Are YouTube videos generated by AI really the past? Google has just announced changes to its YouTube monetization rules. This prevents certain AI-generated content from generating money. However, YouTube's magical solution doesn't ignore the core of the problem with this kind of video.
The new YouTube policy will take effect not only in the US but also in France on July 15th, 2025. However, YouTube will not completely demo all AI-enabled videos. What the platform has in its sight is what is called repetitive, intense, mass-produced content.
What is fraudulent AI video?
At least once in your life, you will encounter YouTube videos or shorts, and the sound of a common robot playing illuminating random clips here and there. Low-end video with no added value. This is something YouTube would like to attack by asserting the concept of authenticity.
“Attack” is a big term as YouTube claims on its official website that it “always demand that monetized content be original and authentic.” In the explanatory video, YouTube editorial manager Rene Ritchie even argues that this is “a minor update to long-standing YouTube Partner Program rules designed to better find mass-produced or repetitive content.”
Whether by odd coincidence or not, this Rene Ritchie video looks a lot like AI slops because of the auto-dubbing that YouTube is pretty close to.
YouTube downplays AI issues
YouTube appears to be intended to minimize the surge in low-end AI-generated content on the platform. Monetization and hand-in-hand proliferation are the main motivation behind the production of this type of content. Therefore, YouTube is a good choice to clarify what you consider to be cheating, mass-produced, repetitive content.
For example, “Bloo,” a 2.6 million YouTube channel recently discovered by CNBC, fits, for example, the bill. On this channel, there is no human presence on the screen. Instead, clumsyly animated virtual avatars are addressed to the viewer with AI audio dubbed in several languages. The channel spams at least one video a day. Avatars scream at you without breathing throughout the gameplay video of the popular video games of the moment (GTA 5, Roblox, etc.). This is a kind of video that is usually designed for kids and young teenagers, making them fools and addictive.
If YouTube has already excluded this kind of content from monetization, as I argued, why isn't this here? And if this becomes a fact from July 15th, does YouTube generally distinguish between this kind of content and videos by Vtubers? Content creators showing themselves only to videos through virtual avatars? vtubers can create original content with or without AI. However, in the above example of “Bloo”, the only human intervention in the production process is the creator's “finger” when entering the prompt.
AI Video has more than authenticity
The fact that YouTube distinguishes authentic and fraudulent AI content makes sense. Certainly, YouTube's notion of authenticity remains very vague. But it's good to not bring all AI creation or extension content together. Personally, I love following the Primeradiency Channel series entitled “The President is Mass Effect.”
These videos feature Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Donald Trump chatting on Discord while playing the Mass Effect Saga video game. The script is humorous and can tell you what a human was behind the writing. Gameplay is also created by humans. At the start of each video there is a disclaimer indicating that these are the voices of AI. In short, this kind of content can be considered authentic.
But beyond authenticity and originality, the surge in AI video raises another issue. More and more often, I come across racist and sexist videos that are entirely made by AI. These videos are often presented as sketches and take only a few seconds to realize the harmful messages that are being propagated.
An example that surprised me without sharing it with you here was a white couple sitting on the porch in front of their house. Suddenly, a black man passes through the garden with a TV under his arm, disappearing into the distance. His wife screams, “I think this is mine,” referring to television that appears to have been stolen by a running black man. My husband then intervened and said, “But no, my beloved, ours was in the garden, pointing to another black man and pulling him out of the weed.”
When AI is used to create racist memes, it's already too late
Obviously, YouTube is not going to question whether this content is authentic before demonetizing it. Racism and incitement to hatred are against YouTube rules. But this shows just how accessible the creation of purely AI content has become. Very accessible and cutting edge AI video generation tools are hijacked for easy shit.
Deutsche Welle dedicated the program to this subject, but on Tiktok, not on YouTube. Many of these videos were created using Google's VEO 3 tool. YouTube downplays the importance of this update and presents it as a simple “minor adjustment” or clarification, but reality is completely different.
If this type of content grows and its creators can benefit from it, it could ultimately damage the reputation and value of the platform. YouTube's obvious gentleness, lack of accuracy regarding the concept of authenticity betrays the desire to hit hard.
What do you think about this change in YouTube's policy? Have you also noticed the growth of low-end AI content? Do you think it's difficult to distinguish between AI slops and real content? In your opinion, can you be authentic using videos generated by AI or elements generated in AI?
