YouTube has responded after a set of the most popular “AI slop” channels were deleted from the platform, and others had their uploads removed.
AI-generated content has started seeping into almost every social media platform around. On Facebook and TikTok, you’re never more than a scroll away from an AI-generated video of babies dancing, and X (formerly Twitter) has Grok built into it, which has caused a number of issues.
YouTube has battled with AI too, on a number of different fronts. AI-generated content is all over YouTube Shorts, and creators have hit out at the platform for allowing artificial intelligence to ban channels, be it rightly or wrongly.
At the end of January, YouTube began its promised crackdown on AI content, banning 11 of the most popular channels that focused on AI-generated content, and completely wiping videos from a further six channels.
YouTube addresses removal of popular AI content
As per Kapwing’s report, these channels had a combined 4.72 billion views and 35 million subscribers. So, it wasn’t exactly an insignificant loss on YouTube’s part.
A YouTube spokesperson addressed the removals, speaking to Yahoo Finance, they said: “YouTube doesn’t allow spam, scams, or other deceptive practices that take advantage of the YouTube community.”
As noted, YouTube has promised to further tackle AI content moving forward. In his annual letter to the community, CEO Neal Mohan said that the “rise of AI has raised concerns about low-quality content,” which he branded as “AI slop” videos.
“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,” he explained.
Mohan also noted that AI isn’t going away, though. Creators will be able to use AI to generate Shorts of themselves. The CEO wants the platform to be “perfect” for users, saying “our job is to really build the best stage” for creators.
