---
title: 'How YouTubers Make Thumbnails Just Changed Forever'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=UaddePNay4w'
video_id: 'UaddePNay4w'
date: 2026-08-09
duration_sec: 810
---

# How YouTubers Make Thumbnails Just Changed Forever

> Source: [How YouTubers Make Thumbnails Just Changed Forever](https://youtube.com/watch?v=UaddePNay4w)

## Summary

The video discusses how AI tools have become integral to YouTube content creation, offering creators significant leverage but also leading to 'AI slop.' The host introduces Tailsy, an AI-powered thumbnail generator designed to help creators produce high-quality, clickable thumbnails quickly and easily, without needing prompt engineering skills or hiring designers.

### Key Points

- **AI's Dual Impact on YouTube** [00:01] — AI tools are now essential for running YouTube channels, providing creators with leverage but also enabling mass-produced, low-quality content ('AI slop').
- **Two Types of AI Users** [00:41] — Group one mass-produces garbage and spams the platform; group two uses AI as a tool to add educational value, which is why many channels go viral with AI-assisted content.
- **AI in Thumbnails** [01:11] — Creators like Mr. Beast use AI for thumbnails, which are crucial for clicks. The host previously paid up to $120 per thumbnail, highlighting the cost and time savings of AI tools.
- **Challenges with Image Generators** [01:54] — Two major issues: lack of prompt engineering skills and time-consuming trial and error. This led to the development of Tailsy, a thumbnail generator for creators.
- **Tailsy's Features** [02:31] — Tailsy offers 'normal' and 'pro' modes, with pro using more credits for higher quality. It includes features like 'inspiration' (using existing thumbnails as style references) and 'attachments' (using specific images).
- **Using Inspiration** [03:15] — Users can copy a link to a thumbnail they like, paste it into Tailsy, and use it as inspiration. Simple prompts like '30-day keto diet plan use the attached image as character' generate multiple thumbnails in seconds.
- **Avoiding AI Slop** [04:13] — Tailsy creates thumbnails inspired by references but not one-to-one copies, distinguishing between AI slop and proper AI use.
- **Time Savings** [05:07] — Tailsy eliminates the need for long, complex prompts; it understands YouTube thumbnail context and generates strong thumbnails in seconds to a minute.
- **Versatility Across Niches** [06:17] — Tailsy works for various niches, demonstrated with a car channel example ('why the '67 Impala is a timeless classic'), generating a thumbnail in 16 seconds.
- **Tailsy Pro for High Quality** [07:41] — Pro mode uses the best image generation model for higher realism, better composition, and celebrity likeness, as shown with a Sam Altman and Elon Musk debate thumbnail.
- **Web Search for Recent Events** [09:01] — Tailsy searches the web for context before generating, making it unique for thumbnails tied to recent news, unlike other generators trained on past images.
- **Product Attachments** [09:42] — Users can attach specific product images (e.g., a keyboard) and generate thumbnails with studio lighting and background settings, using the actual product image.
- **Honest Assessment** [10:09] — Tailsy is best for 90% of creators for speed and cost-efficiency, but edge cases may require a professional designer. Tailsy also offers templates and ideation features.
- **Why Tailsy Over Other Tools** [11:14] — Tailsy combines simple prompts with a thumbnail engine that applies proven viral practices, plus features like inspiration, attachments, characters, and ideation, making it a powerful creator tool.
- **Creator Confidence** [12:49] — The host, who runs multiple YouTube channels, claims Tailsy is the best AI thumbnail generator, offering free access to the fast model and paid plans for full features.

### Conclusion

Tailsy is presented as a revolutionary AI tool that simplifies thumbnail creation, saving time and money while improving click-through rates. The host encourages creators to try it for free and highlights its unique web-search capability for timely content.

## Transcript

new age when it comes to doing YouTube. I've been doing YouTube for the past 10 years and AI tools have gotten to a point now that they are an integral part of running a YouTube channels because they've gotten so good so fast. And
that's opened the door to two different things, one good and one not so good. The good thing is that us as creators, we have an insane amount of leverage now. What in the past would have cost us thousands of dollars or hundreds of
hours can now be generated in a few seconds. However, on the flip side, it's also produced a lot of AI slop. And look, I get it. Everybody hates bad AI content. But if AI is so bad, then why is every one of the biggest creators on
the planet using it? And that's because there are two types of people who use AI. Group one are the people who just mass produce garbage, spam the platform, and then wonder why nothing works. But group two uses AI the way it's supposed
to be used as the tool that it's meant to be to give even more value to viewers educational value. And that's why you see tons of channels going viral with AI assisted content. So many channels, whether you know it or not, use AI in
ideate for scripts, for finding video ideas themselves. And creators like Mr. Beast even use AI for their thumbnails. And one of the most important parts of your entire creator journey is your thumbnails. Even if you have one of the
best videos in the world, if people don't click to watch your videos, you're not going to get any views. Now, in the past, I've had to pay upwards of $120 for individual thumbnails because I'm not a pro designer myself. And even if I
was, I wouldn't want to spend all my time just making thumbnails. So, the natural thing is to look to AI tools to do this for us. And there's tons of different image generators out there on the market right now, but you still run
into two major issues. Number one, I'm not a prompt engineer. I don't know exactly how to prompt thumbnails to get the exact desired result for what's for my videos. And I don't want to spend
hours of trial and error just to find something usable. And that is exactly why we built Tailsy. And over the majority of the past year, we've been developing Tailsy to be the best thumbnail generator on the entire market
for creators who want to compete with the biggest channels on YouTube. And it doesn't matter if you need a thumbnail like this one or this one or even this one. Tailsy's got you covered and let me show you what I mean. So, I've mentioned
Dude several times before. They're basically this faceless channel that get millions of views per month and they have this animated character who's basically the face of their channel. So, let's say that I'm running a similar
type of channel. And I have a character and I want to make a video about the best 30-day keto diet plan. And now, let's use Tailsy normal for this one. As pro. The fast will generate literally just in a couple seconds. The normal
going to run it through a lot of the best thumbnails out there and it's going the highest click-through rate possible. And the pro uses a bit more credits, absolute best, but it is going to take the longest as well. So, let's use
then, what I'm going to do is I'm going to copy the link to this video right here because we really like the style of this thumbnail, go back to Tailsy, and then click inspiration. Then we can actually paste the link for this
thumbnail right here and then click use as inspiration. Now, we have that active character. And I actually have an image of a character right here, so I'm just Tailsy. And then, I'm going to put a ridiculously simple prompt of 30-day
keto diet plan use the attached image as character. From there then, we can want to see them. So, I'm going to do three at a time right there, and then three amazing thumbnails that we could go ahead and use, and all three of these
gotten a thumbnail with our own character, clearly inspired by the inspiration video, but it's not a one-to-one copy. That's the difference between AI slop, where you're just copying somebody else, versus using AI
the way it's supposed to be used. Now, maybe you're doing a totally different a history channel, and you're doing a video about the history of the United that you like from somewhere else. For example, let's say you found this video
Rome. But it's about Rome, it's not about the United States, and the stuff in it has Roman sculptures. We want it to be something more related to the United States. And so, we're going to do the same exact process, copy this link,
go to Tailsy, add it in as an inspiration link, use it, and then we're history of the United States, do a couple variants, and click generate. Now, notice here, I'm not writing 400-word prompts for this. I'm not going
into super in-depth of exactly what to do. I literally just said the history of the United States. Tailsy understands that it's a YouTube thumbnail, it understands what it's about, and it understands the context for doing this.
The amount of time you're going to save, as opposed to having to write out super long, complex prompts by itself, generating image after image after image, not knowing if it'll look good or not. You don't have to describe in-depth
angles, the color grading. But the cool thing is that if I wanted to do that stuff, I could, and Tailsy will follow it. But even if I just type a few words, Tailsy's thumbnail engine figures out the best clickable concept, and it
generates a really strong thumbnail in just a couple seconds to a minute. And just like that, our thumbnails are done. These look incredibly good, and it knew some historical figures, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The text
bright colors. It uses all of the best practices that I recommend for making have to be hiring a designer. You don't have to be this prompt engineer or just a few seconds. Now, at this point you might be saying, "Okay, Matt, but is
that all Tailsy does? I mean, it's cool, but how am I going to know that it's specifically or for the type of stuff I want to do? Or what if I'm like you? channels in different niches and I want to make sure that it will work for me."
What we'll do is we'll go to a new chat right here. And by the way, all of your right here. And for this one, let's say we ran a car channel and the topic that we're going to be doing is why the '67 Impala is a timeless classic. We
video right there. And I'm going to actually use Tailsy fast for this generates thumbnails. And also, this is just incredibly nice for ideating and getting incredible ideas super quickly. So, that's literally all we're going to
type. Click generate right there. And give this a few seconds right here. It should not take more than 30 seconds to generate this thumbnail. So, we'll just we have a loading bar. Literally, 16 seconds and it should be done right
seconds and it should be done right here. can see, it got the look of the car perfectly and it says the king. It's perfect. And we can go ahead and keep generating this again and again to get
Let's say we want to do another one right here. We can easily do that. Let variation that honestly, I like even better. Just timeless. It's got the picture of the car. The text is big, straight to the point. Incredible
thumbnail. And now, what if you wanted even higher quality or you wanted very specific celebrities to be within your thumbnail? Or you wanted a thumbnail on a incredibly specific topic that you do not want it to mess up no matter what.
That is where Tailsy Pro comes in. Tailsy Pro will always use the absolute best image generation model in the back end, and it's specifically better if you want, for example, higher realism, better composition, and better celebrity
likeness. So, let's do a quick example with some famous people. Let's go to Tailsy Pro and then type in Sam Altman and Elon Musk sitting in a dark room arguing with big bold text that says debate in the background. And let's do a
couple variations right here and click generate. Now, this is going to take the absolute longest out of any of the models due to the fact that it's information. It's going to use the best
to have the best thumbnail that you can possibly get. So, while the other tools maybe you just want to ideate something super quickly as well, the pro model will make your channel and your videos stand out, which will get you more
views, and in turn allow you to build a business on YouTube easier. Now, it it had a timer there of starting like a minute, now it's at 45 seconds. We'll let this fully load right here. That's another thing I really love about Tailsy
it'll take for each of these to generate. And as you can see, we already have some right here that look really good, and these look exactly like Sam Altman and Elon Musk. This is what they actually look like instead of some weird
what's crazy about this, and this is else out there. Let's say you're making a thumbnail on some recent news that's happened. If you use any other image generator on Earth, they're all trained
on past images. So, if there's something that happened yesterday in the news, a normal image generator is not going to cut it. But with Tailsy normal and Tailsy Pro, they don't just generate the image, they also search the web for
context before they generate it. And as far as I personally know, there are zero other thumbnail generators on the planet that do that, which is what makes Tailzy incredibly good for thumbnails that are tied to recent events. Now, let's switch
you do tech reviews, and you have a specific product that you want to use. button to add an attachment. From there then, we'll type in keyboard review, keyboard on a stand with studio lighting and dark blurred gaming room background
right there. Do a couple variants, and click generate. And just like that, our thumbnails are done, and these look incredibly good. And it uses the actual the image in a perfect way, and it'll
Now, I do want to be completely honest with you. If your goal is to create thumbnails in the fastest, most cost-efficient way without tracking every single new AI model that comes out, without having to learn how to do
super in-depth prompting, without dealing with random errors or policy flags, then Tailzy is the best tool for you and for 90% of creators. That being said, there are some edge cases where you may prefer a professional designer
or manually editing some stuff yourself, but we are building tools within Tailzy for those edge cases and even templates that you can go ahead and use. So, for example, if you like the style of my thumbnails here on the Make Money Matt
that you can use for that, as well as for things like documentary-style even have to potentially find an inspiration thumbnail to put into Tailzy. However, if you want to do that, you can go ahead and do that right away,
right now, and start using Tailzy. And if you're within any of the best high CPM niches that I recommend, whether it's health, wealth, business, travel, psychology, or technology, Tailzy works perfectly. Now, you might be saying,
"Okay, Matt, this is all great. I'd love to start using this." However, now that Tailzy when I could just use something like ChatGPT or Nano Banana Pro? And you've already seen the answer. Look at how simple that my prompts were. Look at
how high quality that the outputs were. This does not happen by accident. It's because there's an AI thumbnail engine in the background that combines your idea with proven best viral thumbnail practices and some of the best
niche, so you don't have to fight the model to get something that's incredibly clickable that will do amazing for your niche. Plus, there's more tools as well like inspiration, attachments, and even characters where you can train it on a
thumbnails. For example, for the Make Money Matt channel, I have a character trained off of images of me in Tailzy that I can go ahead and use. All of these things makes Tailzy incredibly powerful. And there's another huge thing
as well, which is that Tailzy isn't just a thumbnail generator. You can actually switch to the ideate feature in Tailzy, and you can ask it for instance, "How can I make this thumbnail better?" And it'll tell you literally exactly what to
concept would work best for your video. You can ask it and it'll give you you can then go ahead and generate instantly. So, when you combine generating with inspiration, with attachments, with characters, and
ideation, you end up with one of the most powerful creator tools that you could ever have. And I'm confident in saying that this is the best AI thumbnail generator for YouTube that's ever been made. And I'm not just saying
run a bunch of different YouTube channels myself as well, so I want a so I made it. If you want to use it as well, you can get a ton of value from worth every cent when you compare it to spending hours doing this yourself or
learning prompts or hiring someone to do it for you. And we've spent countless hours comparing this against every single other thumbnail generator on the if you want to try Tailzy, you can actually use our fast model for
completely free just by logging in. I'll leave a link down to it down below. And if you want the full thing including inspiration, attachments, ideation, and everything else, feel free to check out our paid plans as well. My name is Matt
our paid plans as well. My name is Matt Par, and I'll see you with Intalez.