Short-form videos have dominated screens since the rise of TikTok. And a new study highlights a growing phenomenon: the massive use of artificial intelligence to produce content on YouTube, specifically for “Shorts.”
Published on November 28, 2025 by Kapwing, a tool specializing in video editing, this analysis reveals that no less than 21% of YouTube Shorts, those brief and addictive clips, are now created by AI algorithms. This figure underscores a rapid evolution of the platform, where automated production is overtaking human creativity.
AI Infiltrates YouTube
The study demonstrates how quickly AI is infiltrating users’ recommendations.
In fact, it takes an average of just 16 shorts for YouTube’s algorithm to start suggesting artificially generated content. Among the first 500 short videos examined in a typical feed, 104 turned out to be AI-generated, more than one in five.
This proliferation is not insignificant: it reflects a mass strategy where automated tools churn out low-cost videos, often described as “AI slop,” mediocre content optimized to capture attention.
To paint this picture, Kapwing researchers examined 15,000 of the most influential channels on YouTube, based on the 100 most popular in each country. Among them, 278 are exclusively dedicated to distributing AI-produced videos.
While this number may seem modest given the platform’s vastness, their impact is colossal: these accounts collectively accumulate 63 billion views, attract 221 million subscribers, and generate approximately $117 million in annual revenue.
Read also: A YouTuber Makes Two AIs Talk to Each Other (Yiaho & ChatGPT)
Boosting Views and Monetization with AI
Behind these impressive statistics lies a clear motivation: boosting views and subscriptions to maximize advertising revenue. YouTube, with its engagement-based monetization system, thus becomes fertile ground for these automated creators, who prioritize quantity over quality.
Geographic disparities add another layer to this analysis. It’s in South Korea that AI wreaks the most havoc in terms of popularity: only 11 channels rely entirely on this type of content, but they total nearly 9 billion views.
Four of them even rank in the top 10 most-watched accounts identified by Kapwing, proving that AI can compete with the most viral human productions.
In Which Countries?
But low-quality AI content production is mainly concentrated in regions where YouTube revenues often exceed average local salaries. India, Nigeria, and Brazil emerge as hotspots, where digital entrepreneurs exploit these tools to transform algorithms into cash machines, taking advantage of a favorable economic gap.
This rise of AI on YouTube raises ethical and practical questions.
AI democratizes access to content creation, allowing individuals in developing countries to generate substantial income, but it risks saturating the platform with generic videos, diluting the diversity and authenticity that made YouTube successful.
As AI continues to evolve, it’s clear that Shorts are just the tip of the iceberg of a deeper transformation of online content.
Source: Kapwing
