Overview
- Kapwing’s fresh-account test found 104 of the first 500 Shorts (21%) were AI-generated and 165 (33%) were classified as brainrot.
- Across 15,000 top channels, researchers identified 278 AI-only accounts with roughly 63 billion views, 221 million subscribers, and an estimated $117 million in annual ad revenue.
- India-based Bandar Apna Dost was named the most-viewed AI-only channel at about 2.07 billion views, with estimated yearly earnings near $4.25 million.
- Geographic patterns vary, with Spain leading in subscribers to trending AI slop channels (about 20.22 million) and South Korea leading in views (about 8.45 billion), including Three Minutes Wisdom at roughly 2.02 billion views.
- YouTube said generative AI is a tool and that it enforces existing guidelines, but it has not published a platform-wide threshold for when repetitive AI content becomes ineligible for monetisation.