YouTube prepares crackdown on ‘mass-produced’ and ‘repetitive’ movies, as concern over AI slop grows
YouTube is making ready to replace its insurance policies to crack down on creators’ capability to generate income from “inauthentic” content material, together with mass-produced movies and different forms of repetitive content material — issues which have change into simpler to generate with the assistance of AI expertise.
On July 15, the corporate will replace its YouTube Associate Program (YPP) Monetization insurance policies with extra detailed pointers round what kind of content material can earn creators cash and what can not.
The precise coverage language itself has not but been launched, however a web page on YouTube’s Assist documentation explains that creators have at all times been required to add “unique” and “genuine” content material. The replace says that the brand new language will assist creators to raised perceive what “inauthentic” content material appears like in the present day.
Some YouTube creators had been involved that the replace would restrict their capability to monetize sure forms of movies, like response movies or these that includes clips, however a publish from YouTube Head of Editorial & Creator Liaison, Rene Ritchie, says that’s not the case.
In a video replace printed on Tuesday, Ritchie says that the change is only a “minor replace” to YouTube’s longstanding YPP insurance policies and is designed to raised establish when content material is mass-produced or repetitive.
Plus, Ritchie provides, such a content material has been ineligible for monetization for years, because it’s content material that viewers typically think about spam.
What Ritche isn’t saying, nevertheless, is how a lot simpler it’s to create such movies today.
With the rise of AI expertise, YouTube has change into flooded with AI slop, a time period referencing low-quality media or content material made utilizing generative AI expertise. As an illustration, it’s frequent to search out an AI voice overlaid on images, video clips, or different repurposed content material, because of text-to-video AI instruments. Some channels stuffed with AI music have tens of millions of subscribers. Faux, AI-generated movies about information occasions, just like the Diddy trial, have racked up tens of millions of views.
In one other instance, a real crime homicide sequence on YouTube that went viral was discovered to be fully AI-generated, 404 Media reported earlier this yr. Even YouTube CEO Neal Mohan’s likeness was utilized in an AI-generated phishing rip-off on the positioning, regardless of having instruments in place that enable customers to report deepfake movies.
Whereas YouTube could downplay the approaching adjustments as a “minor” replace or clarification, the fact is that permitting such a content material to develop and its creators to revenue might in the end harm YouTube’s repute and worth. It’s no shock, then, that the corporate desires clear insurance policies in place that enable it to enact mass bans of AI slop creators from YPP.