YouTube won't allow inauthentic videos to be monetized. No more AI trash?

YouTube's new policy will block AI generated content from being monetized. But it only applies to inauthentic videos.

Update: Google has published more information about the policy on its support page. It now says "There is no change to our reused content policy which reviews content like commentary, clips, compilations, and reaction videos." Oh yes, we mustn't forget all those useful reaction videos.

The original article follows....

What does this even mean? YouTube has a serious problem with AI generated videos. There are channels that spread fake news, use AI voiceovers for videos with photos, fake documentaries, etc. Another problem with this AI slop is that sometimes the same video or the same content is uploaded multiple times, and distributed via several YouTube channels. This could result in more views, clicks, etc. Naturally, YouTube doesn't like this.

A new policy change for the YouTube Partner Program which comes into effect today, July 15, 2025, says that creators must upload "original" and "authentic" content. The streaming service is updating its guidelines to improve the identification of mass-produced and repetitious content. Videos that fail to comply with the policy are considered inauthentic content, and the creator will not be allowed to monetize them.

In other words, Google is allowing content creators to use AI generated content in their videos, as long as the content itself is original. What qualifies as original?

YouTube's search has become ridiculously bad over the past few years. It's not just Shorts, AI generated videos are truly ruining the experience. A few days ago, I spent an hour or so trying to search for new strategy games to buy. Quite a few of the results were AI generated, lazily put together as "best of", "top 5", "must play games" or "games worth buying during this summer sale" or whatever. Not only was the voiceover for these videos done by text-to-speech tools, but the thumbnails were obviously AI generated "fake screenshots". Even the footage wasn't good, most contained clips that were trimmed from official video trailers, and certainly didn't contain original gameplay.

One such video was pure comedy gold. The very first game in the video was about Age of Empires 4, and the last game featured was, you won't believe it, Age of Empires 4 again. But, the voiceover and the text on the screen was about Age of Wonders 4, and it went on for a good minute or so.

These were lazily created videos for clicks, but they had thousands of views, which was probably used by YouTube's algorithm to rank them at the top of the search results. But I think such videos fall under "authentic" videos because of the "original script". I feel sorry for real content creators who get fewer views because of bad videos that are popular. YouTube only has itself to blame for this mess. You may as well create PowerPoint presentations and upload them as videos, they are way more authentic than the garbage that is flooding the platform.

It's ironical considering how Google is aggressively pushing users towards Gemini AI, and its AI video generator, Veo. Why allow AI content at all? Spotify does it, so does Deezer. Where does this stop?

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