YouTube personality Cliff Tan has expressed his apologies to his 2.4 million followers after endorsing an AI design tool.

      Cliff Tan, an interior design creator with 2.4 million YouTube subscribers, has issued an apology for promoting a paid advertisement for Dreamina, an AI creative tool from ByteDance. This marks the second such apology from a creator within a week, following Hank Green’s retraction regarding his use of ChatGPT for research.

      Tan, who operates under the name Dear Modern, shared a video on Monday to address the backlash. “Yesterday, I created a video about AI, and it let many of you down,” he remarked. “I sincerely apologize for that.”

      The advertisement featured Dreamina, a tool that converts written prompts into animated videos. Tan showcased his own sketches, which were animated by the software into a floor plan.

      In an effort to protect his image within the ad, he stated that he does not “like AI” because “it makes you forget to use your brain.” This did not alleviate the pushback he received, with comments expressing disapproval; one notable comment garnered 1,700 likes, stating, “No, Mr. Cliff. Please. Don’t sell yourself to AI.”

      In a subsequent statement, Tan shared his belief that the software could be “genuinely useful” for fellow designers, emphasizing that he didn’t want viewers “with right sentiments to become martyrs in a world that is increasingly leaving us behind.”

      Part of the discontent was directed at the advertiser. Dreamina is CapCut’s AI brand and is part of ByteDance, which runs on Seedance models that the company recently equipped with watermarking and IP protections before a global launch.

      This is the second instance of this nature within a week. Hank Green, who has over 3.2 million subscribers, apologized on August 4 for relying on ChatGPT to source papers for his scripts, later releasing a personal AI policy prohibiting the use of a model for writing, editing, or outlining.

      Neither of the creators produced wholesale content through AI. Both faced backlash due to their associations, highlighting a significant concern for those marketing AI tools via influencers. The market appears more challenging than sponsorship fees imply, especially on a platform that is already penalizing human creators amidst a crackdown on low-quality content.

      The field Tan is involved in has been moving in the opposite direction. The British Institute of Interior Design noted last year that AI “has a growing presence in interior design,” with founder Stephen Dick commenting on the “impressive” possibilities offered by text-to-image visualization tools.