WTF? YouTube is using AI to tweak videos on its platform, without creators' knowledge.

[highplainsdem]

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/

YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
The video platform is quietly using AI to “improve clarity” in uploaded content. Why?

By Alex Reisner
August 22, 2025, 2:37 PM ET


Something strange has been happening on YouTube over the past few weeks. After being uploaded, some videos have been subtly augmented, their appearance changing without their creators doing anything. Viewers have noticed “extra punchy shadows,” “weirdly sharp edges,” and a smoothed-out look to footage that makes it look “like plastic.” Many people have come to the same conclusion: YouTube is using AI to tweak videos on its platform, without creators’ knowledge.

A multimedia artist going by the name Mr. Bravo, whose YouTube videos feature “an authentic 80s aesthetic” achieved by running his videos through a VCR, wrote on Reddit that his videos look “completely different to what was originally uploaded.” “A big part of the videos charm is the VHS look and the grainy, washed out video quality,” he wrote. YouTube’s filter obscured this labor-intensive quality: “It is ridiculous that YouTube can add features like this that completely change the content,” he wrote. Another YouTuber, Rhett Shull, posted a video last week about what was happening to his video shorts, and those of his friend Rick Beato. Both run wildly popular music channels, with more than 700,000 and 5 million subscribers, respectively. In his video, Shull says he believes that “AI upscaling” is being used—a process that increases an image’s resolution and detail—and is concerned about what it could signal to his audience. “I think it’s gonna lead people to think that I am using AI to create my videos. Or that it’s been deepfaked. Or that I’m cutting corners somehow,” he said. “It will inevitably erode viewers’ trust in my content.”

The Atlantic asked Google, which owns YouTube, what was going on, and they were told it's "an experiment that uses image enhancement technology to sharpen content...using traditional machine learning to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity in videos."

Toh’s description sounds remarkably similar to the process undertaken when generative-AI programs create entirely new videos. These programs typically use a diffusion model: a machine-learning program that is trained to refine an extremely noisy image into one that’s clear, with sharp edges and smooth textures. An AI upscaler can use the same diffusion process to “improve” an existing image, rather than to create a new one. The similarity of the underlying process might explain why the visual signature of diffusion-based AI is recognizable in these YouTubers’ videos.

While running this experiment, YouTube has also been encouraging people to create and post AI-generated short videos using a recently launched suite of tools that allow users to animate still photos and add effects “like swimming underwater, twinning with a lookalike sibling, and more.” YouTube didn’t tell me what motivated its experiment, but some people suspect that it has to do with creating a more uniform aesthetic across the platform. As one YouTube commenter wrote: “They’re training us, the audience, to get used to the AI look and eventually view it as normal.”

[marble falls]

1. Seems like youtube is of a mixed mind ...

YouTube Bans AI Videos: Here’s How it Affects Creators
Meeting the Basic Monetization Policies on YouTube isn’t Enough for Creators to Earn Money; They Have to Meet AI Policies as Well

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/artificial-intelligence/youtube-bans-ai-videos-heres-how-it-affects-creators

[highplainsdem]

2. According to that article, it isn't really a ban of all AI videos, but they're trying to eliminate the worst, most

obvious AI videos by demonetizing them and possibly banning the creators of those videos.

Is AI Use Completely Banned in YouTube Content?

The straight answer is no. The platform’s latest policies never mentioned that all content that uses AI will be banned. As long as creators use AI responsibly and add substantial creative value, the content will be acceptable.

YouTube has clarified that this policy is a minor refinement of the existing rules. Therefore, AI tools are still permitted, as long as they are used to support human-made content or analysis. However, to stay in the safe zone, creators should use generative AI tools for captions, summaries, and voices without losing the value of the content. It’s recommended not to copy content.

Editing, because I forgot to include the key sentence near the start of the article:

Low-quality, AI-generated videos have destroyed the content quality and monetization on the platform.

The AI slop has been hurting their profits.

[hunter]

3. Gotta prove all that money they they poured down the AI rat hole accomplished *something*

Damn. What a sad fucking waste of electricity and talent.

Using AI to upscale videos without the creators' permission is evil.

Remember when google promised not to be evil?

Personally I have no use for AI. I'm not doing any science where it *might* be useful and I've rejected it for art.

I recently played with AI photo "upscaling and enhancement" for a few days and walked away with a much greater appreciation for my large collection of toy cameras, each honest in it's own limitations and imperfections. The flawed images these cameras produce are a better reflection of reality than anything that's been through the AI grinders and re-shaping machines; the reality of fried chicken as compared to chicken McNuggets.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_McNuggets