Subscriber count graphs of popular youtubers on ASI risk
2026-03-19
Disclaimer
- Quick Note
- target audience - potential youtubers on ASI risk
Main
- It seems likely to me that these are among the most important graphs in human history, and whether our species lives or dies depends on these graphs.
- The most important thing to track is not the absolute number of subscribers as a function of time, but the slope in number of subcribers as a function of time. Youtube channels, like software apps, follow exponential growth curves. Most people are not used to thinking in terms of exponentials. Even a mediocre channel could grow if you make enough videos. A good channel will grow more quickly with lesser videos required.
- I am tracking only youtube not twitter or substack, because the highest view counts are orders of magnitude higher. As of 2025-03, MrBeast has over 400 million subscribers. Top substack accounts have less than 10M subscribers. I am aware that all views are not equal, and views of powerful or technical people are worth more, for the AI pause political movement.
- Statistics obtained from viewstats by MrBeast on 2026-03-19 (Viewstats is also good for tracking outlier videos)
Rational Animations
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/vqgw8e61mpii4vy5lqi6
AI in context
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/jh3e7wmgmblb6zvczzn0
The AI Risk Network - John Sherman
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/dslku7psbqpv8kvsrnso
AI Species - Drew Spartz
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/owajha7dlkankywt5jos
Doom Debates - Liron Shapira
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/vpfqigqh00xmno3niuy9
Lethal intelligence - Michael Zafiris
could not obtain graph - 162K subs
Rob Miles
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/vvk2ajbyvnj9akdk10kr
Siliconversations - Liam
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/o3fteasoi0qdx61wumwt
The Inside View - Michael Trazzi
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/subscriber-count-graphs-of-popular-youtubers-on-asi-risk#comments
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/subscriber-count-graphs-of-popular-youtubers-on-asi-risk
2026-03-19
Disclaimer
- Quick Note
- target audience - potential youtubers on ASI risk
Main
- It seems likely to me that these are among the most important graphs in human history, and whether our species lives or dies depends on these graphs.
- The most important thing to track is not the absolute number of subscribers as a function of time, but the slope in number of subcribers as a function of time. Youtube channels, like software apps, follow exponential growth curves. Most people are not used to thinking in terms of exponentials. Even a mediocre channel could grow if you make enough videos. A good channel will grow more quickly with lesser videos required.
- I am tracking only youtube not twitter or substack, because the highest view counts are orders of magnitude higher. As of 2025-03, MrBeast has over 400 million subscribers. Top substack accounts have less than 10M subscribers. I am aware that all views are not equal, and views of powerful or technical people are worth more, for the AI pause political movement.
- Statistics obtained from viewstats by MrBeast on 2026-03-19 (Viewstats is also good for tracking outlier videos)
Rational Animations
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/vqgw8e61mpii4vy5lqi6
AI in context
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/jh3e7wmgmblb6zvczzn0
The AI Risk Network - John Sherman
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/dslku7psbqpv8kvsrnso
AI Species - Drew Spartz
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/owajha7dlkankywt5jos
Doom Debates - Liron Shapira
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/vpfqigqh00xmno3niuy9
Lethal intelligence - Michael Zafiris
could not obtain graph - 162K subs
Rob Miles
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/vvk2ajbyvnj9akdk10kr
Siliconversations - Liam
https://res.cloudinary.com/lesswrong-2-0/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/mirroredImages/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/o3fteasoi0qdx61wumwt
The Inside View - Michael Trazzi
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/subscriber-count-graphs-of-popular-youtubers-on-asi-risk#comments
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3dcuTNbvzg9JQvetv/subscriber-count-graphs-of-popular-youtubers-on-asi-risk