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15 July, 2025

YouTube Tightens Rules To Fight AI Slop

You will have noticed the recent surge in inauthentic AI-generated content on YouTube, those mass-produced, repetitive, or derivative videos using robotic voices and stock clips. To fight this onslaught of “AI slop”, YouTube has announced a significant update to its monetization policy, set to take effect on July 15, 2025. Under these changes, creators hoping to earn advertising revenue through the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) will need to ensure their videos feature original content and authentic voices. In particular, videos that rely heavily on reused clips, copied material, low-effort uploads, or are entirely generated by AI and deemed unoriginal will no longer qualify for monetization.

The new policy update includes more detailed guidelines on what types of content are eligible for monetization and is designed to protect the platform’s quality and ensure that creators are rewarded for genuine originality.

Why Is YouTube Making This Change?

Several factors likely underpin YouTube’s decision:

  • Preserving Platform Integrity: As generative AI tools become more accessible, YouTube has seen a surge in low-quality, spammy, or purely automated content. By restricting monetization for “unoriginal” AI-generated videos, YouTube hopes to maintain a baseline of quality and trust for viewers and advertisers.
  • Protecting Human Creators: The update signals YouTube’s continued prioritization of human creativity. Rewarding creators who use their own voices and ideas helps sustain the platform’s ecosystem and discourages a race to the bottom in automated content production.
  • Meeting Advertiser Expectations: Advertisers want assurance that their ads will appear alongside high-quality, brand-safe content. By tightening monetization rules, YouTube can offer greater confidence to advertisers wary of associating with low-effort or questionable AI videos.

What Does This Mean for Marketers and Creators?

For marketers and content creators, this change is both a challenge and an opportunity:

  • Review Content Strategies: Brands and creators using AI tools must ensure their videos offer genuine value—whether through original scripts, unique perspectives, or personal narration. Simply stitching together AI-generated clips will no longer be enough to earn revenue.
  • Emphasize Authenticity: There is now an even greater premium on authentic, human-led storytelling. Using your own voice, sharing personal insights, or creatively remixing material (while adding significant value) will be key to staying eligible for monetization.
  • AI as a Creative Assistant: The new rules don’t ban AI outright—AI can still be a powerful tool for brainstorming, editing, or enhancing production. The line is drawn at fully automated, unoriginal uploads designed purely to game the system.
  • Potential Impact on Volume-Based Channels: Channels that rely on pumping out large volumes of AI-generated, low-effort content will likely see their ad revenue dry up, forcing a shift to more thoughtful, high-quality production.

Looking Ahead

YouTube’s move reflects a broader industry reckoning with the flood of generative AI content. As platforms refine their rules to reward originality and authenticity, creators and marketers will need to adapt quickly. For those invested in quality and creativity, these changes may ultimately strengthen YouTube as a space where genuine voices rise to the top.