YouTube Can't Put Pandora's AI Slop Back in the Box

Longtime Slashdot reader SonicSpike shares a report from Gizmodo: YouTube is inundated with AI-generated slop, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Instead of cutting down on the total number of slop channels, the platform is planning to update its policies to cut out some of the worst offenders making money off "spam." At the same time, it's still full steam ahead adding tools to make sure your feeds are full of mass-produced brainrot.

In an update to its support page posted last week, YouTube said it will modify guidelines for its Partner Program, which lets some creators with enough views make money off their videos. The video platform said it requires YouTubers to create "original" and "authentic" content, but now it will "better identify mass-produced and repetitious content." The changes will take place on July 15. The company didn't advertise whether this change is related to AI, but the timing can't be overlooked considering how more people are noticing the rampant proliferation of slop content flowing onto the platform every day.

The AI "revolution" has resulted in a landslide of trash content that has mired most creative platforms. Alphabet-owned YouTube has been especially bad recently, with multiple channels dedicated exclusively to pumping out legions of fake and often misleading videos into the sludge-filled sewer that has become users' YouTube feeds. AI slop has become so prolific it has infected most social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Last month, John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight" specifically highlighted several YouTube channels that crafted obviously fake stories made to show White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a good light. These channels and similar accounts across social media pump out these quick AI-generated videos to make a quick buck off YouTube's Partner Program.

You don't need to hold back

[93 Escort Wagon]

Why don't you tell us how you really feel about this?

Re:

[Rujiel]

It is slop. There is no objective value; the only motive is monetization. AI lets people who can't create anything edge out the people who can, and confuse anyone who can't tell the difference.

YouTube cares about nothing but $$$$

[NewtonsLaw]

YouTube's only concern these days is revenue and profit.

They breach their own community guidelines each and every day by running scam ads that continue to run despite hundreds or even thousand viewer-reports. Those ads run until the advertiser's spend is exhausted -- however if a creator (the life-blood of the platform) is falsely accused of "scams or deceptive practices" by YT's AI then they're gone in the blink of an eye.

They also allow AI spambots to post endless comments linking to porn pages/sites and claim that their AI can't automatically detect such things -- although that same AI, when unleashed on creator's videos, constantly demonetizes anything that is deemed to be unsuitable.

I hate the AI dross that is overwhelming YT as much as anyone but I really have doubts that YT intends to do anything effective to stem its flow. You see, so long as AI-generated videos are getting eyeballs on ads, YouTube will be happy because they'll be generating revenue and profits.

Let's face it, YouTube is actually *encouraging* the use of AI on its platform. AI suggests ideas for new videos and will create thumbnails for you. VEO3 will even create shorts or entire videos on demand. Google wants to sell its AI services and is pitching them at YouTube creators so they're not going to shoot themselves in the foot are they?

This is why I'm moving to self-hosting my own videos on an instance of PeerTube and I encourage other creators to do the same. When you self-host you have *FULL* control and you no longer have to worry about censorship or losing your entire community just because one of YT's AI bots has runamok and identifies your cute cat videos as CSAM.

Re:

[ZipK]

YouTube's only concern these days is revenue and profit.

When was YouTube's only concern otherwise? Even in its early years, YouTube's concern about growth was a byproduct of a concern about building revenue and profit.

Re:

[newcastlejon]

Add "Sponsored" videos to the list. I honestly think they are there to make the user experience more shit. If you watch science videos it pushes religion; if you're interested in astronomy it suggests astrology. They're obviously just adverts in a different format, judging by all the ones I see for crypto trading, but I think there's more to them. It's almost as though the purpose of the algorithm is to make users want to sign up to Premium and pay to avoid the shit it shovels at them.

Has anybody else?

[skam240]

Has anybody else (who uses YouTube a good bit) never knowingly seen an AI generated video on YouTube? I ask because I hear all these accounts of AI generated slop ruining YouTube, meanwhile I don't think I've ever seen a single video that came off as being AI generated.

It's probably just my usage patterns but I'm genuinely curious in regards to how big a problem this really is as if it really is a big enough one it will eventually show up for me too.

Re:

[tiananmen tank man]

i've never seen it, only heard about it
https://www.youtube.com/result... [youtube.com]

Re:

[ndsurvivor]

I use it for older music videos that I like, and for technology tutor type videos. I ignore everything else. I did hear a podcast today where on tiktoc that AI was basically "cloning" other peoples videos for $$$$$. For what I use them for, that is not a concern for me.

Re:

[silentbozo]

I've seen what is clearly automated scraping of other channel content being used to generate "highlight reels" with AI created thumbnails. Basically they're hijacking content with views, repackaging it in order to present it as new, and then spamming YouTube with variations on it to see what sticks. The algorithms will help trend anything that gets traction - if you scrape enough interesting content and then throw it at the wall, you can get some instances to trend.

The one instance I can say was probably

Re:

[Whateverthisis]

I see it all the time. I watch a lot of videos on science fiction and fantasy, like Quinn's Ideas (I won't link it but great channel). Real creators who are passionate about their topic are getting drowned out by similar content videos that, if you know the content, are clearly incorrect and use an AI generated voiceover. Many of them are well optimized for YouTube's algorithm, so they get pulled up quickly in your feed and drown out the content creators; several creators are begging for likes and subsci

Re:

[AlSweigart]

I did a test. I opened youtube.com in a private window with no ad blockers. The front page had the usual garbage trying to figure out what bucket I'm in (sports/comedy/liberal/conservative/minecraft/pop music/etc.) but none looked like AI. I typed "funny" into the search bar and just clicked random videos for a while. I came across one channel, ( https://www.youtube.com/@DrPla... [youtube.com] ) which was made in 2019, has 12 videos, and has 3.6 million subscribers. The videos are all clickbait but also... could be AI? T

Re: Has anybody else?

[hey!]

I watch a lot of maritime disaster videos, so YouTubeâ(TM)s genius algorithm thinks Iâ(TM)d be interested in traveling on a cruise ship.

Re:

[shoor]

Maybe you've seen stuff and not realized it was AI generated. I've clicked on stuff supposedly by Jordan Peterson or Peter Zeihan for instance, and something wasn't right. At first I was wondering what gives? Then I figured out, or somebody in the comments figured out for me, that it was AI generated slop. Now I spot that kind of stuff easily, but it's annoying to even waste a fraction of a second looking at it to figure out it's slop and move on.

Re:

[Waccoon]

I'm constantly bombarded with two types of videos: fake car announcements ("Introducing the brand new 2026 Edsel!") and shocking stories ("Judge was ready to sentence her to life, but her testimony shocked the courtroom!")

Granted, each style of video is more like a slideshow rather than a full video, but they are obviously automatically generated. So far, they are easy to identify just by the stupid titles, rollover previews, or critically low views, but they are slowly getting better.

I have a lot of subs

AI on top of AI on top of AI

[ndsurvivor]

I did a google search recently, and it put their AI results on top, and it seemed kind of sketchy, and at the end it said: "According to youtube videos". I shit you not. It seems like AI's are talking to AI's now. I think it was about nutrition information, I forget about exactly what now. I often ask google if this or that about what I am eating. I wonder what AI's really know about nutrition information? Are AI's doing the Telephone game with other AI's?

It's almost like...

[Luckyo]

It's almost like your feed is what you like to watch. Mine has "AI slop" only in the specific music genre I enjoy. As in specific type of music from themed from a specific sci-fi universe. And this "AI slop" is mostly excellent quality stuff. Good enough to grab the audio and put it on my phone to play in my car.

Everything else is still the same as always - channels I enjoy watching and their popular videos.

Now if you're a low memory persistence, medium IQ dopamine addict, you may actually get a lot of AI slop in your feed. As in actual slop, not the good stuff. Because that's what you actually like watching in short term, and then your low memory persistence means you fail to recognize it in before enough of the next video is watched by you so that algorithm assumes you'll click on the next one too. Which it is correct in assuming, as your low memory persistence will get you to click on it again and again.

And just because you hate yourself for liking AI slop, doesn't mean that youtube has a problem with AI slop. It's a "you" problem, not a "youTUBE" problem.

Re:

[ndsurvivor]

My minor concern with youtube... it plays about 100 songs that it knows that I like on a loop. It does "get me going", but I also feel "stuck in the mud" a bit. I wish there was a checkbox on the top that gives me the choices of: "Play me my favorites", "Play me songs similar to what I like", "Play me something different", "Play me something I would never listen to".

Re:

[YodaYid]

And if you're addicted to crack or heroin, it's not the drug dealer's fault for getting you hooked in the first place...

Re:

[Rujiel]

Bullshit. If you enjoy anything synthwave, any retro game music, any funk, youtube will slot this garbage in with the rest of your recommendations. It has nothing to do with being a "medium IQ dopamine addict". But you've already prepared an out for your nonsense point by distinguishing some AI generated music as "good stuff", whatever the fuck that means. So either it's "good stuff" and it's the viewer's fault for not realizing it, or it's the viewer's fault for being a "dopamine addict".

Again--bullshit.

Re:

[sound+vision]

He said he only listens to a "specific type of music from themed from a specific sci-fi universe". Not sure what that means exactly, but it doesn't point toward a broad understanding or deep appreciation of music. Are you surprised he's entertained by AI?

That's who AI content appeals to - those who don't know any better, or just don't care. Those with a playlist full of AI-generated Captain Underpants theme song variations labeled, "The Good Stuff". (I can hear a distant voice screaming, "Well at least it's

Re:

[Waccoon]

It's a "you" problem, not a "youTUBE" problem.

Pretty sure I'm not liking all the AI comments, but I still see them everywhere. I also use private mode to check out any video not from one of my subbed channels, so YouTube won't shove every video from that same channel down my throat for the next three weeks.

To YouTube's credit, among "regular" videos, my recommendations are actually quite sane. But the AI stuff... yeah, I get way too damn much of it. Based on my browsing habits, I really don't think it's a "me" problem. Same with the YouTube "Playab

Re:

[thegarbz]

It's almost like your feed is what you like to watch. Mine has "AI slop" only in the specific music genre I enjoy.

So what you're saying is that even your feed which as nothing to do with AI is full of AI slop? Like ... that's the point. Hope you don't actually enjoy music, soon it seems like it'll all be created by a computer - at least as Youtube is concerned.

I don't have music on my feed. I have movies. And my feed started being filled with fake AI trailers for movies that aren't being made and won't exist. I'm glad you like your AI music, I don't like this fake trailer bullshit and no amount of clicking the remove b

Oh, did they mean ....

[buss_error]

The video platform said it requires YouTubers to create "original" and "authentic" content, but now it will "better identify mass-produced and repetitious content."

But YouTube already says you can't repost Hollywood content!