YouTube has cracked down on a major set of “AI slop” channels, deleting some of the most popular ones around.
AI-generated content has started to seep into different corners of the internet, including Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. It has been the source of much frustration on YouTube, especially as uploaders can bypass the ‘this content is AI’ warning by not flagging it themselves.
Users have demanded that YouTube start cracking down on this “AI slop,” which prompted YouTube CEO Neal Mohan to reveal that they will start tackling it in a big way in 2026.
“To reduce the spread of low-quality AI content, we’re actively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low-quality, repetitive content,” Mohan explained.
YouTube cracks down on popular AI channels
It appears as if the Google-owned platform has started the ball rolling on that, with Kapwing reporting that 16 major AI channels have been hit by YouTube.
According to their new research, 11 channels have been totally removed from YouTube, while a further five have had all their content “wiped.” As per their findings, these channels had a combined 4.72 billion views and 35 million subscribers.
This includes the two foremost AI channels, CuentosFacianantes and Imperiodejesus, which have both been deleted. The popular brainrotjourney, which had over 1.6 million subscribers, has also been removed.
Kapwing’s Liam Curtis believes this crackdown “could represent a significant turning point in YouTube’s approach to AI content,” as it looked like they were going to “drown out” real creators.
“Hopefully, this is just the beginning. YouTube’s challenge is to maintain this momentum and address the systemic issues that allowed these channels to thrive in the first place,” he added.
Before his 2026 keynote, Mohan noted that AI won’t go away, especially when it comes to moderation tools. MoistCr1TiKaL blasted him as being “delusional” over AI as a result.
