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 63 billion 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.
