Cat soap operas and babies trapped in space: the 'AI slop' taking over YouTube

Babies trapped in space, zombie football stars and cat soap operas: welcome to YouTube in the era of AI video. Nearly one in 10 of the fastest growing YouTube channels globally are showing AI-generated content only, as breakthroughs in the technology spur a flood of artificial content. Guardian analysis of data from the analytics firm Playboard shows that out of the top 100 fastest growing channels in July this year, nine were showing purely AI-generated content. The offerings include channels featuring bizarre narratives such as a baby crawling into a pre-launch space rocket, an undead Cristiano Ronaldo and melodramas featuring humanised cats. AI video generation has surged amid the release of powerful tools such as Google's Veo 3 and Elon Musk's Grok Imagine.