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Cat soap operas and babies trapped in space: the ‘AI slop’ taking over YouTube
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2025
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Technology
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Sometimes I forget people watch YouTube on purpose. Other than music videos and the rare "how do I do this thing in this game?" I just don't use it
I feel like an alien sometimes. Reading books like some sort of lost time traveler.
There is definitely content on there that I value still
This is only me describing my personal taste, but:
Almost all video essays and podcasts I would rather just read. It takes half the time. Include pictures, diagrams, and animations if needed. But I can read much faster and retain much better reading than listening to someone talk. Listening at double speed is faster, but can be uncomfortable.
I can imagine some value in some other niches, like you're saying, but the amount of slop and trash out there is too high for me, and the companies selling it are the worst.
Every time I see some parasocial YouTuber making That Face I just get irritated.
You don't get the animations and other visual aids to understanding like that.
Don't know why you'd get a downvote for personal preference. I would argue that a lot of the content I watch doesn't have a suitable book form, so even if I did prefer that method of osmosis, I'd be out of luck.
Got a recommendation for a book (or audiobook) for a nerd like me? I'd describe myself but the internet already knows too much so.... Conservation and technology (new or ancient)
Is that a fair ask?
Yeah I don't know about the down votes. I tried to be clear I was talking about a preference and personal experience, but I guess some people took offense.
The last non fiction book I read that was really interesting was "The Ghost Map". It's about when people figured out Cholera. That's kind of technology adjacent.
That sounds great. I'm bad at reading (not bad at it. Just don't do it lol) but I'll put that in my audiobooks for long trips pile. It sounds very much up my alley.
I don't think any of the following videos work as reading.
All of them are made from the start as videos (the last one is quite meta in that regard) and if you want to have them as text then you'd need to restructure them from the scratch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vfbVVkwdQw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxV14h0kFs0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUF4afxMpQk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoldOz5YyAw
In my experience, you have to be incredibly selective with what you watch. The entirety of what I watch on there is makerspace type crafts, misc educational content, and the occasional video game, with ideally the least emotional commentary possible.
Yes I consume a ton of YouTube but that's because I have a ton of professional and personal niche interests. It does take a ton of curation and just general awareness and education about this type of content to sift through the piles of shit but when you do there is real gold there. Also great for having in the background when I'm working on the PC.
Don’t hold out on us, what channels do you watch? I have a growing list of feeds I check
Here's my subscriptions, though they don't make the entirety of what I watch:
Educational
Educational Adjacent
Hobby Projects
Gaming
Art
Misc
Sorry this took so long to reply to! I was keeping it unread until I could rebuild my homelab server.
Thank you so much for these recommendations. I added them all to my list
All good. I do the exact same thing with keeping things unread.
You didn't really ask for this, but here are some suggestions for YouTube content that is worthwhile:
I subscribe to Technology Connections and his Patreon. Highly recommend his videos.
I also follow a few van lifers and a friends channel. I also have own channel on YouTube. I also read a ton of books. Wish we bad tons more options but watching YouTube is not a bad thing. Also follow a YouTuber who keeps me updated on politics and such.
I've been watching Biz Barclay lately. She does media analysis with some interesting perspectives
Why does it have to be one or the other? I both read books and watch YT videos nearly every day.
To me YouTube is an untrustworthy platform owned by one of the worse mega corps. But also I just don't enjoy video as a medium
There can still be good content on there tbf?
I don't use it with the offical client and don't have an account but I do enjoy watching some channels like Usagi Electric, Cathode Ray Dude or EEVBlog (who is also on Odysee btw)
I maintain my YT subscriptions and history quite meticulously. Anything I didn't like will be immediately removed from history. Stuff I regularly watch is subscribed to
I get exactly 0 weird AI or right wing stuff suggested to me
Downside is, you have to keep up quite a good view history hygiene
It's where all the good factual content has gone. Build series, disaster analysis etc is all on YouTube now.
If you have an account, they do a pretty good job of recommending good content based on what you've watched previously.
I dare say books still exist
Cool?
The time it takes to publish a book vs a YouTube video completely changes the kinds of things you'll be able to learn about. Books won't tell you about current events, discoveries or the latest technology news.
How many books have been published about how AI is affecting society? I'm assuming there's a few given it's been years already since ChatGPT 3.5 was released
Yeah, but YouTube isn't as credible. And if it was, I'd still rather read something than spend twice as long watching half the information. Tastes differ
You might be ahead of the curve. I still consume Youtube a lot but my experience is getting worse each and every month. It's a consistent downward spiral. It's just a matter of time until I realize "Oh, I haven't watched Youtube in weeks!" That's when I know. The people who make decisions at Youtube clearly do not even use their own website or app and there is no way to give feedback either. When they realize how bad it's gotten it will be too late to course correct. You can't win users back after they sobered up from your addictive dopamine machine because they stopped coming and the only traffic on your servers are bots.
Ed Zitron, famously verbose web blog guy, wrote a post about how he thinks most of these big businesses are run by idiots that are out of touch with both the product and the users.
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot/
Massive bookshelf here. Can't enshittify watch we already own! Fuck corps