Maybe not that interesting for everyone here, but I found no better community for this.
And of course, the video was preempted by an AI slop ad of a talking monkey wearing a neck brace.
kurzgesagt – AI Slop Is Killing Our Channel
Submitted 2 weeks ago by Peter_Arbeitslos@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zfN9wnPvU0
Comments
simplejack@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Use Firefox + uBlock Origin on desktop and on mobile. Only watch YouTube via Firefox. Never see these bullshit ads again.
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Shoutout to Revanced patcher if you’d like an app equivalent with the same level of customization
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Sounds better than the fucking singing purple llama I get all the time ruining a song from Dirty Dancing by changing the ‘I’ to ‘AI’.
‘AI had the time of my life’ doesn’t even make sense!
biofaust@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It is literally AI taking time out of of your life, I don’t see how that doesn’t make sense to you.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I want an ad / DNS blocklist for AI slop. I want to not even be able to go to HiSToRiAn AsLeEp In ThE WoOdS channels on my networks and devices
tobogganablaze@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
There you go.
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You can have your Google search go before 2022. I do this sometimes
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Google still does its psychotic summarys though.
Then other day I was trying to find out how to get just one AD account not to sync through to Azure without disabling it. And the AI came up with this complicated instruction set that didn’t work and was totally made up from nowhere. Now what on earth was the point in doing that?
At one point it told me I had to triple click on something. Because that’s totally a thing.
Kissaki@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
I feel like the title doesn’t match the content.
The video gives an elaborate description on their evaluation of “AI” and it’s influence on the Internet at large. And then they conclude with “we’ll continue like before” directly contradicting the title.
Feels disingenuous. And ironic after they talked about their extensive investments into fact checking.
Jhex@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The video gives an elaborate description on their evaluation of “AI” and it’s influence on the Internet at large. And then they conclude with “we’ll continue like before” directly contradicting the title.
You missed the entire point of the video.
The claims are simple:
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in order to make this type of videos, they need to be able to reliable fact check
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data on the internet is increasingly polluted by AI slop, making it harder to distinguish fact from slop
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for now, they have no choice but to continue while being extra vigilant… but eventually, if things do not change, they will be unable to perform
It’s the exact same situation about climate change… we need to act now, most of us will suffer otherwise but for now we continue on living while trying to adjust where we can (recycling, reusing, less/no meat, etc) even if we know that will not be enough long term.
jj4211@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Also, presuming they are sincere and put in all that effort, they are competing with other sources that have no such discipline and they are able to flood the field and grab eyeballs faster than they could.
Tja@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Not the guy you’re answering to, but I kind of agree with him, the point is fuzzy and the title is clickbaity. With sucha title I expected they would present numbers and figures.
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Fiery@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
DeArrow shows the title as something like “why you can’t trust AI with facts”
Manticore@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
I love DeArrow so much. Best addon I’ve ever donated to, very worth it
Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Awww is it the first youtube video you watched?
Kissaki@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Did you come into a comment section and expected not to see any comments?
Do you take everything as it is, without criticizing anything?
Do that if you want. No need to be so dismissive without actually making your point. Which I assume is that clickbait is “normal”.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Do you think if we pool every AI in the world it will be able to figure out the difference between its and it’s? Seems unlikely.
dustyData@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The channel hat always been disingenuous. It’s not the first video they have where they develop a well written essay that has conclusions that make no sense with the information presented. It’s the theater of research without any of the substance. The editors just do whatever they want, under the expectations that the writing team will support their preconceived notion.
They’re an entertainment channel, not a science communication channel. They have said some awful, totally not fact supported stuff in the past.
MrNobody@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
They have said some awful, totally not fact supported stuff in the past.
Like?
BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As far as science channels go, you’ve got SpaceTime for college students, Veritasium for high schoolers, and Kurzgesagt for newborn infants or maybe a smart dog. It’s probably at about the right level if you want to explain science to an Australian Shepherd.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Wow look at all of the evidence you’ve provided. It’s going to take me all night to go through it.
If you going to make claims like that you’re going to need to provide even a shred of evidence
87Six@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Yea the channel is known for being biased and just weird in general
_stranger_@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It isn’t known for those things at all.
M137@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s definitely not only that.
I and, from what I’ve seen discussed here and elsewhere online, many other people have stopped watching the channel because of many valid reasons completely unrelated to AI. I haven’t watched a single one of their videos for years, something changed in their content and I just lost interest. Then there have been several controversial events throughout the years, both objective bad stuff and subjective things that made many loose interest and faith in their integrity. They definitely became one of the many channels that lost it’s way because of how big it got. The animations became too “perfect” in a weird way, they lost their personality and they also got scared of having real opinions so they started doing this “all sides” shit and that’s when I tapped out. I’ve tried to watch new videos from them about once every 6 months or so, but I can’t even make it past a minute without completely loosing interest.FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
You didn’t even watch this video.
MudMan@fedia.io 2 weeks ago
In that it's mostly a merch ad hidden behind a clickbait title.
So I guess it's a good test for that sort of "just read the headline" response.
It's been a rough few days and I think I may be coming around. What hope is there to parse AI misinformation if people can't parse a Reddit-like link aggregator?
I may be done with this place at this point. It's just all bad. If not the whole Internet, certainly the whole of social media.
TheAsianDonKnots@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I mean, I didn’t watch this video because I lost interest when the channel started getting really dark around 2020. I just needed a laugh during the pandemic. I didn’t need 4 videos in a row about the end of the world, then a few about the end of the universe, followed by a future civil war. It was too much.
bravesilvernest@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
I think you might be referenced in this video 😉
46_and_2@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Completely agree, their channel has changed a lot and seems to be producing videos on a conveyor belt now, while before they used to do one video or maximum two a month. Now it seems they produce a video a week.
When they said that they’re “almost 70 full time people and a lot of freelancers on top” I almost did a spit take. I know there are big channels and operations on YT, but this seems such an unreasonable amount of employees for this type of channel and audience. No wonder it feels oversaturated and overdone, and they feel the need to put more and more videos.
Just find a sustainable pace and team size, don’t go the corporate way of growth over all.
melfie@lemy.lol 2 weeks ago
Some of their videos are pretty good, but taking funding from billionaires is never a good look.
simplejack@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
!video@lemmy.world is a good one for stuff like this. That community loves their work.
YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I watched this with my son last night. Quite enjoyed it. I find the cadences of the narrator’s voice oddly soothing, although ironically it sounds very like an AI voice.
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’ve been watching that channel for years it’s very high quality.
ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
I mean there’s been some controversy surrounding a number of their videos. Some were under fire for poor research or demonstrating a singular, not widely-held view on certain topics. And I think for one video they were accused of plagiarism iirc. This was when it was still somewhat early days for the channel, haven’t followed them since so not sure what the state is now.
recked_wralph@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What do you think AI voices were trained off of?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
probably using an AI voice themselves.
call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I mean, you’re petroleum industry apologists, so for a change I’m not that broken up.
FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
🚨 🚨 PURITY TEST INCOMING! 🚨 🚨
call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I feel like propping up the industry primarily responsible for one of the largest (if not the largest) crises in human history is an appropriate place to draw a line.
Jrockwar@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Kurzgesagt? I didn’t know this, how come?
InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They have gotten money from Bill Gates foundation. Still its a pop sci YouTube and does a good job at it. Some say its spreading misinformation or that context is missing. I don’t really see malicious intentions. Expecting more of a pop sci publication is kind of absurd; pick up a real textbook if you want more.
An example:
Eh_I@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I have noticed that I don’t click on their videos as fast. Used to be that as soon as you see a video in the feed it was an instant click.
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think the topics they make videos on these days feel more gimicy and click baity so I kinda avoid them
a_postmodern_hat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
100%. The recent videos all seem like they’re ragebait (‘alcohol is awesome’ springs to mind).
They could be good, but if they’re targeting them at people who like that tone then it’s not for me.
It’s a shame. I liked the earlier videos on ant colonies and strange matter and stars and stuff.
nuko147@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah, me too. This was instant click though.
SpicyLengthiness@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
And instant ad for their merch.
tino@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Kurzgesagt is annoyingly techno-solutionist but now that they are a big target of AI slop (their artistic style being heavily copied), they complain. That’s good I guess.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
If you actually watch the video that’s not what they’re talking about. They are talking about how it’s difficult to fact check information in a world of AI misinformation.
I always find it’s easier to know what a video is about if I actually watched the video. It’s just this little life hack I’ve come up with.
tino@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Watch the video? Duh. Thanks I watched it, and I know they don’t talk about how AI steals their art style (even though it’s really happening). I just pointed out the irony. The video also says they are usually enthusiastic about new tech but not this time.
I know this channel well enough to have seen countless videos praising fake tech like carbon capture and that’s why I have a problem with them. Am I allowed to have an opinion?
deaf_fish@midwest.social 2 weeks ago
I don’t think they are techno-solutionists but that sometimes is the vibe they give off.
I just think there’s some directions they won’t go thanks to the threat of capital.
Reginald_T_Biter@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Techno-solutionist lol. The power of labels eh?
jsomae@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
What is the problem with techno-solutionism? Is it just that under capitalism techno-solutionism often results in corruption?
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
I lost interest in the channel due to their overly optimistic hopium, e.g. “We WILL solve climate change.”
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They don’t say that, though?
They say things like “with effort, we can solve climate change, or minimise its effects.”
Which is very different. And personally, I hate over the top doomerism where everyone says everything is fucked beyond repair all the time.
ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
echodot@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
There’s nothing helpful about giving up though is there.
And we could stop climate change, it’s entirely possible, presumably people don’t want to die so they will take action but they probably not going to start to act until climate change becomes more apparent, that’s depressing but that’s human nature. Humans have a long history of making radical changes at the last minute, e.g the cold war.
We like to go right up to the cliff edge but we tend not to take the final step.
After all even China is cleaning up its act and they’re the least likely to be cooperative so if even they’re doing something about it there’s hope.
AnimalsDream@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Have they considered that they’re just not a great channel?
TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Honestly, it isn’t the AI so much as it is the suspension that rules that apply to us should also apply to AI.
chunes@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Ironic coming from one of the preeminent traditional slop channels
Auth@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I dont think its AI Slop thats “killing the channel” if that statement is even remotely true its due to more and more of their videos being slop sci low information videos. The target audience must be stoners who want to watch something that is visually appealing and feels educational
MITM0@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Kurzgezagt is a slop channel too you know.
Davy_Jones@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
This whole video felt like advertisement to me.
kalkulat@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This video is very probably also AI slop
Empricorn@feddit.nl 2 weeks ago
I’m curious why you have a different title than the video?
Al Slop ls Destroying The Internet
frog_meister@lemmings.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t really have an issue with AI slop. It’s the same level of quality as most influencer-shit out there.
I just ignore it.
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
Their quality going down is probably what’s killing their channel. Every video is a merch ad, and the occasional shilling for the fossil fuel industry probably doesn’t help any.
These things are to be expected when you get bought by private equity, but let’s not be dishonest and say it’s all AI slop that’s killing them.
Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
When did they shill for fossil fuel? Not saying it didn’t happen, just wondering
Jankatarch@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Idk about fossil fuels but they been directly being sponsored by big companies and in return making propoganda for them for a few years now.
youtu.be/HjHMoNGqQTI
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
They accepted, and continue to accept a great amount of money from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. That foundation owns over $11 billion in investments in the fossil fuel industry, including coal-burning utility companies.
In return, there were quite a few videos that Kurzgesagt admits were funded directly by the Foundation, that exaggerate the positive influence corporations owned by the foundation have had. Videos which the CEO of Kurzgesagt has admitted they probably would not have made if the Foundation had not paid for them.
AceBonobo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Excuse me, what?
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 2 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
obazdaa@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
I just looked at the public company records and they are not owned by private equity. What are you talking about?
_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus 2 weeks ago
First off, no you didn’t.
Secondly, if you take money from billionaires to make propaganda videos for them, then you’re owned by them. You sell your soul to the devil, you can’t undo it later because you get called out for it.