More than 200 child development experts, educators and advocacy organizations are urging YouTube to take stronger action against AI-generated videos aimed at children, as concerns continue to grow around the quality and safety of that material online.
Advocacy group Fairplay wrote a letter addressed to Neal Mohan and Sundar Pichai. They argued that AI-generated children’s content, also called “AI slops” can be misleading, low quality and difficult for young viewers to understand or contextualize. It also warns that the spread of this content may interfere with healthier forms of play, learning and media use.
Coalition calls for policy changes
In the letter, Fairplay and its supporters ask YouTube to adopt several new measures around AI-generated videos. Those include clearly labeling AI-made content, removing it from YouTube Kids and stopping the platform from recommending it to users under 18.
“AI slop hypnotizes young children, making it hard for them to get off their screens and move onto essential activities like play, sleep and social interaction,” Director of Fairplay’s Young Children Thrive Offline program Rachel Franz wrote.
The coalition also wants YouTube to introduce parental controls that would allow families to turn off AI-generated content by default. In addition, the group called on the company to stop funding or promoting AI-generated children’s programming.
Concern over AI content keeps growing
Critics have increasingly pointed to the rise of cheaply made videos designed to capture attention through bright visuals, repetitive storytelling and algorithm-friendly formatting.
YouTube has previously said it is continuing to refine how it handles AI-generated material and has already introduced some disclosure tools. The company has also pointed to existing parental controls and content moderation systems within YouTube Kids.
Still, advocacy groups argue that those tools do not go far enough, particularly for younger children who may not understand when content is artificially created. As AI video tools become easier to use, pressure is likely to keep building on major platforms to set firmer boundaries around what children see.