More than one in five videos recommended to new YouTube users consist of low-quality, AI-generated material commonly described as "AI slop," according to research by video-editing firm Kapwing.
The study reviewed 15,000 of the platform's most popular channels worldwide and identified 278 channels producing nothing but such content. Collectively, these channels account for more than 63 billion views and 221 million subscribers, with estimated annual revenues of about $117 million.
Kapwing also created a fresh YouTube account and found that 104 of the first 500 recommended videos fell into the AI slop category. Roughly a third of the recommendations were labelled "brainrot," a broader group that includes AI-generated clips and other low-effort content designed to capture attention and maximise ad revenue.
The findings suggest a fast-growing industry that is flooding major social platforms, including YouTube, X, and Meta, with addictive, decontextualised material. Earlier analysis showed that almost 10% of YouTube's fastest-growing channels now produce AI slop, despite platform efforts to curb inauthentic content.
The channels are spread across the globe and attract vast audiences. In Spain, trending AI channels are followed by about 20 million users, while Egypt, the United States, and Brazil collectively account for tens of millions more. One of the most-viewed examples, India-based Bandar Apna Dost, has accumulated 2.4 billion views with surreal storylines featuring animated monkeys and superhero-style characters, and is estimated to earn several million dollars a year.
Other prominent examples include Singapore-based Pouty Frenchie, which appears to target children with animated stories and has around 2 billion views, and Pakistan-based The AI World, which posts AI-generated disaster scenes and has logged about 1.3 billion views.
Industry observers say the phenomenon is being driven by online communities sharing tactics for producing and monetising such material, often through Telegram, Discord, and similar platforms. Many creators operate in middle-income countries where potential YouTube earnings exceed local wages, although the ecosystem is also rife with scammers selling courses on how to produce viral content.
YouTube said that generative AI is simply a tool that can be used for both high- and low-quality material, adding that all uploaded videos must comply with its community guidelines and that content violating policy is removed.
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