YouTube kicked off 2026 by making several new bets — bets that dictate the future of the platform. Of course, the vision includes (a lot of) AI, but it also includes reducing slop created by the very tool.
A task that the streaming giant has already begun executing with clinical precision.
In his annual letter, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan wrote that “it’s becoming harder to detect what’s real and what’s AI-generated.” The prevalence of AI tools has made this problem critical, especially when it comes to deepfakes.
Since the letter, YouTube has aggressively de-platformed several channels that thrived off of AI slop, marking a significant shift in the streaming giant’s approach. The development was highlighted by Kapwing in a new report.
In its original report, which was published back in November 2025, the platform highlighted the top 100 most subscribed AI slop YouTube channels. Since Mohan’s letter, 16 of those top 100 channels have already been de-platformed.
The most popular of the bunch was ‘CuentosFacianantes,’ with over 5,950,000 and $2,657,500 in estimated annual earnings. ‘Imperiodejesus’ and ‘Super Cat League,’ boasting 5,870,000 and 4,210,000 subscribers respectively, were the other two channels from the top ten that have been taken down. Imperiodejesus was the second most subscribed AI slop channel, and Super Cat League was seventh most subscribed.
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Putting the genie back in the bottle
The 16 channels, which were all generating massive income via synthetic engagement, boasted over 35 million total subscribers, over 4.7 billion combined lifetime views, and a little under $10 million in collective annual earnings. While some AI slop channels have been deleted entirely, some remain live with their entire libraries wiped clean.
YouTube is reportedly using its existing spam and clickbait-combatting systems to catch slop. While it understands that using AI to create content can be a legitimate creative outlet, it also wants to remain a place “where people feel good spending their time,” and not be bombarded with low-quality videos with distorted voices, nonsensical scripts, and sensitive content.
Hopefully, this is just the beginning, and YouTube can maintain this momentum of taking down AI slop channels like it promised early in the year. We’ll revisit this later in the year!
