Video streaming giant YouTube has begun to crack down on channels potentially earning millions of dollars publishing “AI slop” content created solely using artificial intelligence (AI).
In a recent move, the platform either completely removed or wiped content from 16 leading AI-driven channels which, collectively, had amassed over 35 million subscribers and 4.7 billion views.
In an open letter to the public published in January this year, YouTube CEO, Neal Mohan, said the platform is “actively building” on established systems that have been “very successful” in combatting the spread of “low quality AI content”.
The action comes after a report published by the video creation platform Kapwing identified the “AI slop” YouTube channels with the most subscribers and their earning potentials, thought to be in the millions.
“AI slop” is widely regarded as content generated entirely using AI tools that's low-quality and repetitive. AI slop channels typically publish new posts at much higher rates than human-content-led channels to maximize engagement and advertising revenue.
Also called ‘AI brainrot”, videos often include historical themes littered with inaccuracies and surreal, nonsensical scenarios, typically reusing the same script, music and visuals.
One of the leading AI slop channels identified in Kapwing’s report which subsequently had the majority of its content wiped was Three Minute Wisdom (1.7 million subscribers / 2 billion views).
According to the report, the South Korean channel, which initially had 140 videos depicting “photorealistic(ish) footage of wild animals being defeated by cute pets”, but now only shows 20 live videos, was potentially earning $4,036,500 in annual ad income.
Other AI slop channels that have been completely removed from YouTube following Kapwing’s report include CuentosFacianantes (FascinatingTales), which published “low-quality Dragon Ball-themed videos", and Imperio de Jesus (Empire of Jesus), a religious channel which had over 5.8 million subscribers.
However, not all of the lucrative AI slop channels mentioned in the report seem to have been penalized by YouTube.
Bandar Apna Dost, an Indian channel with over 3 million subscribers and 2 billion views, and an estimated annual ad revenue of $4,251,500, still has over 400 videos live.
Kapwings report also calculated that over 20% of videos shown to new users on YouTube are AI slop. But as yet, it’s uncertain how YouTube plans to strike a balance between promoting AI-generated and human-crafted content to viewers.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan previously stated that generative AI has been “a revelation”, saying that it can do for video what the synthesizer did for music.
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