{"slug": "youtube-star-cliff-tan-apologizes-to-angry-fans-after-promoting-ai-for-interior", "title": "YouTube star Cliff Tan apologizes to angry fans after promoting AI for interior design", "summary": "YouTube creator Cliff Tan, who runs the interior design channel 'Dear Modern' with 2.4 million subscribers and a TikTok account with 3.6 million followers, apologized on Monday for promoting Dreamina, a Chinese AI company owned by ByteDance, in a paid advertisement. The apology came after the video drew negative comments from fans, including one with 1,700 likes, and follows a similar apology from YouTuber Hank Green for relying too heavily on AI. Tan said he thought the software would be genuinely useful to fellow designers, but critics worry about AI's impact on critical thinking and the workforce.", "body_md": "Another YouTube creator is [facing online backlash](https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-graduates-ai-backlash-commencement-speeches-anxiety-job-market-2026-5) over the use of artificial intelligence.\n\nCliff Tan, who runs a popular interior design YouTube channel called \"Dear Modern\" that has 2.4 million subscribers and a corresponding TikTok account with** **3.6 million followers, posted a video on Monday in which he apologized for promoting an AI company.\n\n\"Yesterday I made a video on AI, and it disappointed many of you,\" Tan said in the video. \"I'm really sorry about that.\"\n\nTan's apology comes a week after [Hank Green](https://www.businessinsider.com/hank-green-youtube-ai-apology-2026-8), one of the internet's most reliable content creators, apologized to fans for relying on AI \"too heavily\" when researching his videos. He later shared a [new AI policy](https://www.businessinsider.com/hank-green-youtube-star-sets-personal-ai-policy-after-backlash-2026-8) for his channel.\n\nIn Tan's case, he posted a paid advertisement for a Chinese AI company called \"Dreamina,\" which allows users to generate animated videos with written prompts. In the ad, Tan uploads hand-drawn sketches to the software before transforming them into an animated floor plan.\n\nThough Tan uses his own sketches as source material and says in the video that he doesn't \"like AI\" because \"it makes you forget to use your brain,\" the video was quickly flooded with negative comments.\n\n\"No, Mr. Cliff. Please. Don't sell yourself to AI,\" one comment with 1,700 likes reads. Others criticized the \"Dreamina\" company itself, which is owned by ByteDance.\n\nIn a follow-up comment on the ad, Tan said he thought the software \"would be genuinely useful to fellow designers.\"\n\n\"I just don't want you guys, with the right sentiments, to be martyrs in a world that is increasingly leaving us behind,\" he wrote.\n\nAs tech companies push AI to become a ubiquitous part of daily life, critics worry it could impact critical thinking skills. In 2025, a survey published by Workday found that nearly half of respondents worried the tech would cause a [ decline in critical thinking](https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-keep-brain-sharp-avoid-overreliance-ai-2026-4).\n\nAI also threatens to [upend the workforce](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-could-lower-workers-pay-job-market-impact-2026-7) as companies of varying stripes race to integrate AI into their workflows.\n\nLast year, the British Institute of Interior Design said AI \"has a growing presence in interior design.\"\n\nStephen Dick, the founder of an interior design firm in the UK, told the institute that \"the possibilities are impressive\" with text-to-image visualization tools.\n\n\"I know of many designers using text-to-image visualization tools, too,\" Dick was quoted as saying.\n\nNeither Dreamina, based in Beijing, nor Tan, who is based in Singapore, immediately responded to a request for comment from Business Insider made outside their normal business hours.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/youtube-star-cliff-tan-apologizes-to-angry-fans-after-promoting-ai-for-interior", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/cliff-tan-youtube-ai-backlash-apology-interior-design-2026-8", "published_at": "2026-08-12 16:43:23+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-12 17:05:33.805701+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["generative-ai", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["Cliff Tan", "Dear Modern", "Dreamina", "ByteDance", "Hank Green", "Workday", "British Institute of Interior Design", "Stephen Dick"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/youtube-star-cliff-tan-apologizes-to-angry-fans-after-promoting-ai-for-interior", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/youtube-star-cliff-tan-apologizes-to-angry-fans-after-promoting-ai-for-interior.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/youtube-star-cliff-tan-apologizes-to-angry-fans-after-promoting-ai-for-interior.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/youtube-star-cliff-tan-apologizes-to-angry-fans-after-promoting-ai-for-interior.jsonld"}}