AI Slop Needs to Stop
Since the surge in AI’s popularity—and its growing presence in everyday life—it was perhaps inevitable that people would quickly begin using it to create content with minimal time and effort.
AI can be genuinely invaluable for proofreading, refining and structuring content. For someone like me, who is not a professional writer, it can be a useful tool for turning rough thoughts into something clearer and more readable. Used well, it supports the creative process rather than replacing it.
The problem is that AI is increasingly being used to produce a tsunami of low-effort video content: generic scripts, synthetic voice-overs, stock footage and recycled information, all churned out at scale in the hope of earning a few pounds in advertising revenue. The aim often seems to be quantity rather than expertise, originality or any genuine desire to help the viewer.
Increasingly, when I search YouTube for videos about a particular subject, I click on one only to be greeted by an artificial voice. I understand that not everyone is comfortable using their own voice or appearing on camera. However, a human presence—even a small, slightly unpolished moment at the beginning of a video, can make a creator feel more real and accountable. Seeing someone clap, step into frame, or simply speak in their own voice reassures the viewer that there is an actual person behind the content. Tom Scott explores this idea well in his video, Why do YouTubers clap at the start of videos? - YouTube.
When I hear an AI voice, my immediate assumption is that the video is low effort, and I usually click away. That may not always be fair — there will be creators using AI voices for accessibility, language barriers or other legitimate reasons — but the sheer volume of poor-quality content has made that reaction difficult to avoid.
The result is that I spend longer than I intended trying to find a video that feels trustworthy. Alternatively, if the topic is covered by a creator I already know, I simply return to their channel. In the past, I might have discovered someone new, widening the range of viewpoints and opinions I encountered.
So, rather than giving us more resources to learn about a subject, this flood of AI-generated content can actually narrow the field of useful and trustworthy sources. It makes discovery worse: genuinely knowledgeable creators have to compete with endless videos that may look polished at first glance, but offer little depth, experience or original thought.
This wave of slop shows no sign of abating — if anything, it appears to be growing with every passing day. I do not know what the perfect answer is, but perhaps YouTube could, somewhat ironically, use AI tools to identify and label AI-generated content. Better still, it could give users the option to filter it out entirely.
Transparency would be a good first step. There is a meaningful difference between a creator using AI to clean up audio, check a script or generate captions, and an anonymous channel using it to manufacture an entire video with no visible human input. Viewers should be able to make that distinction for themselves.
Until then, I cannot see the YouTube experience improving. In my view, the current direction could eventually cost YouTube viewers — and therefore revenue — as people find it increasingly difficult to locate decent content. Other platforms could capitalise on this frustration and win audience share if they play their cards right.
Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic. I am certainly an advocate of AI, but I strongly believe it should be used to aid the creative process, not replace it. Technology should help people make better work — not make it easier to fill the internet with more noise.
