- 4 minutes ago
We reveal who's behind the Chloe vs History YouTube channel and explain exactly how the Chloe vs History videos are made, including what AI tools the creator used. Various inaccuracies in the channel's AI videos are discussed, and we explain what sets Chloe vs History apart from typical AI slop.
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00:00Hi, welcome back, or welcome if you're new.
00:02This is Chloe.
00:03I have just arrived in Tudor, London, 1536.
00:06She's an L.A. influencer time-traveling through history.
00:09No, no, no.
00:10And even though that's impossible,
00:12millions of people who've seen her have the same question.
00:15Is she a real person?
00:17So I'm here at Ancient Rome's version of grabbing lunch on the go.
00:21The answer is no.
00:22She's completely AI, and she's actually this guy.
00:26Jonathan had zero formal training as a filmmaker.
00:30But now he's quit his job to focus full-time
00:32on his Chloe vs. History YouTube channel.
00:35You've got to see this market, guys.
00:37Look at the detail on this pottery.
00:39A lot of people who've seen Chloe said things like this.
00:42They haven't ever watched an AI video from start.
00:46They don't realize.
00:47They've said, I've just watched this from start to finish.
00:50That's crazy.
00:50The crowd is...
00:52Yeah.
00:53This boy's having the best day of his life.
00:55So is she the future of AI influencers?
00:57And what does that mean for storytelling on the YouTube platform?
00:59What I've been doing over the last three years is really just experimenting with AI and
01:04using it in a...
01:06Trying to use it in a positive way.
01:08Always under the umbrella of history.
01:10I started out doing Greek mythology stuff because no one had ever done that before.
01:15And that did really well.
01:17I then fast forward a few months and I'm doing sort of 30-minute documentaries about entire
01:22histories of cities using AI to reconstruct the primary sources that we have available to us.
01:29But your background isn't necessarily in filmmaking.
01:32No, 100% not.
01:34No.
01:34So I'm just a customer service guy with a creative edge that was never tapped into until a few years
01:42ago.
01:42And I think that should be quite refreshing to people that anyone can do this stuff.
01:47When did you realize that Chloe was going to be far more popular than the previous AI projects
01:54that he had created up until that point?
01:56Very, very quickly.
01:59So the first post, it got 4 million views on Instagram.
02:03I was like, okay, so post a few more and a few more.
02:06And I just did like the greatest hits of history, really.
02:09You know, all the stuff that I know is popular in history, I didn't even need to think about it
02:14too much.
02:14I was like, that's the next one.
02:15That's the next one.
02:17And every single one was getting, you know, 5 million views or whatever.
02:20And I was like, I've landed on something here.
02:23And I just needed to take it, you know, I just needed to go all in.
02:27I was like, I need to do once a day, keep the momentum going.
02:31And who knows where this could go?
02:33And it was at one point, I was refreshing it.
02:36And after one minute, it was a thousand new followers and then a thousand new followers.
02:40And I was like, this is just, that is the most, I don't know how it, I don't know how
02:45I could outdo that now.
02:46I'd be very hard pressed to outdo that.
02:48Are you, you know, brave enough to ballpark how much money you think you've made from Chloe so far?
02:55Uh, it's, it's been way more than a full-time salary in a year.
03:01You know, it's, uh, when Chloe was first uploading on Instagram, uh, I was pretty much earning nothing from it
03:10because Instagram don't pay for views or anything.
03:12Yeah.
03:13TikTok, they didn't allow me to join the creator awards program for some reason.
03:17I don't know.
03:18It wasn't until the long forms on that I was making on YouTube.
03:23Uh, and it wasn't until those that the short started taking off.
03:28YouTube wasn't really paying much attention to the YouTube, uh, to the shorts on their own.
03:33So, um, yeah, it wasn't much.
03:35Well, that's, that's good for you.
03:37So that's interesting.
03:38So you're saying that it wasn't until you made the long form YouTube videos that the whole operation started to
03:44monetize.
03:44Yeah.
03:45And I, I think a lot of people go into this with like, they want to do the YouTube shorts
03:48because it's quick dopamine, you know, and they think it's quick money, but it's, it's totally not, you know, YouTube
03:54actually is quite a harsh algorithm.
03:57You know, you need to really cut through.
03:59Um, and I don't know how, like if, if, if I knew how, then I, we'd all be millionaires.
04:03Did you want to remain anonymous as the, the person behind Chloe initially?
04:10Initially I did.
04:11Yeah.
04:11Admittedly.
04:12So, because it was, it would, I needed to contain the mystique of it in a way.
04:18Um, because part of the reason that it did so well was that everyone was engaging in the comments.
04:22Like, is she real?
04:23Is she not like, and you just needed to let that, you know, that noise happened for a while.
04:28I didn't want to prolong it so much that I didn't want people to reveal it or find it out.
04:34I'd rather just come out with it, like elect myself to do that.
04:38Um, because I thought in the end, that's the right way to do it.
04:40I think the fact that you kind of are Chloe is, is, is, uh, it is a big reveal, you
04:46know?
04:47Yeah.
04:48Yeah, sure.
04:48I mean, I, I'm very far removed from Chloe herself, you know, like I don't look or sound anything like
04:54Chloe.
04:55This is all just my imagination, you know, like much like a director will cast the right person for their
05:02movie.
05:02I'm the director in this.
05:04I'm the architect.
05:05Did you try other kind of characters?
05:08Why, why was Chloe created the way that she was?
05:12So I, I, I didn't have like a particular appearance in mind going into it.
05:16I was using, um, at the time I was using, uh, a third party software that could create AI.
05:26And you could select all the, you know, all the features that you want, you know, like the hairstyle, the
05:31color, the eye color, eyes, all of that.
05:33It only took me about five or between five and 10 generations of a character.
05:37And I was like, no, no, no.
05:39And then I landed on her.
05:40I was like, oh, she looks kind of cool.
05:41Let's go with her and let's see what happens.
05:43Has this become your full-time thing now?
05:45Yeah.
05:45Yeah.
05:46This is the sort of thing that you really need to give your a hundred percent focus on.
05:49You need to get in the flow state.
05:52And if you've got too many things in the background, too many things, um, that you're responsible for, it just
05:57can't work.
05:58So yeah, I've realized that I need a team behind me and I found some really good people, talented people.
06:05And, and that I've realized is so crucial to running a business.
06:09You know, I wanted to do it all alone and a lot of business owners would probably say the same
06:13thing.
06:13They don't want to necessarily give away their, their techniques and how they do things.
06:19But I've realized that having a good team of people behind you is absolutely crucial.
06:24One thing I've noticed in the last few months, um, since Chloe came out is that there's an infinite number
06:31of copycats already, um, that are probably even just using your videos to prompt their own characters.
06:39How do you feel about that?
06:41And then also, are you wanting to go after those people like with takedown notices or something like that?
06:48Yeah.
06:48So there's kind of two categories of copycats.
06:51There's the, the direct copycats who are literally scraping my scripts and just reproducing the same video with a slightly
07:00different character.
07:00So it's not Chloe, but it's very, you know, she looks very similar to Chloe.
07:05And it's like, at that point, I'm just like, come on, but there are channels equally as well, that I
07:10would say as well, that have just taken the idea of history meets AI influencer and done their own stuff,
07:17like entirely organic stuff.
07:18I've basically started a trend and that's just the nature of the beast.
07:23Uh, I've got to assume that if I'm going to take all those, if I'm going to take all of
07:28that success, there will be people that try and recreate it.
07:32But the thing I would say to those people is that don't, you know, they always say, don't reinvent the
07:37wheel.
07:38Well, actually I've always done the best when I have reinvented the wheel.
07:43So, you know, because a lot of people will say, so a lot of these YouTube gurus will say, just
07:50take an already proven concept.
07:52Yeah. And, and change it like 10 or 20% and you've got some.
07:55Yeah. And I would actually kind of push back on that because all of the stuff that I've created over
08:01the past, it's always just been me experimenting with stuff and seeing what sticks.
08:05And some of it doesn't do well and others like absolutely flies.
08:10And I just think that's more worth your time.
08:12Chloe exists because I created her from scratch and it's a new, it's a new concept.
08:18So you'd sometimes just have to take those risks, go hard or go home, as they say.
08:24Yeah.
08:24They're trying to figure out on these platforms, how to label things as AI slop that, um, you know, would
08:31lead to demonetization and other things.
08:34How has Chloe, uh, risen above that kind of gatekeeping that's starting to happen on these platforms right now?
08:42So you've seen it all over YouTube that good quality AI channels have been taken down because of inauthentic content
08:49or whatever.
08:50And that's a real shame because they're, they're just trying to get rid of this, you know, the 80 to
08:5590% of it is, is AI slop, unfortunately, but there are good creators that are just feeling the, you
09:03know, that effect as well.
09:04And they're getting taken down as well.
09:05So yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's YouTube's own decision.
09:09And I don't know why Chloe has circumnavigated that, uh, maybe because it is, it does it, you know, under
09:18inauthentic content, it says it's mass produced.
09:21That's part of the reason.
09:22And it's far from it to produce a Chloe video.
09:25It is very intricate process.
09:27It's, it takes me weeks to create a single video, the more time you spend on a video and that
09:32like the, the more love you put into it, I think that the less the risk you have.
09:36And I know that sounds really cliche, but the more you can differentiate yourself, the more unique you are and
09:43how different you are in every video, um, should help reduce that risk.
09:49Give me a sense of who's watching, what does the audience for this look like?
09:53So it's usually between 18 to 35.
09:56It's a real mix actually.
09:59So I do get some historians and they comment on the video and they note inaccuracies, which I'm thankful for
10:05because I'm always open to knowing that.
10:08Uh, but I also get, you know, a lot of Gen Z, um, and younger people that like watching vloggers
10:15and influencers, but, and, you know, and I get a lot of people interested in history as well.
10:19So it's, it's a real mix of people and it's, it's actually more mass, um, like a mass audience than
10:25I thought.
10:25I thought this would be fairly niche, but it turns out a lot of people love history.
10:29And that's what I want to say is that younger people, they love history, but the moment is taught via
10:35a textbook and a few videos or a few films.
10:38And it's like, Oh man, that's such a missed opportunity because history is so visual and it's just not taught
10:43in a visual way.
10:44Are you training Chloe's videos on, you know, actual wood cuts, actual sculptures, things that, you know, have historical accuracy?
10:55Some of it is, some of it isn't.
10:57So it all depends on the context.
10:58So for example, Pompeii, there's very little cause it's so long ago.
11:03Um, we're going off, you know, reconstructions and they have to be in the, in the public domain.
11:10So, um, yeah, some of it is, some of it isn't, and I want to increase the amount of stuff
11:16that is based on real stuff.
11:17So whenever there is real sources that are in the public domain, then I'll, I'll use them.
11:22And I want to tell people that I do really care about accuracy and getting this right.
11:28And I know I've made a few mistakes.
11:30I'm more than happy to admit that.
11:32Um, but the AI is trained on modern data.
11:37So I have, I'm constantly fighting against the AI trying to make it modern.
11:42And, um, there are certain things that have appeared that they shouldn't.
11:47And, uh, there's certain anachronistic things that have happened.
11:50And it's like, I'm trying to control this as much as I can.
11:53And just, I want the audience to know that I'm trying to get better with that.
11:59And I'm actively working and investing to, to get better.
12:04Let's talk a little bit about the process just in broad strokes.
12:07What are the steps to go from idea and you, you know, Jonathan's brain to a long form Chloe video?
12:15I'll have a master prompt in the background, which will contain all the stuff that I want to keep consistent
12:19in every video.
12:20So I know that in every video, I want to keep her arm outstretched.
12:24You know, she's a blogger.
12:25She's a blogger.
12:25Uh, and there's certain prompts that we can use the same text to keep that consistency of the images.
12:30So I will have this document that I'll pump into, into Claude and, and then I'll just tell Claude, you
12:37know, this is the topic that I want to do today.
12:40And, um, and it will guide me through that.
12:43And so I've kind of set it up myself in a way that is interactive.
12:47And, uh, and then it will give me a script ultimately, and like a scene breakdown, like a storyboard sort
12:53of thing.
12:53And with the long forms, I found that it's, I actually wander off from the script a lot.
13:00Um, the script that it produces on Claude is very, sometimes it can be cringe.
13:05It can overdo things.
13:06It can just, just be totally not sensitive enough to certain things.
13:10So, um, I have to use a lot of my own directorship with it.
13:15Uh, and certainly with the Titanic stuff, half of that was like my own creative stuff.
13:22And that's the thing, like if you rely on AI too much, you're going to get results that look and
13:27feel like AI.
13:28And the audience will feel that the audience nowadays have consumed an awful lot of AI content.
13:33And we just know when we're watching an AI script or, or, you know, we're getting used to the language
13:40now and how AI talks.
13:42And it talks with, you know, like, oh, it's not this, it's that sort of thing.
13:46But then taking it from the script to the generations, I mean, there's gotta be a few steps in between.
13:52What does that look like?
13:53Yeah. So, uh, I'll then, so once I've got the script, it's then time to ask Claude, you know, can
13:59you give me an image prompt for scene one?
14:01And from taking information from that master prompt that I mentioned earlier, it will take into account what I said,
14:07and then give me a, basically a perfect image prompt.
14:09Um, and then I'll paste that into a new software called utopi that will actually produce the images for me,
14:17which is powered by, you know, nano banana pro and, uh, chat GPT, um, 2.0 as well.
14:25So they've got an image model and then I'll take those images.
14:28So I'll, I'll always need to create a start frame.
14:30Um, that's how we can maintain the best control, you know, with, with turning those into moving pictures.
14:36And then it's a case of using that image as a reference, as a start frame.
14:41And, um, again, using Claude to give me an image to video prompt this time.
14:45And that will contain all of the dialogue, how she's moving, what she's going to do.
14:49So is the, what's the main model you're using now?
14:52C dance 2.0.
14:54Got it. Okay. And that does up to 15 seconds?
14:58Up to 15 seconds at 1080p. Yeah.
15:01Got it. Got it. And, and it also like VO3 is giving you sound effects and dialogue.
15:06Yeah. Yeah.
15:07How do you, how do you keep Chloe's voice the same?
15:10I just use, uh, an audio reference.
15:13So I've got like a sample of her voice, upload that every time.
15:17And that's how it keeps the voice consistent.
15:18So, you know, it's just a sample bit of text that she's saying, and then it will take the tone
15:23and the pitch of that voice.
15:25And I can get it to say anything that I want.
15:27Wow.
15:27It's very expensive to generate this.
15:31So how much does a, a longer form Chloe video cost to make?
15:35Um, hard to put into, into raw numbers.
15:38Cause it does vary.
15:40Uh, so it varies depending on how difficult the topic is.
15:44If the topics really difficult to get right.
15:46And it has to be rerun all the time.
15:48Like it's like up to five takes essentially.
15:52It is like, it is like a real studio, you know?
15:55Right.
15:55You know, it's like, I don't know which one is best controlling humans or controlling the AI.
16:00Like they're both going to screw up.
16:02So, um, yeah, it's probably, it's definitely.
16:09Multiple hundreds, you know, like it's hard, like three, 400, but it can even go up to 800.
16:14It depends who I'm talking to.
16:16If I'm talking to a new AI hobbyist and they're like, they just want to get, they're like 300 pounds
16:20for one video.
16:20That's crazy high.
16:22And then if I'm talking to like a list director, they're like, dude, I want to be, I want to
16:26be in, you know, I want to be in your boat.
16:28I also think that's probably where the biggest awareness came because, you know, anything that is a sustained 20, some
16:38of these films are about 15, 20 minutes of, of just pure generation sustaining attention on YouTube.
16:46Um, that's remarkable.
16:47I mean that I don't, I don't see a lot of that.
16:50No, no.
16:51No.
16:51And a lot of people will tell you that they, they haven't ever watched an AI video from start to
16:57scratch, from start to finish.
16:58Right.
16:59They don't realize they've said, I've just watched this from start to finish.
17:03That's crazy.
17:06So there is a world where Chloe doesn't have to go back in time.
17:11She could go anywhere.
17:12She could do a brand deal.
17:13She could do a sponsorship.
17:14She could do a commercial.
17:15Is that something that's on the table?
17:18Yes.
17:18Yeah.
17:18A hundred percent.
17:19So I've already received lots of, um, opportunities, uh, but I've been very careful to work with the right person
17:26and I am now.
17:28So, um, yeah, that's, that's kind of sorted for Chloe for, for a while.
17:33What kinds of, uh, if you, you know, as much as you could say, what kind of a product or
17:38brand do you think somebody like Chloe makes sense to, to represent?
17:42I can imagine her doing, you know, like, you know, when you trace your family history, I think anything with
17:51AI obviously is a natural fit.
17:53Anything in history is a natural fit, but also in education in general.
17:57Chloe is like where education meets entertainment.
17:59And so a lot of people say they've learned things from Chloe.
18:02So they're open to being educated.
18:04And, uh, I'd, I'd like to associate myself with a positive, you know, forward thinking company.
18:10Cause I feel like, I feel like if, if Chloe was a real tick tock influencer, the first call she
18:15would get would be for some kind of like, you know, cosmetic products or some like, you know, fitness tracker
18:21or something like that.
18:22Yeah, I know.
18:23Um, I don't know.
18:25We'll, we'll have to see who knows, but yeah, I, I do have to think about her.
18:29Like she's a normal person, like a real person, you know, cause the, the, the audiences will overlap.
18:34Um, but yeah, the, the, the, the possibilities are quite endless with that.
18:40I also find it interesting that you've chosen this route of, of history because a lot of people who are
18:46doing what you're doing have used their imagination to create very detailed fantasy worlds that come from their own imagination.
18:55I'm thinking about like gossip goblin, but you've chosen to go with, you know, historical things that you're, you're trying
19:01as much as you can to be accurate.
19:02Yeah. And, and the history is my vein, you know, this is just something I adore and I love myself.
19:07And all I did was, was learn it in my kitchen for, for half a year and just try and
19:14apply it and just create some channels, just have fun with it.
19:17Now is, is the better, is the best time because you can really, whatever's in your mind and imagination, you
19:24can put that onto screen.
19:25Now, if it's prompted in the right way, it really, the tools are there, you know, three years ago, they
19:29weren't, um, but now anything is possible.
19:32Where does Chloe go from here? Where, what, what are your plans? What's, what's next in like the next six
19:36to 12 months?
19:37I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Like Chloe's always going to be in history, but there are so
19:43many different ideas I have for that and what she can do with that idea.
19:46So you'll have to watch this space, but essentially I really want to grow the YouTube channel and I want
19:52to go into different mediums and, and actually also as well is, is, can we take it one step further
19:59and create an immersive experience with Chloe?
20:01I know it sounds a bit weird, but what the possibilities are endless and, uh, you know, the technology is,
20:07is almost there to sort of interact with her.
20:10Um, and I think there might be some opportunity there to actually, you know, do, do like an interactive, uh,
20:18walkthrough with Chloe and she's interacting and we get, we as viewers or, or users of it get to control
20:23what she does.
20:24So yeah, I've, I've got, I've got loads of bubbling ideas.
20:28Do you think that Chloe will ever, uh, break character and admit that she's an AI or does the, does
20:34the illusion have to hold up, you know, for her to make sense?
20:38Oh, well, nothing, nothing, you know, that potentially could happen.
20:43I'm prompting one day and she'll say, no, I'm not going to do that.
20:45I refuse.
20:47And that, that's the point where we worry.
20:49Um, so yeah, potentially, but at the moment I can, I can have her do, you know, any historical situation
20:59that I, that I think is, is suitable for that.
21:02I've been in this business about 20 years making, you know, I guess what you would call now nonfiction infotainment
21:11sort of things.
21:12And you're already surpassing some of the stuff that we make with real people without a background in that kind
21:18of storytelling.
21:20You know, do you think someone like me should be threatened by the rise of a Chloe?
21:24No, not at all, because I, all I've done is taken a good idea that I had myself and apply
21:31it.
21:31And it's not possible without AI.
21:34You have to remember that I can't time travel.
21:36No one can time travel.
21:37So what's the alternative?
21:39Well, we can use AI to, uh, recreate it.
21:42And, uh, there's, there's nothing stopping anyone from doing, you know, taking that idea and actually wanting to learn this
21:49stuff.
21:49Uh, AI, like I said at the start is it's not a big barrier to entry.
21:54I'm confident that anyone can do this.
21:56So if you really want to do something like that, um, you can, if you want.
22:00So I'm only, I, I like to think that I'm adding to the pie, not taking away from it.
22:06Awesome.
22:06Well, is there anything before we go that, you know, we didn't cover that you think people should know about
22:11either your work, Chloe, AI filmmaking in general?
22:15Um, you know, whether it, or maybe even the, even like addressing shade that people have thrown your way since
22:22you came up, came up with this idea.
22:24Yeah.
22:25I mean, I do get a lot of hate and that's totally fair enough.
22:29My goal with this is to get younger people more engaged with history and history is such a compelling topic.
22:34And I think it's really important that we all understand our history and how we got here.
22:39So AI is a great way to do that.
22:42And there are certain right ways to use AI and certain wrong ways to use AI.
22:47And I'm trying to, you know, push the needle forward in the right direction with it and just show, look,
22:52this is what we can do.
22:53I'm trying to make it as, as accurate as we possibly can, uh, and use, you know, all the sources
22:59we can.
23:00Um, and I'm trying to grow the team.
23:03I'm, you know, I'm taking this really seriously.
23:05This is not just something that I'm just throwing up in a few minutes every day.
23:08And like, I'm just.
23:09Right, right, right.
23:09Jonathan, this has been great.
23:11Um, I really thank you for, for doing this.
23:13I really enjoyed it.
23:15Thank you for having me.
23:15This is just really great.
23:17This has been great work, so it's my character.
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