Comment on kurzgesagt – AI Slop Is Killing Our Channel

• _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  They are owned by private equity? It’s pretty common these days for the more popular YT channels. Veritasium, Astrum, Fireship, fern., and Hoog are some other examples. Basically, if it’s a popular YT channel, it’s either owned by PE, in negotiations to be acquired by PE, or pursued by a PE firm in the hopes that they can acquire it. Private equity is accelerating their acquisitions, actually, and they want to control everything that captures the attention of viewers.

  Here’s a video that talks about it.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ-rRXWhElI

  source

  • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No wonder veritasium has felt “off” for me for a good while as well. A few years ago I deliberately stopped watching that channel, seems there was a deeper reason behind my superficial reasons and gut feelings

    source

    • minimum@mander.xyz ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      The content is higher-quality, more like a TV product. But it’s still pretty solid. Good analogies and intuitive explanations.

      source
    • socsa@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      He basically only makes “why everyone except me is wrong about X” content now, and it’s super smug and obnoxious.

      source

      • Iceman@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        They seem to use the “shotgun” future in Youtube for titles and Thumbnails. Having the a bunch of different titles and and thumbnails and eventually sticking with the combo that drives the most engagement.

        source
  • hikaru755@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Do you have actual evidence for Kurzgesagt being among PE-owned channels, or are you just extrapolating? Because the video you linked doesn’t mention them, and a quick search didn’t turn up anything about that.

    source

    • AceBonobo@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I don’t see any evidence of that, as well.

      source
    • bitjunkie@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      extrapolating

      Interesting way to say “making shit up”

      source

      • hikaru755@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Didn’t want to be too combative from the start lol

        source
    • _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      if most of your money comes from billionaires and you admit to making propaganda videos for them, you’re owned by private equity. it doesn’t matter how much you or they argue about how that isn’t technically true because it’s not officially on paper.

      source

      • hikaru755@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Like it or not, words have meaning, and black and white thinking is comfortable, but doesn’t help anyone. There is still a massive difference between the gates foundation having a 0.5% stake in Kurzgesagt and them being “owned” by PE, and pretending otherwise just means you’re not actually interested in any kind of productive discussion.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
  • RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    There’s an incredible amount of money in those offers. Years ago Linus Tech Tips got an offer of 100m, so I get why people take the money.

    source

    • _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I mean, I would probably sell the channel myself. That’s a lifechanging amount of money. I would buy some land deep in the backcountry, build a little walled village, and invite my family and friends to come live there. Grow our own food, set up some solar panels and wind turbines, buy up plenty of guns and ammo, and see if we couldn’t hunker down and live out the ever more likely downfall of the American economy in relative peace.

      source

      • Valmond@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        You had me up to “lots of guns and ammo”.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
      • FabioTheNewOrder@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        So basically you would turn yourself in a mini-me version of Zuckenberg, Musk and Bezos. Given this consideration I would reassess my life priorities if I were you

        source

        • -> View More Comments
      • bitjunkie@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        A hundredth of that is a life-changing amount of money.

        source
  • circuscritic@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Anyone down voting this should be ashamed of themselves.

    Like deeply and personally ashamed.

    The type of shame that follows them for the rest their lives, because that’s how scummy you’d have to be in order downvote someone shining a light on how private equity is buying out major YouTube channels.

    Something that I was entirely unaware of, and appreciate your comment regarding.

    source

    • _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I get it. They like the channel, and don’t want to think that a channel they love could do something they don’t love. Or maybe some of them don’t see it as a bad thing in the first place.

      Me, I’m the opposite. I want to know who owns the media I consume, because I want to know who might be influencing the things I see. It’s always better to have the whole truth, even if that truth hurts. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the channel still, it just means you’re better prepared to understand the context of anything that that channel might say. Even cold hard facts with empirical evidence can be propaganda, depending on how it’s presented.

      source

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Except you lied about who they are owned by.

        Why make yourself out to be virtuous and caring about the truth when your entire premise is a lie?

        source

        • -> View More Comments
    • hikaru755@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Bringing this general issue up in a thread about Kurzgesagt, without also providing evidence that Kurzgesagt specifically is actually part of that issue, is at best irrelevant and at worst misleading though

      source
    • Damage@feddit.it ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You wrote all that shit and forgot that accusations like that need proof.

      source

      • circuscritic@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The video which made the accusations, not me, provided sources for all of their claims.

        Did you even look?

        Sorry, that was rhetorical, obviously you did not look.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
  • toynbee@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    What are Astrum, Fireship and Hoog?

    source

    • _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Other YouTube channels? I said that.

      source

      • toynbee@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Yes, and also I was able to extrapolate that much, but I was looking for some idea of what kind of content they provided.

        That said, I can look them up; apologies for bothering you on the matter.

        source

        • -> View More Comments
    • umbraroze@slrpnk.net ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Astrum makes space stuff videos? I dunno, been a while.

      Fireship makes videos about programming. Has series about “(Programming language/Framework) explained in 100 seconds”, for example. I think people are complaining that the channel is slipping into AI dudebroery.

      Hoog is a history/explainer type channel, I think.

      source

      • toynbee@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Thanks for the information!

        source