Famous video blogger and science popularizer Hank Green faced a large-scale wave of criticism after admitting to using the ChatGPT neural network to prepare materials for his show Ask Hank Anything. The incident occurred around a 55-minute episode featuring the author of Soupytime, published on the Complexly channel on July 30. The audience noticed the specific formulations, in particular the phrase "I appreciate the objection", which is typical for the responses of generative models, and not for natural human speech. In response to the accusations, Green confirmed that he actively used artificial intelligence in the research process, describing it as an unproductive habit formed under conditions of high workload and strict production deadlines.

The audience's reaction turned out to be sharply negative, as the community questioned the reliability of the information provided and expressed concern about the possible dissemination of inaccurate data inherent in language models. The criticism intensified due to the abundance of fact-checking cards in the video itself, which pointed out the impossibility of independently verifying claims about the biological characteristics of animals and the properties of artificial sweeteners. The main complaint of the viewers concerned a violation of the stated mission of the Complexly platform to create reliable and thoroughly verified educational content. Despite the author's assurances that the final conclusions and opinions remain solely his own, the credibility of the authenticity of his intellectual work has been significantly undermined.

As a result of the discussion, Hank Green published a detailed apology on the r/nerdfighters profile community, acknowledging that excessive reliance on artificial intelligence technologies blurs the author's style and complicates the perception of the material. The author also noted that the constant generation of content using algorithms led to unhealthy professional patterns that caused legitimate concern among his loved ones. As a practical measure, Green announced the temporary suspension of the release of videos on his personal hankschannel channel, as well as the freezing of the SMUSH and 4x3 projects. This step is necessary to review the current workload, complete prioritized long-term materials, and restore the strict quality standards expected by his audience.