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Advocacy groups and experts condemned YouTube for serving up low-quality artificial intelligence-generated videos to its most vulnerable audience: children.<\/p>\n
In a letter to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and Sundar Pichai, the CEO of YouTube\u2019s parent company Google, children\u2019s advocacy group Fairplay expresses \u201cserious concern\u201d about the spread of AI-generated videos on both YouTube and YouTube Kids. The letter, which was sent on Wednesday morning, was signed by more than 200 organizations and individual experts such as child psychiatrists and educators.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2018AI slop\u2019 harms children\u2019s development by distorting their sense of reality, overwhelming their learning processes and hijacking their attention, thereby extending time online and displacing offline activities necessary for their healthy development,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cThese harms are particularly acute for young children.\u201d The letter calls on YouTube to clearly label all AI-generated content and ban any AI-generated content on YouTube Kids. They also propose barring AI-generated videos from being recommended to users under 18 and implementing an option for parents to turn off AI-generated content even if their child searches for it.<\/p>\n
The letter is signed by 135 organizations including the American Federation of Teachers and the American Counseling Association, and around 100 individual experts like \u201cThe Anxious Generation\u201d author Jonathan Haidt. The letter is part of a larger campaign from Fairplay that also includes a petition.<\/p>\n
Much of this AI-generated content is fast-paced with bright colors, lively music and clickbait titles that work to grab the attention of young viewers, the letter outlines. There has been a growing movement online against AI-generated content, particularly when it looks or feels low quality or leans into the meaninglessness of \u201d brainrot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle said in a statement that YouTube has \u201chigh standards for the content in YouTube Kids, including limiting AI-generated content in the app to a small set of high-quality channels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also provide parents the option to block channels. Across YouTube, we prioritize transparency when it comes to AI content, labeling content from our own AI tools, and requiring creators to disclose realistic AI content,\u201d Bullwinkle said. \u201cWe\u2019re always evolving our approach to stay current as the ecosystem evolves.\u201d<\/p>\n
YouTube\u2019s current policy regarding AI-generated content requires creators to disclose when content that\u2019s \u201crealistic\u201d is made with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI. Creators are not required to disclose when generative AI is used to create content that is clearly unrealistic, including animated videos and those with special effects.<\/p>\n
YouTube said it is actively working on developing labels for YouTube Kids.<\/p>\n
In its letter, Fairplay argues that voluntary disclosure policy and what it sees as an \u201cextremely limited\u201d definition of altered and synthetic content mean kids still see a flood of AI-generated videos that are not labeled as such. They also argue that many children who watch YouTube videos are not yet able to read or to comprehend something like an AI disclosure. That leaves children \u201cto fend for themselves or their parents to play whack-a-mole,\u201d the letter reads.<\/p>\n
Fairplay\u2019s campaign comes shortly after Google\u2019s AI Futures Fund invested $1 million into Animaj, an AI animation studio that makes videos for kids and draws in staggeringly high viewership numbers, according to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
The campaign follows a landmark verdict in a social media addiction trial in which a California jury found that YouTube designed its platform to hook young users without concern for their well-being. Meta was also found liable on the same counts as YouTube in the same case.<\/p>\n
\u201cPushing AI slop onto young children is just another testament to how YouTube and YouTube Kids are designed to maximize children\u2019s time online \u2014 including babies. AI slop hypnotizes young children, making it hard for them to get off their screens and move onto essential activities like play, sleep and social interaction,\u201d said Rachel Franz, the director of Fairplay\u2019s Young Children Thrive Offline program, in a statement. \u201cWhat\u2019s more, YouTube\u2019s algorithm makes it impossible for kids to avoid AI slop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, YouTube head Mohan listed out \u201cmanaging AI slop\u201d as one of the company\u2019s priorities for 2026. In a January blog post, he wrote that the company was \u201cactively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low quality, repetitive content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n