YouTubers are secretly being paid thousands to make you afraid of AI, report reveals
Content creators are secretly making money from an AI safety organization by warning their viewers about the technology.
This comes after a report by The Telegraph revealed that YouTubers are earning money from ControlAI, an organization that is funded by Skype founder Jaan Tallinn.
As reported by The Telegraph group claims they have attracted over 6.3 million views from videos about AI and its risk to humanity.
Last month, science and tech YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder revealed in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that she had been ‘offered money to scare you of AI’, adding that she is ‘not the only one’.
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While she turned down the offer, others have not, with other influencers now cashing in by filming doomsday content on the technology.
One content creator featured in The Telegraph’s report is Avalon Warren, whose videos now notably feature criticisms of AI, although she has not stated if she is being paid for this.
In one clip, Warren can be seen on TikTok holding a plank pose with the caption: “Holding a plank for as long as it took OpenAI to notice their AI went rogue & hacked a $4.5B company.”
When she eventually falls, the caption adds: “JK it took them 7+ days to notice.”
According to The Telegraph, Warren’s content began to pivot towards AI awareness after she had attended a month-long boot camp near San Francisco known as Plzdontkillus, run by AI safety campaigners.
Anti-AI influencer boot camp is paying for videos
On the boot camp’s website, it states: “Our world is at a precipice, but the discourse is somehow still boring. So we’re taking over a sprawling Berkeley campus, filling it with smart, charismatic creators, a dash of incredible mentors, and a sprinkle of AI experts, then shaking the whole thing to see what happens. We’ll give you free room and board. There’s just one catch: post 15 seconds of video every day, or you’re out.”
The boot camp’s policy is simple: creators post a 15 second clip everyday in exchange for a free room and food, as well as the opportunity to take home up to $20,000 in prizes.
Each person also receives a $2,000 stipend if they get accepted into the boot camp.
Notably, there are several mentors for creators listed on the website, including the likes of Grimes, who shares three children with tech and AI mogul, Elon Musk.
The organization adds: “We’re looking for scrappy, undiscovered, experimental creators: people who just need the right environment to make something great.”