[23519] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Script of my national radio report yesterday on
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lauren Weinstein)
Tue Apr 28 11:07:21 2026
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2026 07:57:45 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
To: privacy-dist@vortex.com
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This is the script of my national network radio report yesterday on
the rise of AI Slop on YouTube. As always there may have been minor
wording variations from this script as I presented the report live on
air.
- - -
So the very first YouTube video, uploaded by one of YouTube's founders
before it was purchased by Google, is called "Me at the zoo". It was
uploaded about 21 years ago. It has accumulated almost 400 million
views and over 10 million comments. This is NOT the most watched YT
video, which is a children's video that doesn't earn the creator
money, with over 16 BILLION views. But that first YT video, only 19
seconds run time, noting how long the elephant trunks are, is still
perhaps the quintessential example of what a good YouTube video SHOULD
be, a slice of reality, a piece of true emotion.
Of course, that's decades ago, and since then YouTube has become a
massive money making machine for Google, and the quality of videos
overall has plummeted to the Earth's core. Because for Google, a click
is a click, a view is a view, and Google cares little about what kind
of content -- other than blatantly illegal -- generates those views of
associated ads that now bracket and interrupt YouTube videos for
non-paying viewers.
But it's still the most important streaming platform on the planet.
The technical infrastructure that supports YouTube is staggering in
its size and complexity. And it's not that there aren't still
wonderful, incredibly great videos on YouTube. There are, if you can
find them. And that's become increasingly difficult as AI-generated
Slop increasingly permeates the platform, burying the good stuff under
mountains of muck.
The relatively recent availability of powerful AI video generation
tools has created a cosmic-sized mess. There are many types and trends
in these. You almost certainly have seen them if you ever view
YouTube. The previously rather robotic voices have vastly improved,
but are (at least currently) still often recognizable. The happy,
happy voice. The deep booming dignified voice. On and on. The quickie
AI videos are churned out as rapidly and in as high volume as possible
by those channels from automated text prompts since viewership of any
individual video may be relatively limited.
They often have very recognizable characteristics. Slide shows with
the images slowly moving around the frame. Mixes of images where some
are utterly unrelated to the ostensible topic. Voices that pause in
odd places or get obvious pronunciations wrong. Completely distorted
images of objects or people from AI hallucinations. Lately new trends
include AI videos ostensibly showing famous people saying or doing
things that they may or may not have actually ever said or done. A
famous deceased scientist supposedly narrating a text he wrote many
years ago, sometimes including still or moving AI imagery of the
scientist. Lots of images with annoying bits of what look like dirt or
feathers or other debris constantly floating around over them. False
or distorted histories, fake "revenge" or "confession" stories about
evil Homeowner Associations, or awful bosses, or terrible spouses or
other relatives. Endless numbers of such videos with minor variations.
In the comments, usually some viewers are apparently taken in -- "Oh,
what an inspiring story!" -- while other comments point out the AI
Slop in very specific ways.
Keep in mind that YouTube does not reliably label as "synthetic or
altered content", even briefly, many AI-generated videos. By the way,
my personal policy is to thumbs-down ANY video I run across that
obviously is AI Slop.
But perhaps Google would be just fine with pretty much EVERY video on
YouTube being created by Google AI -- hey, no more creators to pay!
After all, if viewers are willing to tolerate AI Slop, why bother
presenting them with anything else? The YouTube money machine is
heading toward a closed ecosystem -- AI Slop flows out from YouTube,
ad revenue flows in, with no room for genuine creators. YouTube may
ultimately consider everything else to be expendable. I hope that
doesn't happen. But unfortunately, it's not impossible either.
- - -
L
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com (https://www.vortex.com/lauren)
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Mastodon: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren
Signal: By request on need to know basis
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
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