Cliff Tan, the 'Dear Modern' YouTuber with 2.4M subscribers, apologized after fans criticized a paid ad for ByteDance's Dreamina AI animation tool.
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Another creator is apologizing over AI. Cliff Tan, who runs the interior design channel "Dear Modern" with 2.4 million YouTube subscribers and 3.6 million on TikTok, posted a video Monday saying he was sorry for promoting an AI company.
"Yesterday I made a video on AI, and it disappointed many of you," Tan said in the video. "I'm really sorry about that."
The apology comes a week after Hank Green, one of the internet's most reliable creators, apologized for relying on AI "too heavily" when researching his videos. Green later published an AI policy for his channel.
Tan's problem started with a paid ad for Dreamina, a Chinese AI company owned by ByteDance. The software lets users turn text prompts into animated videos. In the ad, Tan uploads hand-drawn sketches and transforms them into animated floor plans.
He said in the ad that he doesn't "like AI" because "it makes you forget to use your brain." That did not stop the backlash. The video was quickly flooded with negative comments.
"No, Mr. Cliff. Please. Don't sell yourself to AI," one comment with 1,700 likes read. Other commenters criticized Dreamina's ownership by ByteDance.
In a follow-up comment, Tan said he thought the software "would be genuinely useful to fellow designers." He added, "I just don't want you guys, with the right sentiments, to be martyrs in a world that is increasingly leaving us behind."
The broader worry is that AI erodes critical thinking. A 2025 survey by Workday found that nearly half of respondents feared the technology would cause a decline in such skills. AI also threatens to upend the workforce as companies race to integrate it into daily workflows.
Last year, the British Institute of Interior Design said AI "has a growing presence in interior design." Stephen Dick, founder of a UK interior design firm, told the institute that text-to-image visualization tools offered "impressive" possibilities.
Neither Dreamina nor Tan responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.
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