I Quit YouTube. I Let Artificial Intelligence Write My Goodbye Letter and Here's What It Came Up With

I'm Leaving YouTube, So I'm Letting ChatGPT Break the News. Is it Any Good?

Hi everyone, it’s Helen. Happy New Year! Today I’ve got something special for you…I’ve replaced myself, or rather, my writing with artificial intelligence. I’ll let you know when I’m switching over to the AI portion of the writing, it will have a pink line on the side.

Have you heard of ChatGPT? This was the breakout tech innovation of late 2022 and right now it’s free to use, though there are a few hurdles to sign up (the usual Create an account, Confirm via email and text)…it’s not Google. Yet.

It’s an AI technology that will scour the web and write something, anything, for you. In fact, I asked ChatGPT to describe itself:

It’s a bot that can write all kinds of things: I’ve asked it to write 300 words on the Argentinian mining industry in the style of the New York Times. I’ve asked it to write a script for my son’s favorite TV show, Highway Thru Hell. It wrote a credible, if robotic, rendering of both.

ChatGPT writes with very little style, but is perfectly acceptable for high school essays, and that means there could be wild implications for high-schoolers. No more take-home essays, and the introduction of oral exams, perhaps.

Here’s a recent headline from the Atlantic: “ChatGPT Will End High-School English”

And here is that article’s subheading “I’ve been teaching English for 12 years, and I’m astounded by what ChatGPT can produce.”

😱

Seeing as I make my living as a writer, I heard my inner Whoopi Goldberg whispering “You in danger, girl.” So, I decided to try it out myself.

I Was Thinking About Quitting YouTube Anyway, So I Got AI to Write My Goodbye

Those of you who know me for a long time know that about every six months, I threaten to quit YouTube. Hithertofore, this has been an empty threat as eventually I get bored and start making videos again. I don’t knit, paint or garden, this outlet has been my hobby. However, my (small) YouTube revenue is steadily declining, and I’ve also had to delete a number of unhinged comments recently.

Imagine if your hobby was knitting sweaters, and you sold them on Etsy, and had people writing comments about your knitting like “OMG you suck so bad, why are you even here? Get off my screen.” And that’s one of the milder ones.

Historically, I dealt with this by ignoring comments but recently I had to go into one old video and clean them up as they were truly out of hand. It was a video on the extremely divisive topic of…Viviscal supplements? I’m serious. Here’s the video, you can read my pinned comment for a flavor of how some people have been flinging poo at me.

Consequently, it’s not worth the drain on my attention and the abuse. This is something I’ve mentally prepared for and part of the reason I created this substack newsletter.

Thank U, Next. The thumbnail for my goodbye video coming out in a few days on YouTube.

With that in mind, I decided we should have a little fun together and I’d let ChatGPT write my swan song. Here’s exactly what I asked it to do:

And here is the article this AI technology wrote for me, it took it about 25 seconds (!) to produce this ⬇️

As a freelance writer and content creator, I've always been drawn to YouTube as a platform for sharing my work and connecting with my audience. But over the past few years, I've started to feel like YouTube is no longer the right fit for me and my career.

There are a few key reasons for this. First and foremost, I've noticed a significant decline in my revenue from YouTube. Advertisers seem to be paying less and less for ad space, and as a result, I'm making significantly less money from my videos. This is a huge concern for me, as I rely on my YouTube income to support myself and my family.

In addition to the declining revenue, I've also had to deal with a lot of negativity and trolling on the platform. It's one thing to receive constructive criticism or feedback, but it's another thing entirely to be subjected to personal attacks and harassment. Unfortunately, this kind of behavior is all too common on YouTube, and it's really taken a toll on my mental health.

Finally, I've come to the realization that I really want to focus on my career as a lifestyle journalist. While YouTube has been a great platform for sharing my work and connecting with my audience, I feel like I'm more interested in writing longer-form articles and exploring different topics in greater depth. I'm excited about the opportunity to focus on my writing and see where it takes me.

So, after much contemplation and reflection, I've decided to leave YouTube behind and concentrate on my career as a freelance writer. It wasn't an easy decision, and I know I'll miss the community and connection that YouTube has provided. But I'm excited about the new opportunities and challenges that this decision will bring, and I'm confident that it's the right move for me and my career.

I want to take a moment to thank all of my subscribers and supporters for their continued support and encouragement. It means the world to me, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have shared my work with you on YouTube. I hope you'll continue to follow me on my journey as a freelance writer, and I look forward to connecting with you through my articles and other writing projects.

I know that leaving YouTube can be a scary and uncertain time, but I'm excited about the future and the new opportunities that this decision will bring. I'm confident that focusing on my career as a lifestyle journalist will allow me to grow and develop as a writer, and I'm looking forward to seeing where this journey takes me.

Thank you again for all of your support, and I hope you'll continue to follow me on this new chapter of my career.

Sincerely, [Your Name]

⬆️ Can you believe artifical intelligence wrote that? It’s passably good, even though it didn’t really nail my kinda offbeat essence. In fact, it reads like I hired a crisis-management firm to write it. You decide, but you’ll be forgiven if you didn’t read the whole thing, it’s not that insightful.

And also, ChatGPT straight up invented some shit about me, like this zinger: “I rely on my YouTube income to support myself and my family.”

Bahahaha. I’ve never relied on YouTube to support anything but my Sephora habit, so that’s wrong.

It aggregates writing from all over the internet, so what we’re seeing here, I believe, is a poignant meshing of everything other YouTube creators have written over the years about why they are quitting.

This made me feel sad, not only for myself, but for so many others who are experiencing the same troubles ⬇️

“It's one thing to receive constructive criticism or feedback, but it's another thing entirely to be subjected to personal attacks and harassment. Unfortunately, this kind of behavior is all too common on YouTube, and it's really taken a toll on my mental health.”

This did resonate. I’m a cancer survivor who went on YouTube to share her journey of recovery, which mostly included hair problems cause luckily, the rest of my body seemed to bounce back after the chemo, radiation and extensive surgery I went through even though my hair follicles didn’t.

I’m grateful to be alive. I really don’t need to drink in horrifying anti-social vibes from anonymous strangers, even if they are in the minority. I don’t earn enough to justify hiring a comment moderator either, nor do I think I should subject anyone else to the negativity.

Decision: Eventually I will migrate the 450 videos I’ve made about hair loss, etc. behind a paywall, and that will be that, no more anonymous trolls. This is why we can’t have nice things, as the saying goes. In the meantime I intend to disable comments as a first step. YouTube really needs to change and give creators the option to let only subscribers comment, but there is no such option at present. Moderation problems continue to be a sticking point on this platform.

Anyway I do want to depart on a high note, while I’m annoyed at the YouTube situation, I also feel liberated! If you’re reading this, you’re along for the ride and you’ll see exactly what happens next. On that note, consider a paid subscription to help support the work I do here.

Warmly,

Helen

P.S. Here’s my latest byline, for Toronto’s official tourism website: "10 Places to Say Cheers with Non-Alcoholic Drinks"