Child safety advocates and experts are demanding that YouTube take action against low-quality artificial intelligence-generated content being shown to young viewers on its platform.
Children’s advocacy organization Fairplay delivered a letter Wednesday morning to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, expressing deep concerns about AI-created videos appearing on both the main YouTube platform and YouTube Kids. More than 200 organizations and individual specialists, including child psychiatrists and teachers, signed the correspondence.
The letter states that this “AI slop” damages children’s growth by warping their understanding of what’s real, overloading how they learn, and capturing their focus in ways that keep them online longer while reducing important offline activities needed for proper development. According to the advocates, these negative effects hit younger children especially hard.
The organizations are asking YouTube to require clear labeling on all AI-created content and completely remove such material from YouTube Kids. They’re also requesting that the platform stop recommending AI-generated videos to anyone under 18 and give parents the ability to block this content even when their children actively search for it.
Among the 135 organizations backing the letter are the American Federation of Teachers and the American Counseling Association, joined by approximately 100 individual specialists including Jonathan Haidt, who wrote “The Anxious Generation.” This letter represents part of a broader Fairplay initiative that includes a related petition.
According to the advocacy groups, much of this AI-created material features rapid pacing, vivid colors, energetic soundtracks and attention-grabbing titles designed to capture young audiences. There’s been increasing online opposition to AI-generated content, especially when it appears cheaply made or embraces meaningless “brainrot” themes.
YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle responded that the platform maintains “high standards for the content in YouTube Kids, including limiting AI-generated content in the app to a small set of high-quality channels.”
“We also provide parents the option to block channels. Across YouTube, we prioritize transparency when it comes to AI content, labeling content from our own AI tools, and requiring creators to disclose realistic AI content,” Bullwinkle stated. “We’re always evolving our approach to stay current as the ecosystem evolves.”
YouTube’s existing rules require content creators to reveal when “realistic” material is produced using modified or synthetic media, including generative AI. However, creators don’t need to disclose AI use for obviously unrealistic content like animated videos or those containing special effects.
The company indicated it’s currently developing labeling systems specifically for YouTube Kids.
Fairplay contends in their letter that the voluntary disclosure system and what they consider a very narrow definition of altered content means children continue seeing numerous unlabeled AI-generated videos. The organization also points out that many young YouTube viewers cannot yet read or understand AI disclosure notices, leaving children “to fend for themselves or their parents to play whack-a-mole.”
This advocacy effort comes after Google’s AI Futures Fund recently put $1 million into Animaj, an AI animation company that creates children’s videos and generates massive viewership numbers, Bloomberg reported.
The campaign also follows a significant legal decision in a social media addiction case where a California jury determined that YouTube designed its platform to addict young users without considering their welfare. Meta faced the same liability findings in that case.
“Pushing AI slop onto young children is just another testament to how YouTube and YouTube Kids are designed to maximize children’s time online — including babies. 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,” stated Rachel Franz, who directs Fairplay’s Young Children Thrive Offline program. “What’s more, YouTube’s algorithm makes it impossible for kids to avoid AI slop.”
Earlier this year, YouTube chief Mohan identified “managing AI slop” as one of the company’s key goals for 2026. In a January blog entry, he explained that the company was “actively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low quality, repetitive content.”
