I watch a lot of YouTube, and I’ve been noticing an avalanche of AI content lately. Sometimes it’s hard to spot, like a channel about the history of R&B that seems like it’s narrated by a middle-aged Black lady…until she mispronounces something major, like the last name of the lead singer of the O’Jays.

Then you realize the bad, repetitive writing and the awkward presentation wasn’t someone new to the medium. It was someone plugging in prompts. Saying “make it relatable,” and ending up with anything but.

There are signs. This particular channel, which I will not promote by naming it, was four months old, and in that time had published 90 videos. That’s five videos a week, with research, recording, and editing. Now, I know I suck at keeping up with stuff, but even at my best, there’s no way I was putting out more than one video a week. Five videos of this type isn’t humanly possible.

So what’s the matter with AI videos?

To begin with, AI used in the arts is always trained on the work of human artists, without permission or compensation. Those AI voices don’t come from nowhere. Those fancy graphics are stolen from thousands of artists.

Secondly, these AI channels are taking the place of human made channels. The people who are passionate about their subject suddenly can no longer be seen. Real human voices are getting drowned in a sea of nameless “entrepreneurs” looking to make a quick buck–and that buck is no longer going to the people who put their love and sweat into making something wonderful for you.

The grifters using AI to destroy YouTube don’t care about the subjects they cover. The videos they create are full of lazy mistakes. The editing is just generic footage, often unrelated to the subject. They let AI tell them what’s trending, then they use AI to make videos they hope will get views.

I let my Tubelog channel go so I could concentrate on other things, but it’s clear I need to go back to it. Because I love YouTube, and the humans who make it great.

This blog will serve as a companion, because not everyone wants to get recommendations from a video. Even if it’s for other videos. I don’t know yet if it will be one-for-one, or if I’ll end up putting more recommendations here. I will probably put things up here before a video comes out.

It’s also a failsafe, because let’s face it, I cannot be counted on to make a whole-ass video. But I can usually be counted on to update a blog.

Over the next while, I’ll make sure what I’ve covered in the past is here, and then I’ll start putting up new stuff. I’ll tag everything so you can find things you like.

I’m not perfect, so if I post something you think is made by AI, drop me a comment.