The AI Tools We Actually Use for Faceless YouTube (And the Ones We Dropped)

Everyone's selling "AI YouTube automation" courses now. Most of them are garbage. Here's what actually works in production — tested across our portfolio of channels.

What We Use Daily

Scripting: ChatGPT + Claude

How we use it: AI generates first drafts and research summaries. A human editor then rewrites for YouTube retention patterns (hooks, loops, pattern interrupts). AI alone produces scripts with 35% retention. AI + human editing gets to 55%+.

Cost: $20/month for ChatGPT Plus, free for Claude

Voiceover: ElevenLabs

How we use it: Custom voice clones for consistency across videos. The quality is indistinguishable from human narrators in 90% of niches. We still use human narrators for health and finance content where authority matters.

Cost: $22/month for the Scale plan

Thumbnails: Canva + Midjourney

How we use it: Midjourney generates background imagery and concepts. Canva for text overlay, branding, and final composition. This combo replaced our $25/thumbnail designer for most channels.

Cost: $13/month Canva Pro + $10/month Midjourney

What We Dropped

• Fully AI-generated videos (Pictory, InVideo, etc.): Quality is too low. YouTube viewers can tell, and retention suffers.
• AI-generated thumbnails (full auto): They look AI-generated. CTR drops 40% compared to human-designed thumbnails.
• Auto-scheduling tools with "AI optimization": YouTube's own Studio scheduling works fine. The AI upload timing features are snake oil.

The Rule

Use AI for speed, not for replacement. AI makes your human team 3x faster. But AI alone produces 3x worse content. The winning formula is always AI + human.