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Items tagged with: Youtube
Is there anywhere this can be watched other than TormentTube™?
Kane Parsons becomes youngest film-maker to open at No 1 in the US with Backrooms
Backrooms stunned industry observers by taking $81m in its first weekend, a record for studio A24Andrew Pulver (the Guardian)
Labour set to announce crackdown on social media for children within weeks
Age limits and changes to allegedly addictive design features could be in place by the end of the yearJessica Elgot (the Guardian)
Did you know? Deaf people are legally prohibited from knowing the word "fuck" exists.
i look forward to you ditching #meta for the #fediverse 😁💙
you already have a @KrisGoldsmith account (unused for a few years)
we've got:
💙 #mastodon vs⛔ #threads
💙 #pixelfed vs⛔ #instagram
plus:
💙 #loops vs⛔ #tiktok
💙 #peertube vs⛔ #youtube
but as you mentioned in a yt vid, we need some "good" billionaires to invest in building the infrastructure we will need to start fighting fascists, especially to fight the tech-bro-chodes
#AI fake videos on #YouTube -- Johnny Carson and Jack Lemmon
Here's an example of the sort of AI garbage flooding YouTube. I stumbled across a fairly recent video claiming to tell the story of actor Jack Lemmon announcing he had colon cancer while a guest on "The Tonight Show". Very dramatic video. Very emotional. TOTALLY FAKE. Most commenters didn't realize this, expressing their thanks for the video and praising it. A scattering of commenters pointed out that it was total garbage.
I am not sharing the URL since I do not want to give that video any juice.
But this is the sort of CRAP flooding YouTube, and #Google just doesn't give a damn, 'cause a click is a click for them. And this one is relatively minor compared to more recent ones as the VIDEO GARBAGE AI SYSTEMS flood our lives.
DISGUSTING.
L
For the first time as far as I know, the 1966 historical classic "A Man for All Seasons" is up on #YouTube Movies & TV -- free for the moment (it could lose free status at any time). It appears it showed up only a week or two ago. Directed and produced by Fred Zinnemann, adapted from his play by Robert Bolt. Stars Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Robert Shaw, Susannah York, Orson Welles, Leo McKern, Vanessa Redgrave and more, even a very early role by John Hurt. It was an enormous box office and critical success, winning multiple Academy Awards including Best Picture. It tells of the final years of Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England who refused to endorse Henry VIII's attempts to nullify his current marriage and become the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Seriously they don't make 'em like this anymore. I'm not going to make a joke here about losing one's head over the quality of this film. Oops.
youtube.com/watch?v=w9BbfoBeXB…
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A Man For All Seasons
Adaptation of Robert Bolt's play about Sir Thomas More, a Catholic statesman in England who rebelled against Henry VIII's self-proclaimed status as the head ...YouTube Movies (YouTube)
From Mumford & Sons to ‘free speech’ YouTuber: Winston Marshall’s dramatic career change
GB News owner’s son, who wants Channel to be mined to stop migrants, is latest to have a go at transatlantic rightwing commentaryMichael Savage (the Guardian)
Lauren's Blog: The Rise of AI Slop on Google's YouTube
lauren.vortex.com/2026/04/28/a…
L
The Rise of AI Slop on Google’s YouTube – Lauren Weinstein's Blog
The Rise of AI Slop on Google’s YouTubeLauren (Lauren Weinstein's Blog)
This is the script of my national network radio report yesterday on the rise of AI Slop on YouTube. As always there may have been minor wording variations from this script as I presented the report live on air.
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So the very first YouTube video, uploaded by one of YouTube's founders before it was purchased by Google, is called "Me at the zoo". It was uploaded about 21 years ago. It has accumulated almost 400 million views and over 10 million comments. This is NOT the most watched YT video, which is a children's video that doesn't earn the creator money, with over 16 BILLION views. But that first YT video, only 19 seconds run time, noting how long the elephant trunks are, is still perhaps the quintessential example of what a good YouTube video SHOULD be, a slice of reality, a piece of true emotion.
Of course, that's decades ago, and since then YouTube has become a massive money making machine for Google, and the quality of videos overall has plummeted to the Earth's core. Because for Google, a click is a click, a view is a view, and Google cares little about what kind of content -- other than blatantly illegal -- generates those views of associated ads that now bracket and interrupt YouTube videos for non-paying viewers.
But it's still the most important streaming platform on the planet. The technical infrastructure that supports YouTube is staggering in its size and complexity. And it's not that there aren't still wonderful, incredibly great videos on YouTube. There are, if you can find them. And that's become increasingly difficult as AI-generated Slop increasingly permeates the platform, burying the good stuff under mountains of muck.
The relatively recent availability of powerful AI video generation tools has created a cosmic-sized mess. There are many types and trends in these. You almost certainly have seen them if you ever view YouTube. The previously rather robotic voices have vastly improved, but are (at least currently) still often recognizable. The happy, happy voice. The deep booming dignified voice. On and on. The quickie AI videos are churned out as rapidly and in as high volume as possible by those channels from automated text prompts since viewership of any individual video may be relatively limited.
They often have very recognizable characteristics. Slide shows with the images slowly moving around the frame. Mixes of images where some are utterly unrelated to the ostensible topic. Voices that pause in odd places or get obvious pronunciations wrong. Completely distorted images of objects or people from AI hallucinations. Lately new trends include AI videos ostensibly showing famous people saying or doing things that they may or may not have actually ever said or done. A famous deceased scientist supposedly narrating a text he wrote many years ago, sometimes including still or moving AI imagery of the scientist. Lots of images with annoying bits of what look like dirt or feathers or other debris constantly floating around over them. False or distorted histories, fake "revenge" or "confession" stories about evil Homeowner Associations, or awful bosses, or terrible spouses or other relatives. Endless numbers of such videos with minor variations. In the comments, usually some viewers are apparently taken in -- "Oh, what an inspiring story!" -- while other comments point out the AI Slop in very specific ways.
Keep in mind that YouTube does not reliably label as "synthetic or altered content", even briefly, many AI-generated videos. By the way, my personal policy is to thumbs-down ANY video I run across that obviously is AI Slop.
But perhaps Google would be just fine with pretty much EVERY video on YouTube being created by Google AI -- hey, no more creators to pay! After all, if viewers are willing to tolerate AI Slop, why bother presenting them with anything else? The YouTube money machine is heading toward a closed ecosystem -- AI Slop flows out from YouTube, ad revenue flows in, with no room for genuine creators. YouTube may ultimately consider everything else to be expendable. I hope that doesn't happen. But unfortunately, it's not impossible either.
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AI Slop on YouTube
The amount of #AI Slop on #YouTube is growing by leaps and bounds. Particularly awful are the fake stories, AI purporting to show images and/or voices of actual persons still living (or now deceased), and similarly putrid, rotting, garbage AI. When you look at the comments on most of these, you will typically see a mix of viewers taken in by the AI crap, and others viewers pointing out the AI Slop in suitable terms. My policy is to downvote every AI video on YT that I stumble across, for the little good it does. Many of these videos have relatively few views, some however have a considerable number. But since they can be churned out so quickly, their creators attempt to make up in volume what they can't get in individual video views.
Google doesn't care either way. A click is a click. My suspicion is that #Google (as a firm) would be happy if there were NO human creators and they could create ALL YT videos via AI Slop by themselves. Think of it, no creator to pay their usual pittance, keep 100% of the ad revenue!
The most important internal training film at Google these days
must be:
"The Life of an AI Slop Video"
YouTube Opens Up AI Deepfake Detection Tool to All of Hollywood (Exclusive)
#Business #Digital #AI #YouTube
hollywoodreporter.com/business…
YouTube Opens Up AI Deepfake Detection Tool to All of Hollywood (Exclusive)
The tool, which requires a celebrity to upload a digital replica, will flag potentially infringing content — like, say, a star playing a role in fan-generated movie — for a possible takedown.Alex Weprin (The Hollywood Reporter)
MakerTube is open for public registrations! A PeerTube home for #makers, #musicians, #artists and #DIY #creators.
If you’ve been wanting to try video beyond big tech platforms, now’s a great time.
This instance is community-funded. If you value independent media, please consider a #donation: makertube.net/about/instance/s…
Every penny helps.
Join us: makertube.net
I also started to notice with some of these channels:
"How Private Equity Turns Your Favorite Channels Into Slop"
youtube.com/watch?v=ZoibAbdQf5…
How Private Equity Turns Your Favorite Channels Into Slop
How Private Equity Turns Your Favorite Channels Into SlopGet FREE end-to-end encrypted email at http://proton.me/bp/gen-----------------------🗞️ Sign up to ...GEN (YouTube)
So, how do you make money on youtube?
Ask 10 successful youtubers, and they'll tell you the same thing. Diversify. You don’t make significant money from the ad revenue. You make it from merch, or product deals, affiliate links. Youtube makes money from your content, you make money from using their platform to get your viewers off-platform to something that pays you better.
A while back, not terribly long. 3 or 4 years if memory serves, Youtube introduced something cool. A merch shelf. Directly below your content, you were able to link up your merch provider, and youtube would show 4 or 5 links to your own merch, right where your fans could see it. It was kinda a pain to configure, but once you had it, it was great. Your viewers had a direct line to your merch, you didnt have to link it in the description, or nag people in the video (though you could do those things for more eyeballs), but it was a nice thing they did to make it easier for us to actually do that diversification thing.
I personally never made a dime from it, im just not big enough, and its possible that bigger youtubers didnt either, but i thought it was an awesome gesture, helping creators make money on the platform.
Yesterday, i got an email from youtube. They're ditching the merch shelf in order to de-clutter the watch page. Remove the endless stream of shorts? no. Remove the ad overlays? no. Maybe tighten up the watch next panel? No. Remove the thing that gives the creator the most chance of making profit.
This just de-motivates me even more, and makes me want to embrace peertube (where i get no views, but at least im not being abused).
MPs vote against social media ban for under-16s a second time
Commons rejects proposal by 256 to 150 to side with government on plan to tackle online harms affecting childrenDan Milmo (the Guardian)