YouTube Tightens Monetisation Rules, Cuts Off Low-Effort AI Creators

YouTube has updated its monetisation policies for the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP), outlining specific categories of content that will no longer be eligible to earn money on the platform. The company is seeking to clarify how it handles content created using artificial intelligence, particularly material that is low quality, repetitive, or lacking in creative effort.

Matt Halprin, YouTube’s Head of Trust and Safety, explained that while some AI tools can help creators produce high-quality content at scale, the same technology can also be used to rapidly generate videos that are generic, lack a narrative arc, and show no creativity. He stated that the platform wants to encourage the former in YPP, but not the latter, which he described as content mining.

Among the content now excluded from YPP is repetitive material, including videos made with AI, CGI, or templates. This also applies to tutorial videos that are not original but merely reproduce existing content. Additionally, content designed to provoke sadness or manipulate viewers emotionally to boost views, such as videos showing animals in distress being rescued, will lead to the removal of the entire channel from YPP, regardless of whether AI was used in production.

Finally, the policy targets content that uses AI-generated personas or representations of real people to discuss sensitive topics. Creators using such AI personas will not receive incentives for videos covering subjects like finance, legal matters, healthcare, and medicine.