YouTube clarifies policies around AI slop and upsetting videos

A recent change sees YouTube further cracking down on AI slop by clarifying its policies around how content on its platform can be monetized. To discourage creators from using AI and other tools to make low-quality content, YouTube’s policy now explains that there are three types of videos under the broader category of “inauthentic content” that cannot be monetized.

YouTube already had policies around AI content. Last year, the company announced it was stemming creators’ ability to generate revenue from what it called “inauthentic content,” including mass-produced videos and other types of repetitive content that have become easier to generate with the help of AI technology.

Rather, the recent update is about adding more nuance to the existing policies.

The updated guidelines break down inauthentic content into three categories, including generic, repetitive, or template-based content, followed by off-putting or distressing content, and then any content where AI personas are used to discuss sensitive topics, like health and finance.

While AI slop, much like adult content, is something of a “you’ll know it when you see it” situation for many, YouTube’s policies are meant to more specifically spell out when AI’s use in content creation is allowed or is not permitted for videos being monetized through its YouTube Partner Program (YPP).

The program, which allows creators to earn money through advertising and subscriptions, is YouTube’s lifeblood; allowing it to fill up with AI slop or other low-quality fare would not be in the company’s financial interests. This is especially important given that YouTube is in close competition with TV and other streamers for TV ad dollars. Google’s video platform now generates more ad revenue than rival streamers and has overtaken Netflix in average daily views worldwide.

As YouTube’s trust and safety chief Matt Halprin explained in a Creator Insider video last week, the company’s goal with its policy revision is to cut down on content farming efforts — a reference to low-quality videos that exist solely to generate revenue.

“AI can actually allow people to make a lot of videos,” said Halprin. “Sometimes those videos are great, and it really enhances creativity. And you can create a higher volume of high-quality content that we want to encourage and have in YPP.”

“But that exact same new tool can allow you to make lots of videos really quickly that are very similar. They’re very generic and don’t really have a narrative arc and don’t really show your creativity. So the same technology really enables great stuff, but it also enables stuff that’s kind of content farming, and that’s the stuff that we don’t want to have in YPP,” Halprin added.

The first category, he said, includes repetitive content, such as material that can be easily made with AI, computer-generated imagery (CGI), or templates, with little variation from video to video. This fills a channel with cookie-cutter videos. Halprin notes that tutorial videos could also fall under this policy if they’re reproducing content that’s already prevalent on the platform, instead of being original.

The second category focuses on what YouTube calls “off-putting” content, or content designed to be distressing or emotionally manipulative to chase views. This could include videos featuring an animal in distress, which someone then comes along and rescues, Halprin said.

“We’ve heard from our viewers that that’s not something that they like. They find it off-putting. They don’t want to come back to that channel, or maybe even the platform,” Halprin said.

Channels dedicated to this content will be removed from YPP, regardless of whether the content is AI-generated or not.

The third bucket more directly targets the use of AI personas — representations of real people made with AI. YouTube says it doesn’t want to incentivize creators using AI personas to discuss more sensitive topics, like finance, legal issues, healthcare, and medical issues.

Any YouTube channel that has too much of any of these three types of content will not be able to monetize, Halprin said. The policy clarifications were rolled out on July 16 and impact all YouTube Partner Program members.