More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are AI slop', study finds

"More than 20% of the videos that YouTube's algorithm shows to new users are AI slop low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found. The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world's most popular YouTube channels the top 100 in every country and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop. Together, these AI slop channels have amassed more than 63bn views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117m (90m) in revenue each year, according to estimates."

"The researchers also made a new YouTube account and found that 104 of the first 500 videos recommended to its feed were AI slop. One-third of the 500 videos were brainrot, a category that includes AI slop and other low-quality content made to monetise attention. The findings are a snapshot of a rapidly expanding industry that is saturating big social media platforms from X to Meta to YouTube and defining a new era of content: decontextualised, addictive and international."

"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's 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. Bandar Apna Dost, the most-viewed channel in the study, is based in India and now has 2.4bn views."

Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world's most popular YouTube channels (the top 100 in every country) and identified 278 channels composed entirely of AI-generated low-quality videos known as AI slop. Those channels collectively have more than 63 billion views, 221 million subscribers and generate an estimated $117 million annually. A fresh YouTube account saw 104 of the first 500 recommended videos consisting of AI slop, while one-third of the 500 were classified as brainrot, a broader category of attention-monetising low-quality content. AI slop channels are globally distributed and attract tens of millions of followers across multiple countries.

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