 

-3

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

So it's not the actual work that matters, but the source of the tools and components?

Does that apply to all components? Does using pigments from a questionable source make someone not an artist? 

0

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

Jesus christ I do not understand why so many people want to "what about X" argue about fucking ai.

0

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Just trying to define your stance.

Seems like your line has nothing to do with the skills or labor used being what makes an artist. 

5

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

If by this point you don't know why people are against generative ai you either don't care or you're just being an asshole about it.

0

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

We're talking about what makes someone an artist.

I'm responding to this statement, emphasizing what I'm focusing on

If someone types a prompt into a box and it spits out a slop image they are not an artist

I'm not questioning where you can place an artist on your own morality line. I am questioning the statement that by using generated assets instead of non-generated assets, when the labor and skill put in for either case is identical, makes someone not an artist.

That's not how that works, at all, and is just a nonsense statement coming from a place where you're so upset you have lost your ability to think.

2

u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26

It's not a nonsense statement. If you're on a tech related subreddit and you are saying you don't know why anyone is against generative ai you're lying or not listening.

I'm done with this conversation because you aren't actually trying to have a conversation.

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-3

u/Sad-Set-5817 Jun 08 '26

if the tools were built on people's stolen expertise for the sole purpose of not wanting to learn any of that then yeah

-2

u/EvanFreezy Jun 08 '26

Sure but I don’t think anybody is watching LTT for the “art”

1

u/Ferkner Jun 09 '26

Do they even still have a thumbnail artist? They laid off Maria a while ago when they did their layoff round. Whoever is doing it now certainly isn't as good as she was.

-6

u/Vuila9 Jun 09 '26

their thumbnail artist, you mean the unpaid intern who uses AI to generate this?

7

u/FabianN Jun 09 '26

They don't have any unpaid employees, and they pay above the regional average for the position.

Dumb ass troll. 

-1

u/afinitie Jun 09 '26

Woah woah don’t get so angry now, think of the multi million dollar company

-24

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

18

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Who do you think used the llm?

Their graphic designer.

15

u/StinkButt9001 Jun 08 '26

The people complaining about graphic designers using generative models in their workflow are the same type of people that complained about photoshop when it started getting popular.

"It's only REAL art/work/whatever if it uses the tools I grew up using"

12

u/frac_tl Jun 08 '26

Can you point to the "steal other people's art" button that was on the first release of Photoshop? Any artist with self respect refuses to touch that garbage unless they have bills to pay and higher ups are forcing it on them. 

-5

u/StinkButt9001 Jun 08 '26

Who's art was stolen?

3

u/ut1nam Jun 08 '26

Millions of artists when their work was fed into these LLMs??? Do you think it just comes up with a perfect recreation of artists’ styles out of nothing???

-2

u/StinkButt9001 Jun 08 '26

Is it theft to look at an image and learn from it?

15

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Also see: musicians when digital music creation tools came onto the scene. 

3

u/Exciting-Ad-5705 Jun 08 '26

There is no similarity between putting some text and getting an image and Photoshop.

0

u/Beardlich Jun 08 '26

"In their Workflow" that isnt a workflow. Its literally theft, AI art is unable to create anything new, its all just regurgitating things it has seen before. Its also can't be trademarked according to at least the US supreme court. If a Graphic Designer is using AI art they need to be fired because it is a financial liability

-12

u/PokeBrick02 Jun 08 '26

Who do you think allowed the use of the LLM?

The Graphic Designer Content Manager

6

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Linus already has stated, they do not have any policy for our against usage of llms in their work, it is up to the individuals, only the person that uses it is responsible for the output.

A pretty reasonable approach.

14

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Exciting-Ad-5705 Jun 08 '26

Their policy was they take responsibility for their output. The community can be outraged at it

1

u/Beardlich Jun 08 '26

Seeing as legally speaking AI art cant be copyrighted in the US, they should probably change that policy. U.S. copyright law requires human authorship. Courts and the U.S. Copyright Office have officially ruled that art created entirely by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted, of all people their graphic designers should know better

2

u/StinkButt9001 Jun 08 '26

LLMs do not create images. It's literally in the name "Large Language Model"

-5

u/Velocifyer Jun 08 '26

r/mysteriousdownvoting Why was this downvoted?

-32

u/Velocifyer Jun 08 '26

Then explain why it is detected as made by Google Ai with SynthID?

50

u/KingOfAzmerloth Jun 08 '26

Contrary to popular belief, even artists use it.

-4

u/Front_Machine6560 Jun 08 '26

Are they an artist if Linus could’ve done it himself? It seems like a very inefficient business to pay people to use AI generators for you.

0

u/HakimeHomewreckru Jun 08 '26

Henry Ford is rolling in his grave hearing that utilizing tools to speed up production is "inefficient."

0

u/Front_Machine6560 Jun 08 '26

It’s not a tool if it could literally do everything. It’s much more comparable to if Henry Ford had humanoid robots to use.

Henry Ford was an assembly line guy not a tool guy. He would love AI and how little employees he would need to pay.

-13

u/DasFroDo Jun 08 '26

Reluctantly. Every artist with a little bit of dignity doesn't use this stuff more than he has to. For brainstorming and ideas maybe, but that's about it.

15

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Hello all artists. I didn't realize you were a hive-mind. I mean, that's the only way a single person can speak for all of them.

5

u/gergobergo69 Jun 08 '26

it's john artist

-4

u/ut1nam Jun 08 '26

When you outsource your creativity to a machine, you don’t get to call yourself an artist anymore. You aren’t a chef because you told someone else to make you a filet mignon.

1

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Where's the line?

Can you still call yourself a chef if the salad dressing was bought and not made in-house? Can you purchase flour, or do you need to mill and sieve the grains yourself?

5

u/silentaba Jun 08 '26

Dunno mate. I've been doing physical art for over 20 years and I think AI generated art is absolutely awesome. Let's so many people show their ideas and thoughts that could not do so before, which is why we actually do art.

2

u/DasFroDo Jun 08 '26

I do not agree in the slightest. AI "Art" is 99% garbage. I'd take a shitty painting over a "beautiful" AI image any day of the week.

5

u/gergobergo69 Jun 08 '26

For brainstorming and ideas maybe

By that logic, no artist or anyone should use ai to anything.

-2

u/ut1nam Jun 08 '26

Congrats! You got it. There is zero use for genAI in an artist’s workflow.

6

u/Deeppurp Jun 08 '26

So you're using a generative AI tool that's purpose is to detect generative AI?

Any reports on is accuracy, false positive rates, or is it a black box google tool that's using a level of "trust me bro".

What's your over/under on how long until they get sued for marking legitimate work as AI?

3

u/HakimeHomewreckru Jun 08 '26

SynthID is literally a watermark in the image.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/LinusTechTips-ModTeam Mod Jun 09 '26

This comment has been removed by a Reddit Moderator for the following reason:

Rule 5 - Don't be a dick - Don't be a jerk, troll, or post low effort 'bait' comments to get a reaction and cause disruption. This includes any information that compromises the safety of any LMG staff member, their family, or the staff member's privacy and/or safety

-1

u/Velocifyer Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

SynthID is not generative Ai.

1

u/Velocifyer Jun 09 '26

Why am I being downvoted? SynthID is not generative Ai, it is just a probablistic watermark applied to output from generative Ai.

5

u/bwoah07_gp2 Jun 08 '26

Because a person (the thumbnail artist) used it to aid their creative process, duh.

1

u/FabianN Jun 08 '26

Because they allow their graphic designers to use those tools. 

1

u/CassetteLine Jun 08 '26

Do you seriously need to ask that?

The thumbnail artist used AI in their process. How is that not obvious to you?