So in that case, the advertisers are the ones who are really getting wrecked here -- slop videos watched by bots, but YouTube is paying out millions to the channel operators. YouTube must be getting the money from somewhere...so it all comes down to fleecing the advertisers?

I think the part we still need to establish is whether these viewers are themselves human. How do we know it isn't AI watching AI?

SimpleStacker

I agree with you. Um just trying to understand who the millions of subscribers for these YouTube channels are and what they get out of their time spent watching.

The larger context I'm struggling with is what to make of people who are entertained by these sorts of things?

I strongly believe that all humans are capable of being curious and producing interesting things in the world --  so I want to understand what these sorts of videos are to them.

What if the people like slop?

Scoresby

I agree with you. Um just trying to understand who the millions of subscribers for these YouTube channels are and what they get out of their time spent watching. 

The larger context I'm struggling with is what to make of people who are entertained by these sorts of things? 

I strongly believe that all humans are capable of being curious and producing interesting things in the world --  so I want to understand what these sorts of videos are to them. 
