YouTube has tightened its revenue policy to curb the spread of low-quality content mass-produced with generative artificial intelligence (AI). In addition to factory-style videos made with AI to game views and spliced-together content, videos in sensitive fields such as medicine, finance, and law in which AI avatars modeled on real people offer advice are also excluded from ad revenue.
According to the information technology (IT) industry on the 26th, YouTube revised the guidelines of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP), its revenue program, to improve the quality of viewer feeds and clarified monetization standards for low-quality AI content.
The revision is a measure to respond to the so-called "AI slop" surging on YouTube. Instead of restricting AI technology itself, it clearly defined three types of content that cannot receive ad revenue. First are videos that are mechanically mass-produced using AI or CGI (computer-generated imagery), with so little difference between videos that they are nearly identical.
Next are videos that stage painful or provocative scenes to chase views. As a representative case, staged animal rescue videos were cited, and this category is excluded from revenue regardless of AI use. The last category is content in which AI avatars modeled on real people provide advice or information in professional fields such as financial investing, medical diagnosis, or legal counsel. These channels also cannot earn ad revenue through YPP.
Matt Halprin, YouTube's head of trust and safety, said in a recent Creator Insider video, "Viewers found this kind of content off-putting and indicated they did not want to return to those channels or the platform," adding, "AI tools can support creators' high-quality creative work, but we will apply strict standards to automated channels that churn out factory-style content without storytelling and human creativity."
Industry watchers say the move is part of YouTube's strategy to strengthen content quality control. As YouTube has surpassed Netflix in global average daily views recently, the need to manage feeds to prevent user churn and retain premium advertisers has grown. The new guidelines, which took effect on Aug. 16, are expected to significantly influence how creators use AI.
Last July, YouTube also changed the name of its "duplicate content" policy to "mass-produced content," and restricted revenue generation for low-quality content that is mass-produced by AI or repeatedly spliced together.