Over 20% of videos recommended to new YouTube users are low-quality AI-generated content created to attract views (AI slop).
Video editing company Kapwing analyzed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels, the top 100 in each country, and found that 278 of them exclusively contain such “AI slop”, writes The Guardian.
In total, these channels have amassed over 63 billion views and 221 million subscribers, generating an estimated annual revenue of around $117 million (£90 million).
The researchers also created a new YouTube account and found that 104 of the top 500 videos recommended in the feed were “AI slop.”
A third of the 500 videos fell into the category brain rotwhich includes AI slop and other low-quality content made to monetize attention.
The results paint a picture of a rapidly expanding industry that is flooding major social media platforms – from X and Meta to YouTube – and defining a new era of content: context-free, addictive and with an international audience.
An analysis by The Guardian this year found that almost 10% of YouTube’s fastest-growing channels were AI slop, racking up millions of views despite the platform’s efforts to curb “inauthentic content”.
The AI channels analyzed by Kapwing have impressive audiences globally: in Spain, 20 million people watch such channels, almost half of the country’s population; other examples include 18 million followers in Egypt, 14.5 million in the US, and 13.5 million in Brazil.
The most watched channel in the study, Bandar Apna Dost, based in India, accumulated 2.4 billion views.
Meanwhile, The AI World, a Pakistani channel, publishes AI-generated clips of catastrophic floods in Pakistan with titles like “Poor people, poor family” or “Flooded kitchen”. Many of the videos are accompanied by a soundtrack titled “Relaxing Rain, Thunder and Lightning for Sleep”. The channel has 1.3 billion views.
It is difficult to measure exactly the impact of AI channels on YouTube, as the platform does not provide data on total annual views or the proportion of AI-generated content.
But behind the bizarre videos – from candy forests to disasters – is a growing, semi-structured industry of people looking to monetize global platforms using AI.
Courses are sold to produce AI Slops
Max Read, a journalist specializing in AI slop, explains that there are large groups on Telegram, WhatsApp, Discord and forums where creators exchange ideas, tips and sell courses to produce viral content, attractive enough to generate money.
They create specific “niches” like AI videos of pressure cookers exploding on the stove.
Most creators come from countries with lower average wages than potential earnings on YouTube and relatively free access to the internet and social media. Examples include Ukraine, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Brazil and Vietnam.
These ondits allow them to mass-produce AI content for global audiences and take advantage of the platforms’ algorithms to maximize their revenue.
But it’s not always easy being an AI slop creator. YouTube and Meta’s monetization programs aren’t always transparent about payouts and criteria, Read says.
In addition, the AI slop ecosystem is full of scammers: people who sell tips and courses on how to create viral content, and who often make more money than the AI slop producers.
However, for some, this type of activity provides a living. And while attention-grabbing new ideas like exploding pressure cookers are popping up all the time, with AI slop human creativity matters far less than the algorithms that distribute content to Meta and YouTube.
A YouTube spokesperson said: “Generative AI is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used to create both high-quality and low-quality content.
We remain focused on connecting our users with quality content, regardless of how it was made. All content uploaded to YouTube must follow the Community Guidelines, and if we find policy violations, we remove them.”
