Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins/Futurism. Source: 20th Century Studios
YouTube’s janitors are swooping in to clean up the mess.
As reported by deadlineThe Google-owned video platform has taken down two major YouTube channels promoting fake, AI-generated movie trailers, in one of the most high-profile actions it has taken against AI spam polluting the platform.
Combined, the channels – called Screen Culture, based in India, and KH Studios, based in the US – boast over two million subscribers and over a billion views.
“The monster is defeated,” one YouTuber said. deadline After the slope channels have been removed.
Whatever your views on AI imagery, these channels weren’t using the technology to innocently imagine a fanboy’s dream casting. They were undoubtedly cultivating it by using AI shots mixed with actual copyrighted film footage to deceive the audience. deadlineAnd then quickly posting fake trailers to drown out the real ones. For example, in March, Screen Culture churned out 23 different trailers for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” some of which surpassed the official trailer. deadline found.
Why is YouTube banning them now? Obviously, the channels had become arrogant. YouTube quietly suspended its ability to earn ad revenue after a deadline They came under investigation earlier this year, but were able to recoup their ad money after adding “fan trailer,” “parody,” and “concept trailer” to their video titles. But, for unknown reasons, both slop slingers stopped including those disclaimers in recent months, leading to the threat of a ban.
The decision comes as AI is making inroads into the real film industry – and AI-spoofed trailers have become a hot button issue. Users of OpenAI’s video generating app Sora are churning out plenty of AI-spoofed Disney trailers, including a Pixar-style animation about Jeffrey Epstein inviting kids to his “amazing” island — a trend that didn’t faze Disney when it announced it would invest $1 billion in OpenAI and officially license its characters to Sora last week.
What this means for all the other crap polluting YouTube is unclear. The platform is still packed with AI-generated music, hour-long informational videos Presented in a “boring” or “sleepy” styleAnd even actual snuff films. Some people are using AI to impersonate public figures, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. What likely happened here is that the AI ​​movie trailer channel played fast and loose with copyright laws for too long, removing the wrong IP owners, and getting kicked to the curb. And good riddance.
More on AI: TikTok accounts are using AI slop to sell seeds for plants that don’t exist
