{"id":213626,"date":"2025-12-28T03:23:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T03:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/213626\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T03:23:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T03:23:08","slug":"more-than-20-of-videos-shown-to-new-youtube-users-are-ai-slop-study-finds-artificial-intelligence-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/213626\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are \u2018AI slop\u2019, study finds | Artificial intelligence (AI)"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 20% of the videos that YouTube\u2019s algorithm shows to new users are \u201cAI slop\u201d \u2013 low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world\u2019s most popular YouTube channels \u2013 the top 100 in every country \u2013 and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Together, these AI slop channels have amassed more than 63bn views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117m (\u00a390m) in revenue each year, according to estimates.<\/p>\n

The researchers also made a new YouTube<\/a> account and found that 104 of the first 500 videos recommended to its feed were AI slop. One-third of the 500 videos were \u201cbrainrot\u201d, a category that includes AI slop and other low-quality content made to monetise attention.<\/p>\n

The findings are a snapshot of a rapidly expanding industry that is saturating big social media platforms \u2013 from X to Meta to YouTube \u2013 and defining a new era of content: decontextualised, addictive and international.<\/p>\n

A Guardian analysis<\/a> this year found that nearly 10% of YouTube\u2019s fastest-growing channels were AI slop, racking up millions of views despite the platform\u2019s efforts<\/a> to curb \u201cinauthentic content\u201d.<\/p>\n

The channels found by Kapwing are globally distributed and globally watched. They have millions of subscribers: in Spain, 20 million people, or nearly half the country\u2019s population, follow the trending AI channels. AI channels have 18 million followers in Egypt, 14.5 million in the US, and 13.5 million in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Bandar Apna Dost<\/a>, the most-viewed channel in the study, is based in India and now has 2.4bn views. It features the adventures of an anthropomorphic rhesus monkey and a muscular character modelled off the Incredible Hulk who fights demons<\/a> and travels on a helicopter made of tomatoes<\/a>. Kapwing estimated that the channel could make as much as $4.25m. Its owner did not respond to a query from the Guardian.<\/p>\n

Rohini Lakshan\u00e9, a researcher on technology and digital rights, said Bandar Apna Dost\u2019s popularity most likely stems from its absurdity, its hyper-masculine tropes and the fact that it lacks a plot, which makes it accessible to new viewers.<\/p>\n

Pouty Frenchie<\/a>, based in Singapore, has 2bn views and appears to target children. It chronicles the adventures of a French bulldog \u2013 driving to a candy forest, eating crystal sushi \u2013 many of them set to a soundtrack of children\u2019s laughter. Kapwing estimates it makes nearly $4m a year. Cuentos Facinantes<\/a>, based in the US, also appears to target children with cartoon storylines, and has 6.65 million subscribers \u2013 making it the most-subscribed channel in the study.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, The AI World<\/a>, based in Pakistan, contains AI-generated shorts of catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, with titles like Poor People, Poor Family, and Flood Kitchen. Many of these videos are set to a soundtrack called Relaxing Rain, Thunder & Lightning Ambience for Sleep. The channel itself has 1.3bn views.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say exactly how significant these channels are compared with the vast sea of content already on YouTube. The platform does not release information on how many views it has yearly, or how many of these are from AI content.<\/p>\n

But behind these uncanny scenes of candy forests and disasters is a semi-structured, growing industry of people trying to find new ways to monetise the world\u2019s most powerful platforms using AI tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are these big swathes of people on Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord and message boards exchanging tips and ideas [and] selling courses about how to sort of make slop that will be engaging enough to earn money,\u201d said Max Read<\/a>, a journalist who has written extensively on AI slop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have what they call niches. One that I noticed recently is AI videos of people\u2019s pressure cookers exploding on the stove.\u201d<\/p>\n

While creators of AI slop are everywhere, Read said that many come from English-speaking countries with relatively strong internet connectivity, where the median wage is less than the amount they can make on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mostly sort of middle-income countries like Ukraine, lots and lots of people in India, Kenya, Nigeria, a fair number in Brazil. You see Vietnam, too. Places with relative freedom online to access social media sites,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not always easy to be an AI slop creator. For one thing, creator programmes on YouTube and Meta aren\u2019t always transparent about who they pay for content, and how much, said Read. For another, the AI slop ecosystem is full of scammers: people selling tips and courses on how to make viral content \u2013 who often make more money than the AI slop producers themselves.<\/p>\n

But, at least for some, it\u2019s a living. And while new, attention-grabbing ideas \u2013 such as exploding pressure cookers \u2013 constantly emerge, when it comes to AI slop, human creativity matters far less than the algorithms that distribute the content on Meta and YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese websites are huge A\/B testing machines just by their nature,\u201d said Read. \u201cAlmost anything that you can think of, you could already find on Facebook. So the question is, how do you find the things that are kind of doing well, and then how do you scale that? How do you make 10 of them?\u201d<\/p>\n

A YouTube spokesperson said: \u201cGenerative AI is a tool, and like any tool it can be used to make both high- and low-quality content. We remain focused on connecting our users with high-quality content, regardless of how it was made. All content uploaded to YouTube must comply with our community guidelines, and if we find that content violates a policy, we remove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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