r/LinusTechTips • u/Only_CORE • Jun 08 '26
Image Another AI slop thumbnail
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...
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Jun 08 '26
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u/rustybutterindia Jun 08 '26
It's because they often crap on companies using AI on WAN. Makes people think they are entirely opposed even though they run LLMs internally and use bots for customer service
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u/pg3crypto Jun 15 '26
No they crap on companies shoveling AI. Like Microslop and and it's Spypilot.
They've never crapped on anyone in recent memory that uses AI.
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u/XxdragonxX88 Jun 09 '26
Literally, Linus has made a point out of “AI not bad, AI in stupid/objectively bad places is bad” and “AI has its place, but its place isn’t everywhere”
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u/AbiDextrous_ Jun 09 '26
Yes and we can agree with that point and say "Youtube Thumbnails are also not its place".
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u/Ragnorok64 Jun 08 '26
I don't know if they're running a pilot or something but these these thumbnails, and especially this one, suck.
There is nothing going on in this image. Just Linus in an infinite parking lot dangling feet into an oversized manhole.
Please stop!
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u/MrPureinstinct Jun 08 '26
Yeah honestly if thumbnails are meant to catch the eye and get people to click this shit ain't gonna do it. This makes me want to hit don't recommend channel.
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u/Qultada Jun 09 '26
Exactly what I've been doing every time I'm recommended some crap using AI thumbnails.
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u/maquiavelmg Jun 08 '26
that is the catch, it is not an oversized manhole, it is a littlesized Linus
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u/Mrpolje Jun 08 '26
Right?? The past few thumbnails have looked fucking hideous.
These look more like the thumbnails from some AI voiceover slop channel than from a company with 100+ employees.
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Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
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u/2md_83 Jun 08 '26
his comments/opinion about ai generated thumbnails is pretty much the same as mine.
every time i see one of them i feel lied too, so i don't click on the video. in the hopes that the algorithm learns that i don't like these kind of videos... but more and more creators seem to use them 😞
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u/JoeAppleby Jun 08 '26
Because more users click them than people like you. So more and more creators will continue to use them.
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u/FlaccidArrow Jun 08 '26
If you don't like YouTube tracking, you can delete everything after and including the "?" to help prevent that.
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u/KennyFulgencio Jun 09 '26
// ==UserScript== // @name Strip YouTube SI from Clipboard // @namespace youtube-clipboard-cleaner // @version 1.1 // @description Automatically removes only the si parameter from YouTube links in your clipboard // @match *://*.youtube.com/* // @match *://youtu.be/* // @grant GM_setClipboard // @run-at document-idle // ==/UserScript== (function () { 'use strict'; const CHECK_INTERVAL_MS = 1000; const TRACKING_PARAMS = new Set([ 'si' ]); let lastClipboardText = ''; function cleanYouTubeUrl(rawUrl) { let url; try { url = new URL(rawUrl); } catch { return rawUrl; } const hostname = url.hostname.replace(/^www\./, ''); const isYouTube = hostname === 'youtube.com' || hostname === 'm.youtube.com' || hostname === 'music.youtube.com' || hostname === 'youtu.be'; if (!isYouTube) return rawUrl; for (const param of [...url.searchParams.keys()]) { if (TRACKING_PARAMS.has(param)) { url.searchParams.delete(param); } } return url.toString(); } function cleanText(text) { return text.replace( /https?:\/\/(?:www\.|m\.)?(?:youtube\.com|youtu\.be|music\.youtube\.com)\/[^\s<>"']+/gi, match => cleanYouTubeUrl(match) ); } async function checkClipboard() { if (!navigator.clipboard || !navigator.clipboard.readText) { return; } try { const text = await navigator.clipboard.readText(); if (!text || text === lastClipboardText) { return; } const cleaned = cleanText(text); if (cleaned !== text) { GM_setClipboard(cleaned, 'text'); lastClipboardText = cleaned; console.log('[Strip YouTube SI] Clipboard cleaned:', cleaned); } else { lastClipboardText = text; } } catch { // Clipboard reads may be blocked unless the page is focused // or clipboard permission has been granted. } } setInterval(checkClipboard, CHECK_INTERVAL_MS); document.addEventListener('copy', () => { setTimeout(checkClipboard, 100); }); })();
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u/Vixson18 Jun 08 '26
i'm no thumbnail artist but this is a terrible thumbnail. if you're going to keep it clean, make it look good.
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u/Sad-Set-5817 Jun 08 '26
genuinely, for a technology that you can use to type anything into a box and see it, I have never seen so many uninspired images existing just to take up space. Even if you are pro-ai, you'd think they would want to try to push the boundaries of the tech to try to make something that looks better than everyone else's Ai generated slop. I feel like this is just the media version of jingling keys to get people's attention
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u/3colorsdesign Jun 09 '26
As someone who’s designed their fair share of thumbnails, this his hideous.
Aside from basics like consistent lighting, which even that they couldn’t do.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/_Blu-Jay Jun 08 '26
I realized I’ve stopped watching the main channel content without it being a conscious choice. I still listen to WAN show, but their primary content feels increasingly soulless, sponsored and repetitive. At the end of the day there’s only so much tech content you can make, so I can understand that as a long-time viewer I might’ve simply grown bored of the content.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/_Blu-Jay Jun 08 '26
Yeah, long-time hosts leaving in quick succession certainly didn’t help. I understand that people want to move on and deserve to, but the impact is felt regardless. The only series I’ve found interesting lately is the tech house series, and even that isn’t overly grabbing my attention so far, but at the very least I’m curious how the project turns out if they manage to finish it.
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u/Chair42 Jun 08 '26
I've also really enjoyed the tech house series, though they've been pretty transparent about why there have been delays. There's a lot of potential for it, but that initial hurdle with the asbestos and wiring definitely made it a challenging start.
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u/Anthaenopraxia Jun 08 '26
Yeah same. Then once in a while one of their vids find its way into my feed and I'm like "oh yeah I forgot about this channel". I go and look if there's anything interesting and usually there's one or two vids. I do check the WAN Show channel quite often though and there's usually something interesting.
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u/mrheosuper Jun 08 '26
Tech moves fast so i doubt you could run out of thing to talk.
There are a lot of cool and weird stuff in China, they could milk it for a long time.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/ChuckieFister Jun 08 '26
Yeah, I was thinking about this yesterday as I was watching Zip Tie Tuning. I really miss them building stuff. My favorite series used to be the whole house water cooling before they had the warehouse and then the first couple of scrapyard wars. I understand scrapyard wars isn't possible anymore, but I miss all of the whacky builds.
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u/sheep_duck Jun 08 '26
I’ve been watching ltt and all the affiliated peoples channels since the unboxing videos outside ncix and reviewing headsets. They changed so much even in the last year it’s crazy. Idk why he can’t just admit that of course things are going to be different with all of his main employees leaving.
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u/buttputt Jun 08 '26
If you want to go back that far I remember when they painted a motherboard and Linus said they wouldn't ruin a motherboard for fun, then a short while later they intentionally left a laptop in the rain
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u/Ennrath Jun 10 '26
My first video from him was his review of the Logitech G720+ 😭 he insane if he thinks his content hasn't changed and declined after all that time.
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u/gc96 Jun 08 '26
The tech house is the only thing interesting really, and it's been taking forever, I was also interested in the vibe coding video, but that got abandoned.
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u/RichardFister Jun 08 '26
Jake and Alex make the kinds of videos I used to enjoy from LTT that they just don't really make anymore. Jake does a lot of the more technical focused IT builds and wacky home projects and I'd watch Alex work on just about anything. Now all that seems to be left on LTT are product reviews and pc builds. It's cool if you like those but the channels gotten pretty stale for me since they left
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u/TheEldenRang Jun 08 '26
Ever since Alex stopped just figuring shit out, due to more employees and an actual workshop, it went downhill. The last video I truly loved was Alex and Riley testing random things as thermal paste.
Now Linus is buying jets and being a bigot. Such a shame. 😕
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u/pack_merrr Jun 09 '26
What did he do that was bigoted, I don't go on this sub a ton
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u/Anfros Jun 08 '26
They are still doing scrapyard wars, there are 2 or 3 series from after the hiatus.
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u/Jestersfriend Jun 08 '26
Wait why isn't scrapyard wars possible anymore? Did I miss something?
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u/ChuckieFister Jun 08 '26
Everything is just so expensive now, the first one had such a tiny budget and they managed to have some nice builds, the latest one had to have a room designed around it and had big budgets. Technically still possible of course, but series 1 and 2 were just so fun compared to the newer ones.
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u/SuppaBunE Jun 08 '26
Also everyone around them know them so it's hard to bargain without cheating
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u/thebornotaku Jun 09 '26
It feels pretty trivial to figure out what the market is like, set a target at like 66-75% of a "reasonable" build at asking costs, and then go from there.
Like if you do some market research and figure that you can put together a halfway decent rig for $1k, set the budget at like $650-750. Computer setup only, none of this "decorations" or "we're making a complete gaming setup". Keep it cheap, keep it simple, show people what is possible with a little legwork and wheelin and dealin.
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u/Warm-Engineering-239 Jun 08 '26
back then there was a tone of wierd option to do, like using server cpu,
these day is basicly use a cheap ryzen and let's go.also hard to do deal when everyone know their face
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u/ExoatmosphericKill Jun 09 '26
I agree completely, my favourite videos were Alex doing weird stuff along with the rest of them.
Videos recently seem to have dropped in quality in terms of substance or things that hold my interest more than just skipping through newest hardware releases.
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u/TheModdedOmega Jun 09 '26
yeah basically stopped watching LTT but keep up with ZTT... the content on LTT just stopped being interesting to me even if the topic was interesting
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u/RowOptimal1877 Jun 09 '26
Alex playing with expensive machines and Jake doing network or storage stuff was by far the best part of LTT.
Both are gone and no one replaced their type of content. Instead all we get is stupid low effort shit. And a plane video where Linus keeps saying "girl math" and I just don't understand what that is even supposed to mean.
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u/imsolost3090 Jun 08 '26
The janky DIY videos with Alex were the best. And classic Scrapyard Wars. It's crazy how I ignore 90% of their videos now when I used to watch most of them in school.
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u/HirsuteHacker Jun 08 '26
Alex was by far the best host. Came across as authentic and genuinely enthusiastic. It's been in decline since he (and Jake) left but the last few weeks of videos have been so uninteresting I haven't even bothered to watch most of them. Used to watch pretty much every video.
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u/NadaBurner Jun 08 '26
I found LTT back during the Langley house days; specifically midway through whole room water-cooling. That's well over 10 years I've been watching their content and I even got to attend LTX 2019 with my late father as a birthday gift. As more and more of the original cast has left its really become a lot of "Linus and employee #49 do wacky thing" or "employee #72 does project and Linus is basically a cameo". For me even Alex and Jake are like the second generation of LMG employees and with them gone as well my motivation to watch new content is at an all time low.
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Jun 08 '26
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u/NadaBurner Jun 08 '26
100% agree. I mean the fire truck was a pretty good April fools day joke for some of us viewers that actually understand the reference, but after like the 3rd video of it I just didn't see the appeal anymore.
The gaming plane I kinda understand from him having done the gaming minivan, but especially with the widespread opinions about today's billionaire behaviors and the recent turnover rate of some of the company's big personalities buying a private jet is super tone deaf.
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u/Jumpierwolf0960 Jun 08 '26
I miss that old ltt. I still remember when Dennis was the new guy. Miss Nicky V as well, man was a legend.
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u/NadaBurner Jun 08 '26
I always thought it was the coolest thing that Nicky V and Dennis went to college together and the one helped the other get the job at LMG
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u/SaviorSixtySix Jun 08 '26
Same honestly. "Gamer jet" and "gamer boat" really doesn't appeal to me. I'll never own a jet or a boat. I liked when they did stuff like making a NAS and doing a JellyFin server and stuff, or just educational pieces. The fact they're using AI to make content now just makes me think they're fake enthusiasts that are shilling to CEO's and not the every man.
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u/CallumMVS- Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
I agree. I've not really watched any content this year from LTT. Lately, I've really enjoyed watching smaller channels, their content just seems to scratch a different itch!
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u/Libra218 Jun 08 '26
Got any smaller channels you recommend? I'm always keen to try smaller tech channels
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u/kryptonnms Jun 08 '26
For me, Alex and Jake were my favorite hosts. With them gone and then the jet mess and Linus hypocrisy going forward, it sucks cuz I really loved (and still do love) a lot of their content.
edit:spelling
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u/robohazard1 Jun 08 '26
I’ve been a long time fan of LTT, but recently I find myself just not as interested in their content. I guess it’s just not for me anymore.
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u/dannoffs1 Jun 08 '26
I think I've only watched the Linux "challenge" videos since then mostly out of morbid curiosity.
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u/Due-Technology5758 Jun 08 '26
There isn't much to make videos on in the consumer electronics sector and there hasn't been for years. What is even going to launch this year that matters? The steam frame and steam machine? Cool, a video where they benchmark the GabeCube and one where they remind us how the best VR games came out 5-10 years ago.
I don't like most LTT videos these days either, but I also get why they have to do what they're doing.
Even Gamers Nexus has almost completely transitioned to documenting the death of hobbyist consumer electronics.
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u/OriginalDoskii Jun 08 '26
I watch maybe 1 in 10 of their videos since ages ago. But always listen to WAN even though the ads/merch/floatplane stuff gets on my nerves. Then again, I watch less YT on general now a days. Just so many channels have kinda become meh. I need some fresh stuff.
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u/Samiassa Jun 08 '26
Same. I thought not only was it a really awful thing to do right after someone left saying he wasn’t getting fairly compensated. But even ignoring the actual thing he did, the way the situation was handled was awful all around. Linus really sucks at handling drama. He thinks everyone criticizing him is just some rando redditor online with nothing useful to say.
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u/ClacksInTheSky Jun 08 '26
I stopped before then, but finding out they have a private jet made me think that I don't feel bad for using sponsor block and ad block.
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u/Additional-Life4885 Jun 09 '26
I watched a couple of episodes last night, first time in years and it just looks trash. No idea how anyone can watch it anymore.
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u/FireManiac58 Jun 10 '26
Same, everything feels out of touch and clickbait farming rather than the interesting new tech videos I used to watch.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_HAGGIS_ Jun 10 '26
I unsubscribed. Massive LTT fan over the years. But yeah. This ai slop isn’t helping his cause. It’s a shame man cause I thought he was a good one.
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u/RegrettableBiscuit Jun 13 '26
Lots of interesting people left, but I kept watching out of habit. The jet video broke that habit.
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u/FabianN Jun 08 '26
No money for real thumbnail artist?
Who do you think made this?
Their thumbnail artist.
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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.
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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.
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u/kryptonnms Jun 08 '26
The enshitification of LTT continues...Wouldn't be surprised if their thumbnail artist(s) quit too by now.
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u/Shap6 Jun 08 '26
Are we really going to do this every time now?
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u/Svorky Jun 08 '26
It's pretty easy to make a thumbnail that doesn't immediately scream bad AI, maybe they could try that and then there'd be less complaints.
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u/Beardlich Jun 08 '26
So, with YouTube it depends. YouTube has been using AI on content without permission of creators. Its only going to get worse, now I dont have Floatplane but if the Thumbnail is the same there I would feel more inclined to judge.
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u/RobotSpaceBear Jun 08 '26
How else could people very active on the LTT subreddit let us know that they don't listen, follow, watch or read anything LTT related since X event happened, Y months back.
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u/CanuckNewsCameraGuy Jun 08 '26
Yes, they will until they go back to the image of Linus making some type of face photoshopped over a still from some b-roll and then complain about how lazy and unimaginative the thumbnails are.
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u/Cerberus44444 Jun 08 '26
Didn't they do a thing a while back where they deep faked linus for a section of a video to see if people would notice?
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u/Corbulo1340 Jun 08 '26
They have no official AI policy but people are responsible for the output, maybe this should be a wan show topic, cause that thumbnail looks really bad and is clearly AI
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u/sturdybutter Jun 08 '26
Does it really take that much time and effort for a paid employee to make a thumbnail? This is exactly the kind of shit that is the average persons main concern with AI. I know damn well Linus has talked about how AI should be used for menial tasks and let art be done by human artists. That’s the whole point.
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u/FweffweyMcRoy Jun 08 '26
So glad I don’t see thumbnails anymore, anyone else just have each video just grab a random frame of a video and have that as a thumbnail?
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u/UnacceptableUse Jun 08 '26
I tried using the thumbnail remover but I realised I do actually rely on thumbnail styles to know at a glance who has uploaded a video I might want to watch. When I turned them all off I found myself scrolling through my subscriptions not really taking in any of the videos and missing interesting stuff.
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u/lambdac0r3 Jun 08 '26
Cue Linus telling us that using AI is good actually and saves a lot of time on the next WAN show, the same way he flip-flopped on the jet
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u/ilparola Jun 08 '26
Just don’t watch the video. If the video doesn’t perform they will eventually understand
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u/CloslngDownSummer Jun 08 '26
like 15+ year viewer, this sucks and ive given up on the channel/LTT brand as a whole. Attrition and general vibes are off since like 2023+ onward.
Glad linus is getting his bag, but he feels inauthentic these days.
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Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
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u/RobotSpaceBear Jun 08 '26
So you think they fired "the dedicated thumbnail artist" and now Jenny from accounting is doing AI thumbnails so Linus can buy a second jet or something?!
The same people that did the thumbnails before are doing these ones too. I just blame the entire pipeline for allowing them to use AI like that.
(you know what would be funny? To learn this was not AI generated and it was just photoshopped by someone and we're just clowns lol. We label anything "not authentic" as AI these days but we had Photoshop for a couple of decades before AI came along and we didn't shit on every photoshopped thumbnail)
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u/IronBabyFists Jun 09 '26
This doesn't look shopped. I can tell from some of the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time.
Holy shit, we've come back around.
e: Not quoting you, of course <3
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u/shogunreaper Jun 09 '26
I will never understand why people make YouTube thumbnails their entire personality.
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u/ShadowLp174 Jun 08 '26
This video has a city in the background for me. A/B testing? OP's does look really weird.
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u/Relimu Jun 08 '26
Folks acting like LTT thumbnails haven't always been... a sight to behold
Open mouth in shock or joy with PRODUCT BEHIND YOU??
"This gaming PC runs on yucca juice"
Actually I just changed my own mind
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u/TheCrazyAussie4 Jun 09 '26
It's definitely AI assisted, but it's clearly based on on real photo, or still frame, from the opening, of Linus. I think this kind of use is okay for mock-ups, ideation and such before making it in photoshop, or similar.
They are clearly testing the waters when it comes to AI thumbnails and such, I would just hope that they don't fully replace their graphic designers and use the AI as a tool for mock-ups, concepts, ideation and such.
I believe Linus and James have made statements on here about doing just that.
Edit: Both Linus and James made statements https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/1tpd18g/gemini_ai_generated_thumbnails/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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u/MVI_Tubby Jun 11 '26
Maybe not AI but still poor quality. The quality has been kinda down lately for the videos too. Maybe it’s another round of apology videos for letting the community down and they shift the publishing schedule again. Idk just kinda what seems to happen every time.
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u/TalkyRaptor Jun 08 '26
It's definitely not strict AI, the scene is from the video with linus and the manhole cover. The sign is a real sign. Looks more like hasty photoshop work than AI
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u/Booster6 Jun 08 '26
I dunno if its AI or not, but I have really been hating the thumbnails recently