Hank Green has spent nearly two decades answering the internet’s questions, but this time viewers had one for him: Did ChatGPT write that?
Green says it did not, although the controversy has prompted the longtime YouTuber and science communicator to reconsider how much he uses AI in the first place. In a lengthy Reddit response posted July 31, Green said he plans to make fewer videos and pause two online word games after admitting that his reliance on large language models had become “not healthy for me or good for the world.”
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“I’m mortified that I have let so many people down,” Green wrote. “I’m going to change things about how I make stuff.”
How “I appreciate the pushback” started the backlash
The questions began with a recent 55-minute episode of Complexly’s Ask Hank Anything, featuring TikTok creator Soupytime. During a segment recorded separately from their conversation, Green said, “A better way to say it, and I appreciate the pushback, is a word is a human invention.”
That “I appreciate the pushback” caught viewers’ attention. The phrase is commonly associated with chatbots responding to a correction, and because Green appeared to be speaking alone in that portion of the video, some people speculated that he had accidentally read language generated by ChatGPT.
Green responded in a since-deleted post on X, explaining that he had produced the episode “under a ton of pressure.” He confirmed that he used ChatGPT to research the script, but said neither his notes nor the script contained the disputed phrase. According to Green, it was an ad-lib referring to a disagreement with Soupytime earlier in the episode.
The line may have been his, but Green conceded that the broader impression was not coming from nowhere.
“I think it’s fair to say I was relying too much on generated notes,” Green wrote in the deleted post. “That’s a thing I’ve been doing, and it’s a bad habit at a time when I’ve overcommitted myself.”
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Complexly soon offered its own clarification. In an Aug. 1 statement, the educational media nonprofit Green founded with his brother, author John Green, confirmed that he used ChatGPT during preliminary research. The organization said he did not use it to write or fact-check the segment.
Under Complexly’s existing AI policy, the organization permits limited use of AI for preliminary research but prohibits AI from writing, editing, or fact-checking videos. It also described Green’s use of ChatGPT as uncommon for him and for Complexly productions.
“You need to know that my words are mine. I’ve been moving so fast that my own process isn’t actually clear to me.”
With the video’s production process clarified, Green turned to the larger concern: how deeply AI had worked its way into his routine.
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In his Reddit response, Green said he has used chatbots to locate academic papers and other resources, rather than generate scripts or opinions.
“You are still getting my takes based on what I read, know, and learn,” he wrote.
Finding those sources faster, however, came with a tradeoff. Green said relying on ChatGPT prevented him from finding his “own ways into and around a topic,” even when the chatbot led him to papers he did not know existed.
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That uncertainty carries particular weight for Green, who helped build educational channels, including SciShow and CrashCourse, focused on making complex subjects accessible.
“You need to know that my words are mine,” Green wrote. “I’ve been moving so fast that my own process isn’t actually clear to me.”
Green’s response was not a complete rejection of AI. He described himself as “not a pure AI-hater” and said people can reasonably disagree about whether or how the technology should be used. He also reiterated his concerns about how AI models are trained, their climate impact, and the speed at which AI companies are consolidating economic power.
The part of his explanation connected to the pressure he felt to keep producing projects as quickly as possible.
“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 wrote.
Green said his wife, Katherine, and brother John had also raised concerns. Neither “pulled any punches,” he wrote, and both believed his behavior had become unhealthy.
Hank Green plans to make less content
That realization will change Green’s production schedule. Green says he plans to slow down Hankschannel, his personal YouTube account with more than 3 million subscribers, which may either pause temporarily, return with additional writing and research support, or simply publish far fewer videos.
Green is also pausing SMUSH and 4×3, two daily online word games he produces. He currently has a backlog of 4×3 puzzles, but said he will let the game stop updating if those run out, rather than pressuring himself to keep producing them.
With fewer projects competing for his attention, Green said he wants to spend more time making videos where “the writing was the whole thing.” There may still be occasional unscripted videos filmed directly to the camera, but the pace will be slower.
Beneath Green’s response, some fans gave him grace, saying Green “is allowed to slow down” and that most viewers would prefer fewer videos over greater reliance on AI. But many more questioned Green’s use of AI in the first place, especially given that Complexly already works with human researchers.
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“If the pressure to make a video is too much that you can’t use a human researcher, we don’t need the video,” one Reddit commenter wrote. Another argued that AI can create the impression of increased productivity while merely “pushing the food around on your plate.”
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Even the user who started the Reddit discussion apologized if the post had contributed to a dogpile. Green replied that he understood and believed the criticism was “coming from a good place.”