Tech YouTuber Marques ‘MKBHD’ Brownlee got into an argument with an AI company’s CEO after discovering they misquoted him from a post on X.
With 23M followers across YouTube, Brownlee has gone viral quite a few times over the years with his takes on various AI companies.
His scathing Humane AI Pin review back in 2024 took over social media after the tech creator called it the “worst product” he ever reviewed. Later that year, he called out a “scummy” and “shady” company for using an AI version of his voice for ads.
Now, he’s spoken out against Pocket, an AI hardware company, for posting a quote on their website that he claims was never actually said.
Brownlee discovers AI company quoted his GIF post
“Saw a quote from myself on a random standalone AI product’s website,” he said in a post on X. “Didn’t remember saying that, so I clicked on the quote to find the source.”
MKBHD says that he clicked the source link on the Pocket website, and was taken to a post on X where he used a picture of NFL star Russell Westbrook saying, “Ahhh, that’s pretty interesting.”
Soon after the YouTuber shared his thoughts, Pocket AI’s CEO, Akshay Narisetti, replied with a screenshot of an email from one of Brownlee’s video producers. The email was focused on getting a review unit for a video, but the employee said: “A few members of our team saw your announcement of the Pocket and thought it was really interesting.”
Narisetti added: “Hey Marques, your team actually did reach out last year and said Pocket looked “really interesting.” Here’s the email from your producer. I’ve genuinely admired what you do since I was a kid. Just wanted to clear the record with facts.”
The CEO added: “Quick context: you tweeted, and separately your producer emailed that Pocket was ‘really interesting’ and asked for a unit.
“Seeing both, I reasonably understood it as interest from you + the team, so I used ‘interesting’ on the site and linked your tweet above it. I’ve removed it to avoid confusion. Happy to send a review unit now so you can try it firsthand.”
In a reply, Marques made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of how his words were posted on the site and gave the CEO some advice.
“We’ll disagree on what’s reasonable, but a good rule of thumb here is if you’re going to use a quote and attribute it to someone to market your product, probably ask them first or use a real public statement,” Brownlee said.
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