More than 20% of videos recommended to brand-new YouTube users are low-quality, AI-generated clips known as AI slop, according to a study released last month by researchers at Kapwing, a video editing platform, who analysed the first 500 Shorts shown to a newly created account and identified 104 videos generated primarily by artificial intelligence. Kapwing also surveyed 15,000 of the world's most popular YouTube channels and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop, with these channels amassing more than 63 billion views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117 million in revenue each year.
Based on views alone, the study found that South Korea leads global consumption with its 11 trending AI channels having a combined figure of over 8.45 billion views, whilst Pakistan is second with 5.34 billion views and the US is third with 3.39 billion. The most-viewed AI slop channel identified in the study was India's Bandar Apna Dost, which recorded 2.07 billion views at the time of analysis, with Kapwing projecting the channel's annual earnings at approximately $4,251,500, demonstrating how automated, low-effort content can generate significant revenue at scale.
The findings reveal a rapidly expanding industry saturating major social media platforms and defining a new era of content. The same analysis found another 33% of recommendations consisted of similarly repetitive "brainrot" content, meaning over half of all content shown to new users falls into these categories. The study highlights how such content has become increasingly difficult to avoid on YouTube.
Sources:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/over-20-videos-shown-youtube-171739997.html
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41766416.html
https://www.techspot.com/news/110735-over-21-youtube-now-ai-slop-report.html
