Study finds over 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’

ISTANBUL

A new research has found that over 20% of videos recommended to new YouTube users are low-quality content designed to increase views, known as “AI slop.”

Video-editing company Kapwing analyzed 15,000 of the world’s top YouTube channels—covering the top 100 in each country—and found that 278 of them comprise solely AI-generated slop.

Collectively, these AI slop channels have attracted over 63 billion views and 221 million subscribers, bringing in an estimated $117 million in annual revenue.

The researchers also created a new YouTube account and found that 104 of the first 500 recommended videos were AI slop, with roughly a third classified as “brainrot” — low-quality, attention-monetizing content.

The channels found by Kapwing are watched globally, and attract millions of subscribers worldwide, including 20 million in Spain—nearly half the country’s population—as well as 18 million in Egypt, 14.5 million in the US, and 13.5 million in Brazil.