Social platforms are rapidly filling up with low-quality content created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), which already generates about USD 117 million in revenue per year. On YouTube, more than a fifth of the videos that algorithms show to new users belong to the so-called "slop".
This is according to a study by the video editing company Kapwing, which The Guardian draws attention to.
Analysts analyzed the 15,000 most popular YouTube channels in the world - 100 leaders in each country - and found that 278 of them publish exclusively low-quality AI content. Together, these channels have collected more than 63 billion views and 221 million subscribers, and their annual income is estimated at about USD 117 million.
Separately, the researchers created a new YouTube account and checked the recommendations: 104 of the first 500 videos in the feed turned out to be low-quality clips generated by artificial intelligence.
In parallel, an analysis by The Guardian this year showed that almost 10% of the channels with the fastest audience growth were actively publishing AI videos - despite the platform's statements about the fight against "inauthentic content".
Kapwing also highlighted the largest channels in this segment. In particular, India's Bandar Apna Dost, which has 2.4 billion views. The channel's content is built around the fictional adventures of a rhesus macaque and a muscular Hulk-like character: the heroes fight demons and travel in a tomato helicopter. According to estimates, such a channel can bring in up to USD 4.25 million a year.
Singaporean channel Pouty Frenchie, presumably aimed at a children's audience, has collected about 2 billion views. The videos show the adventures of a French bulldog - from traveling through a "sweet forest" to eating crystal sushi. Kapwing estimates its annual income at almost USD 4 million.
At the same time, the Pakistani channel The AI World publishes short videos about floods in Pakistan, created using AI, with emotional titles like "Poor People" or "Kitchen during a flood." The total number of views of this channel exceeds 1.3 billion.
Recall that the American dictionary Merriam-Webster named the slang term slop as the word of 2025 - this is low-quality digital content, created in large quantities, which has little value. In Ukrainian, it can be called "garbage content."
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