Did PewDiePie really make his own ChatGPT while warning everyone not to trust big AI? (Image via Getty)

PewDiePieYouTube star Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg has surprised fans again, this time with a big tech project at home. Living in Japan with his wife and son, Felix now spends more time on hobbies he loves. On October 31, 2025, he posted a video called “STOP. Using AI Right now.” In it, he showed his powerful new computer setup, worth around $20,000, built with several RTX 4090 GPUs. He said he first wanted to use this machine to help with cancer research using a project called Folding@home, where people share their computer power with scientists. But soon, he began using the same system to explore AI. This made fans wonder if PewDiePie had built his own artificial intelligence.

Felix explained that he didn’t create a new AI from scratch. Instead, he used his computer to self-host existing open-source AI models. He ran OpenAI’s open-source GPT-OSS 120B model, which means it has 120 billion parameters. Later, he tried another model called Qwen 2.5 3B, which needed even stronger hardware. PewDiePie said it felt “exactly like ChatGPT, but much faster.”His goal was not to invent something new but to learn how AI systems work locally and to keep his data private. He said he doesn’t want to depend on big companies like OpenAI or Google. As per Wccftech (Nov 2025), his PC can also help scientists when idle, a mix of tech passion and good cause.

Even though Felix likes learning about AI, he doesn’t like how it’s taking over everything online. In the same video, he said he dislikes AI art and AI video tools because he wants to protect real artists.“I don’t mess with image generation or video generation. I stand with the drawing nerds,” he said around 6:40 minutes.Also Read: Sneako Calls Out Erika Kirk For Her Viral Hug With JD Vance And Her Bold Charlie Kirk ComparisonHe also said seeing AI everywhere “feels annoying” and called some YouTube AI tools “useless.” Still, he added that people who hate AI are “equally bad,” giving the example of Markiplier, who got backlash for using AI in his clothing brand Cloak.Fans online praised his honesty and said PewDiePie “already won at life.”