Children use a lot of AI slop.
And child safety advocates are concerned. In a letter sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neil Mohan, a coalition of national organizations and child development experts is calling for changes to YouTube’s policies to reduce AI slop, including a complete ban on “Made for Kids” content generated by AI.
“Given the lack of evidence that AI slop is safe for children and the potential for these videos to be made fun and harmful to children, Google must take immediate action to protect children on its platforms,” the letter reads. Two weeks ago, YouTube announced a partnership with AI production studio Animaj, which specializes in AI children’s content and boasts billions of views on several YouTube channels aimed at babies and toddlers.
We didn’t grow up on social media. We grew up with digital nicotine.
The letter, led by the non-profit child safety organization Fairplay, was signed by organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers, the National Black Child Development Association, and Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA), as well as experts such as Jonathan Haidt, the author of the most cited book. A Concerned Generation. The group cites growing concerns that exposure to AI content can distort children’s perception of reality, cause cognitive overload, and take away from real-world activities necessary for development.
“YouTube first launched Shorts with Made For Kids content without thinking about what impact it would have on young viewers, and then it’s not surprising – AI slop started competing for children’s attention with what you feed. It’s time for the platforms to start respecting the attention and minds of young children, not just treating them as a resource that should be removed,” said Jenny Radesky, a doctor who studies child behavior and also signed the book.
The group also announced a public petition requiring YouTube to implement several safety policies that address the proliferation of AI slop aimed at children, including:
Mashable Light Speed
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It clearly labels all AI-generated content on YouTube
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Blocks AI-generated content from YouTube Kids
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Banning child-oriented (“Made for Kids”) videos on YouTube made by AI
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Prohibiting algorithmic recommendations for content generated by AI for users under 18 years of age
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Using a toggle switch in parental controls so parents can block AI-generated content even if kids are searching for it
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Stopping all investment in the creation of AI-generated children’s videos
The letter comes one week after a landmark ruling in a recent lawsuit against Meta and YouTube’s parent company Google, in favor of a 19-year-old user who claimed the companies knew their platforms could be “dangerously addictive” and ignored warnings about the user’s mental health. A Los Angeles judge found that both Meta and YouTube were negligent in handling internal security warnings and went ahead with features of the platform that raised concerns among experts.
“In some cases, seemingly okay animations may be sexual or violent in nature,” said Sebastian Mahal, co-chairman of the youth-led coalition Design It For Us. “Young people don’t want to be directed to this kind of information by YouTube’s algorithm. After a California judge found YouTube guilty of failing to protect young people on its site, one would think that YouTube would finally take its responsibility to its young users seriously.”
In addition to allegations that Instagram’s algorithms have exacerbated youth mental health issues, particularly among teenage girls, child safety advocates have long warned that YouTube is a dangerous site for young children.
Rachel Franz, director of Fairplay’s Young Children Thrive Offline program, told Mashable in a March interview: “If ‘managing AI slop’ was the top thing on YouTube this year, they would have already dropped millions of AI-generated ‘Made for Kids’ videos designed to engage young children, resulting in more screen time and banishing activities they need offline.”
YouTube is the most popular video platform among young child viewers, especially among low-income families. Despite efforts to address AI-generated content, YouTube has yet to fully address the issue, and AI-generated content aimed at children has become a lucrative business.
A New York Times The report found thousands of low-quality AI videos in YouTube’s algorithm, including those that violate child safety policies. Currently, AI-generated animated videos do not require AI labels, and AI labels do not appear uniformly on YouTube Kids. YouTube only needs to label synthetic media designed to mimic “real” settings or people.
In response to the new letter, Franz added, “YouTube’s algorithm makes it impossible for kids to avoid AI’s leeches. YouTube should stop putting AI on kids now, before it ruins an entire generation of kids.”
