How To Create a Faceless YouTube Channel with AI
With the swift advancement in AI technologies starting an AI faceless YouTube channel is now easier than ever.
If you’re skeptical on the quality or the concept itself, the results might shock you.
In this guide, I’ll give a detailed walkthrough on exactly how I started a faceless YouTube channel with AI.
I’ll also provide some of the key AI prompts you can use for brainstorming, thumbnails generation, and more.
If you’re looking to harness the power of AI for faceless YouTube in 2024 and turn your creativity into cold hard cash, this is the place for you.
What is a Faceless AI YouTube Channel?
A faceless AI YouTube channel describes YouTube creators who generally remain anonymous and focus on using AI tools for generating scripts, imagery, animations, audio, voiceovers, captions, and more.
Combining these different AI tools, creators are generating unique YouTube videos that are often generating millions of views.
Unlike traditional YouTube channels, the barrier to entry for faceless AI YouTube video creators is incredibly low, with the only requirements to get started being a computer with an internet connection.
The content seen on faceless YouTube channels can range from educational and informative videos to entertainment, storytelling, and more. Your imagination is the only limit here.
The key methods used by AI faceless YouTube channel creators are:
Large Language Models like ChatGPT used for brainstorming and script generation.
Text-to-Speech voice synthesis and voice cloning tools including ElevenLabs used for narration.
Text-to-Image tools like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion used for base image generation. Can also be used for channel art and creating video thumbnails.
Image-to-Video tools like RunwayML and Leonardo used to animate base images.
Music generation tools for crafting copyright free backing tracks.
AI auto-subtitling tools such as Submagic for creating AI captions.
AI-powered faceless YouTube videos capitalize of a number of differentiating factors that give them an edge over traditional methods, let’s take a closer look at what those are. 👇
Benefits of Using AI for Faceless YouTube Channels
There are a number of extremely beneficial aspects to using AI for creating YouTube content. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of using AI for faceless YouTube channels:
1. Very Low Barrier to Entry
One of the most significant benefits of starting a faceless YouTube channel with AI is the minimal barrier to entry.
Unlike traditional content creation, which may require expensive video recording equipment, microphones, and other hardware, all you need to create YouTube videos with AI is a computer and an internet connection.
This dramatically reduces the initial costs and technical obstacles for creators starting out on YouTube.
2. Ideal for Camera-Shy and Private Individuals
If the thought of appearing on camera gives you jitters but you want to start creating content, an AI-driven faceless YouTube channel is a great solution.
You can produce high quality YouTube videos without ever showing your face or recording your voice.
This is particularly beneficial for individuals who prefer to keep their privacy intact while still sharing their knowledge and creativity with the world.
3. Scalability and Speed
AI technology enables YouTube creators to scale their production like never before.
With traditional video production, the amount of content you can create is often restricted by physical and temporal limitations.
AI allows you to automate so many tasks that would traditionally have taken massive amounts of time, or required specific high-level skills to complete.
This efficiency allows you to produce a larger volume of high-quality videos at a faster pace – the key to success here being quality. More on that later.
4. The AI Touch
Using AI tools infuses a unique touch into the content that traditional methods can’t easily replicate.
AI can generate unique and specific visual effects, animations, voices, and imagery.
These unique elements can make your videos stand out in the crowded YouTube space, attracting viewers who are looking for something genuinely different, and potentially fast tracking you to a successful YouTube channel.
5. Pick Any Niche
The flexibility of AI tools means that you can create YouTube videos tailored to virtually any niche.
No matter where your interest lies, AI can adapt and produce relevant content on command.
This versatility widens your prospects of connecting with a large audience and enhances your ability to experiment with different content types.
Picking a niche can be tricky, the good news is I’ll show you exactly how to get started in the next section. 👇
How to Start a Faceless YouTube Channel with AI?
Similar to starting a regular YouTube channel, one of the most important things to do when starting out, is determining your interests, and what niche might appeal to you.
From here, you can dive right in and get started creating a faceless YouTube channel using AI tools.
1. Brainstorm Niche Ideas with an LLM
Picking the right niche can be the key factor driving the success of a faceless AI YouTube channel.
You want to find a healthy balance between your interests and YouTube videos that people will actually want to watch.
To get started choosing a niche for your channel, use the following prompt in ChatGPT or other LLM of your choice:
I have an interest and proficiency in [Describe your Interests].
Based on these interests, suggest potential YouTube channel niches that align with these passions and expertise. Additionally, suggest a few wild card options that might also be appealing.
Make sure to explain the suitability of each niche and provide ideas on the content I could create within those niches.
Additionally, offer advice on establishing and growing a YouTube channel in these areas, considering unique perspectives or experiences and the current market demand.
Here’s an example output using the above prompt with the interests of [Technology, Making Money Online, and Internet]:
2. Generate Ideas and a Content Plan
The next step in creating your AI faceless YouTube channel is to determine ideas for viral videos and content.
If you don’t already have some good ideas of your own there are two ways you can plan content for your channel:
Proactive: Proactive channel planning involves taking the time and planning 10 or more pieces of content before you start. It’s a solid approach for slow moving niches that have been around for a long time.
Reactive: The Reactive approach to generating content for a faceless YouTube channel involves keeping a close eye on breaking stories and trending topics and making content accordingly. Generally it’s a great way to catch viral trends in fast moving niches like AI, finance, or cryptocurrency.
I personally like to have a combination of both proactive and reactive, that way on slow news weeks I’ll have solid content ideas ready to go.
Here’s a powerful prompt you can use with your LLM of choice to generate viral content ideas in your niche:
My niche is [Your Niche], and I need some assistance in brainstorming unique and engaging content ideas for my faceless YouTube channel that suit my target audience.
Given the nature of my niche, the content should cater to the interests and questions of my followers while also staying fresh and innovative.
Could you generate a list of original YouTube video ideas, each with a brief explanation of the concept, its potential impact on my audience, and an attention grabbing title and thumbnail suggestion?
Additionally, if there are any specific trends, topics, or content formats within my niche that I should consider incorporating, please include those recommendations as well.
3. Generate Your Script Using an LLM
If you’ve made it this far you’re on the path to creating a successful faceless YouTube channel. 😉
Next up, we want to generate specific scripts and narrate them with AI.
Once you’ve picked a topic for your video, you might find this prompt helpful for generating the script and storyboard:
I would like you to create a script for the video, [length] seconds in length.
Identify the target audience, and open the script with a highly engaging hook - discuss why it's an effective hook.
Add a time signature to each section of the script. Alongside each section of the script, describe the scene.
Throughout the script, I want you to maintain a simple vocabulary that is easy to understand yet thorough and knowledgeable.
Do not introduce the speaker - this reduces retention - get straight to the content.
Using your expert knowledge in SEO, post a suggested video title with a brief video description suitable for YouTube videos. Include 10 highly relevant hashtags.
Ensure the content is concise, impactful, and punchy - perfectly suited for faceless YouTube videos.
Review your script and make any changes or touchups as needed.
4. Narrate Your Script with AI
Now it’s time to narrate your faceless AI YouTube video.
There are 3 options for narrating your video using AI
Use an existing voice
Clone your own voice
Clone someone else’s voice
Using an existing voice is the easiest way to get started as most AI voice generators for YouTube have a large library of stock voices you can get started with right away.
Alternatively, you can clone someone’s voice using AI with relative ease.
To clone yours or someone else’s voice, simply upload a minute or two of clear dialogue to your AI voice generator of choice.
Be sure you have permission to use anyone else’s voice you might choose to use for your faceless YouTube channel!
ElevenLabs is generally regarded amongst the best AI voice generators available to the market and you can get started right now for only $1.
5. Create Base Images with Midjourney
This is personally one of my favorite steps in the process of creating faceless YouTube videos with AI.
Using the scene descriptions and a bit of your own creative vision, you want to create what is known as base images.
These base images are what you’ll use in the next step to create short animated videos for each scene in your faceless YouTube video.
Midjourney is pretty straight forward to use – simply type in a brief description of what you want to see with an aspect ratio and Midjourney will bring it to life.
Detailed images with specific styles or scenes can be a bit more tricky.
If you get stuck trying to come up with the perfect prompt, poke around in the “Explore” section in Midjourney, consider using free online resources for Midjourney or subscribing to a prompt marketplace.
6. Animate Your Base Images
Next up, we want to bring life to our storyboard with short AI generated animations using the base images we created in the last step.
Most all text-to-video tools also feature image-to-video editing tools – which is what we’re after.
Using either Runway, Leonardo, Pika Labs, or any other AI video generator tool on the market, you simply upload your base image alongside a text prompt instructing the AI on what to animate.
As they stand, AI video generator tools are somewhat limited in their capability, so you have to get creative with how you chop and clip your scenes together.
Aiming for short scenes lasting only a few seconds will be ideal for using AI animated videos – this has the added benefit of increasing retention.
7. Use AI for Music
What good YouTube video would be complete without music?
As you might expect, there are a range of readily available tools that can help generate some pretty impressive tunes for your faceless YouTube video.
Tools like Udio have rocked the music industry recently due to the high quality and catchy audio tracks they can generate.
Other popular options are Soundraw, Loudly, and Boomy.
Generating audio for your YouTube video using AI tools helps to avoid any issues with copyright too!
8. Video Editing
This is probably one of the most hands on steps in the process of building your AI YouTube channel – but it’s where your creation comes to life!
If you’ve never used video editing tools before, don’t stress
Tools like CapCut have made the barrier to entry to video editing really easy to get over, and it’s free too.
Personally I use Premiere Pro which costs $20/month. You can also try DaVinci Resolve or OpenShot if you’re looking to get started with a free option first.
Using your video editing software bring in all your media assets we’ve created so far including narration, animations, music, and any sound effects you might want to use.
Spend time editing your video working on punchy transitions and strong hooks to keep the viewer engaged.
Quality editing can make or break your video so spend some time here getting it right.
Ask yourself, would I watch this?
9. Add Captions with AI
Captions have been proven to increase retention, especially true for short form faceless YouTube Channel creators.
I can tell you first hand, creating captions manually takes time.
In my opinion, one of the key metrics that determine successful AI faceless video creators is speed.
You want to avoid fluffing around for hours on every piece of content you create – hence why I recommend using some form of AI subtitle generator.
My weapon of choice for AI subtitles and captions is Submagic, but there are a range of AI caption generators on the market to choose from.
10. Create a YouTube Thumbnail with AI
If you’re not making YouTube Shorts, you’re going to need an eye-catching thumbnail to maximize CTRs and make sure people actually view your content.
There are a few AI YouTube thumbnail tools on the market but I haven’t seen one that can generate thumbnails up to a decent standard just yet.
I like to use PowerPoint or Canva alongside Midjourney images for AI YouTube thumbnails.
Here’s a pretty slick Midjourney prompt that can get you started making AI thumbnails for your faceless YouTube channel:
A clickable and over the top YouTube thumbnail depicting a [type of person] against a high contrast [color1] and [color2] background. [type of person] shows emotion of [emotion] while they [action] --ar 16:9
11. Post Your First Faceless Video
If you’ve got this far, congratulations!
You’re potentially on the way to making a living from your faceless YouTube channel!
Post your video creation and check out the metrics in YouTube Studio. You want to look at click through rates, swipe away rates, retention, views, etc.
YouTube Studio is an invaluable tool for tracking to success of your video creation and finding areas for improvement.
Also, if you’re a short form creator consider posting your creation as an Instagram Reel or TikTok.
Faceless AI YouTube Video Examples
Let’s take a look at what you can do with an AI YouTube channel using the tools I’ve outlined so far!
The Reel Robot
The Reel Robot is a faceless YouTube video creator that uses Runway Gen-2 and Midjourney to craft some pretty epic short stories.
One example is their video creation Missing Parts.
It’s an AI generated short film that won Best Experimental at the WCIFF, September 2023 for it’s touching take on an engineers love for her dog.
Curious Refuge
Curious Refuge is an AI YouTube channel for faceless creators.
It’s a one stop shop for faceless YouTube channel owners who want to stay informed with everything happening in the AI filmmaking game.
Nacho AI Business
Nacho AI Business is a faceless AI YouTube channel that specializes in AI music videos.
Featuring heaps of classic tunes from the likes of Pink Floyd, Lost Prophets, and other big names.
Learn about the best AI music video generators for yourself here!
Mathieu Albrand
Mathieu Albrand only has 2 videos on their channel so far, but it’s an excellent example of what you can do using nothing but AI and a little but of creativity!
Aze Alter
Aze Alter specializes in creating spooky AI generated short films.
It’s a great channel to check out if you’re considering getting into dystopian, horror, or crime style niches.
What Are the Best AI Faceless YouTube Niches?
Honestly your imagination is the only limit here BUT, you want to aim to create YouTube videos people might actually watch.
Here are some good YouTube niches you can think about for your faceless AI channel:
AI Voiceover Tutorials: Topics like software tutorials, how-to guides, and educational content.
Text-to-Speech Storytelling: Share audiobook segments, short stories, or user-submitted tales.
Meditation and Relaxation Guides: Offer guided meditation or relaxation exercises. Use calm AI voices to enhance the experience.
Music and Lofi Beats Channels: Produce AI-created music or relaxing background sounds. Ideal for study, work, or relaxation playlists.
Virtual Travel and Tours: Create cinematic travel videos using drones and AI to narrate points of interest. Can be themed around historical facts, travel tips, or cultural insights.
Product Reviews and Comparisons: Focus on tech gadgets, software, or even books. Use AI to help you deliver objective features, pros, and cons without personal bias.
AI News and Updates: Deliver the latest developments in AI technology and industry news. You’ll be able to leverage AI tools to connect with an audience already interested in AI tech.
Educational Channels for Kids: Develop content around basic math, science, or reading skills. Use engaging, friendly AI voices appropriate for children.
These niches leverage AI’s capabilities in voice generation and content creation while offering substantial value to viewers, making them popular choices for building successful, faceless YouTube channels.
Faceless AI YouTube Channel FAQs
Can AI Content be Monetized on YouTube?
Yes, AI content can be monetized on YouTube provided it adheres to YouTube’s monetization policies, offering creators who use AI video generators a way to earn revenue from their YouTube videos.
Are Faceless AI YouTube Channels Worth It?
Faceless AI YouTube channels, which utilize AI video editors to create videos without revealing the creator’s identity, can still attract significant viewership and be commercially successful.
Nevertheless, the challenge lies in crafting content that resonates and engages audiences, ensuring the AI YouTube channel remains competitive and relevant.
Final Thoughts
Creating a faceless YouTube channel with AI represents a revolutionary approach to content production, blending anonymity with cutting-edge technology.
It’s also great fun.
By harnessing AI video generators, creators can produce quality videos without ever stepping in front of a camera, perfect for those who value privacy or are camera-shy.
These tools allow for rapid video creation, offering a wide spectrum of opportunities in various niches.
If you’re looking to educate, entertain, or simply explore the vast possibilities of AI, the journey of creating a faceless video channel is as rewarding as it is innovative.
By investing time in learning and experimenting with different video creation tools, you can establish a thriving channel that stands out in the vibrant landscape of YouTube.
Happy creating!