Transcription
So, YouTube and Google are one of the biggest investors in AI on the planet. They have Google VO, which is one of the best AI video generators, and they're building AI tools for creators to use directly within the creator studio. So, why would a company that is investing so much in AI be cracking down on AI content?
Now, here's some tweets I came across recently, like this one, that said, "Hey, team YouTube, my channel was demonetized for inauthentic content, but I didn't do anything wrong. I create all my visuals and I only used an AI voice because I'm not a native English speaker. I don't know how to properly appeal." And their channel was gone just like that. Here's another one that says, "Hey team YouTube, our channel got demonetized for reused content after an appeal. We never once uploaded other people's content."
And I've seen so many different people asking me about this and leaving comments on my videos asking why is YouTube going after AI content, it seems. And it really doesn't make sense because YouTube is one of the biggest investors in AI technology on the planet. Wouldn't they love AI? And this creates what I'm calling the AI paradox. And if you understand this, you can understand exactly what's going on with YouTube and then what you should be doing going forward in order to protect your channel.
So the first thing we should really look into to understand what's going on here is to look into what YouTube themselves are saying. Because our first data point is that we're seeing all these tweets and people saying that their channels have wrongly been terminated or banned. And it seems like YouTube is just going after all of these channels. And is that really happening? And our second data point is that YouTube and Google are investing super heavily into AI. But there's a third data point that almost nobody is talking about, and it's what the YouTube CEO himself has been saying, and I'll go over that in just a second.
But first, let's take a look at the types of channels that are getting hit right now. From what I've personally seen, the types of channels that are getting affected, that are getting banned off of YouTube, and that are having problems right now fall into a couple different categories. And the first category are channels that did absolutely nothing wrong, which is scary because there are specific channels that I've seen within my community that tell me they've done nothing wrong. And I have no reason not to trust these people. I show them all the best tactics for what to do. And yet, still, channels have been affected. However, I will say that the channels that have been affected within my own community, when they've appealed getting banned off of YouTube, they've all got their channels back, the ones that weren't doing anything wrong. So, I do have to give it to YouTube for giving them their channels back. However, this shouldn't have even happened in the first place.
So, why is this happening? Well, a couple things are going on. One of the biggest things is that YouTube is now using AI to moderate YouTube. And last year they actually put out a statement about this about how they're increasing their moderation systems. It doesn't mean there's any new rules on YouTube whatsoever, but what it does mean is that they're increasing the scope at which they're monitoring channels and they're improving their systems for doing so. And that's because YouTube frequently gets attacked by thousands of different channels that are all creating spam content on the platform, which drives up server cost for YouTube. That's spam content nobody wants to see and that makes advertisers angry at YouTube which YouTube wants to avoid at all costs because advertisers are their main business model and so YouTube is now using AI to moderate the platform.
However, as we all know AI is not perfect and as incredible as it is at so many different things, I use it so much within my own businesses now. It's not perfect. So, some channels occasionally have gotten swept up in this whole AI moderation thing and they've gotten banned for no reason. However, the ones that I've seen personally at least that have gotten banned, they have been able to get their channels back, but they've had to appeal. However, they shouldn't have had to go through that in the first place. So, it's kind of messed up. There should probably be humans reviewing this, at least in my personal opinion. I don't run a company as big as YouTube. I have no idea what goes into that. Maybe this is wishful thinking on my part, but it it's nice to imagine, you know, investing in a team to review the account deletions, but I understand if you're getting targeted by thousands of spam accounts a day, maybe it's not possible, but it would be nice to see.
So, that's the first category of channels that are getting affected. The second category are Reddit story channels. I've seen a lot of channels doing like revenge stories, Reddit stories, and so forth, and they put together these AI bots to mass- produce these types of videos, and then just upload them to YouTube like crazy. YouTube doesn't like this because, first of all, it's not original content. YouTube could face a lawsuit from the people who wrote those original Reddit threads, and it just introduces a whole lot of problems for YouTube. So, they just want to ban those accounts. And if you're running a channel like that and you do get banned, you're not probably going to be able to get that channel back. Unless you can prove that you got permission from those people who wrote those Reddit threads to include them in your videos.
This also goes for AI generated stories that pretend that they're real stories. Like there was a true crime channel that was doing this that also got banned off of YouTube because people were actually contacting the Denver Post asking about some crime that took place that never even really happened. Now, it's totally fine to do stories on YouTube. However, you can't be saying that they're real stories, especially when they involve real people. And that brings me to the next type of content, which is celebrity content generated with AI. If you're making people say or do things that they never did, then YouTube's going to have a problem because they might face problems from those actual people. And so, as you can tell, YouTube just wants to keep a great relationship with their advertisers because they want to keep their multi-billion dollar platform. And understanding this is going to allow us to then keep our own channels safe. And there was also some AI generated movie trailer channels that also got deleted because they were using copyrighted characters within their fake movie trailers. people thought they were real trailers. And obviously Disney and Sony and all these big movie studios aren't going to like that. So they're going to pressure YouTube to delete those types of channels.
And so what is the YouTube CEO said about AI that nobody's focusing on right now? Well, what he said was that AI is an incredible tool. And he put out essentially a memo to all of the YouTube employees basically saying that YouTube is going to be going allin on AI, which is very different rhetoric compared to all of these people who are saying that their channels are getting affected and banned and all these things. And then you have the YouTube CEO coming out saying, "We're going all in on AI." It just doesn't make sense.
So, what actually is going on here? Well, what's going on is that there's multiple different forces at play. You have the force from advertisers and from the way that YouTube is currently making money, pushing to have stricter moderation, and they don't like, you know, things that infringe on copyright, which AI has the tendency to do a lot, especially if you're using it in the wrong ways. But then you've also got the other pressure of Google, which owns YouTube, and Google owns Google VO, which are some of the best, most state-of-the-art models out there. They also own Nano Banana 2, which is the best AI image generator out there. So, they're trying to go all in on AI, investing in the infrastructure, and they realize that AI is the future. And that's why the YouTube CEO is sending internal memos within YouTube talking about how AI is an incredible thing. He's also done some interviews talking about AI as well. People have asked him about the role of it and everything else and he's really just pushing for responsible AI use from what I've seen.
And so that begs the question, what is responsible AI use? And how can we prevent our channels from being banned? Because at the end of the day, the only reason it's good to know all of this stuff is because we can then use it to build a huge business off of YouTube like I've been able to do. I've made over $10 million in the past 10 years off of YouTube and I've been doing YouTube since I was 14 years old. It's completely changed my life. And so, as part of this channel, I'm trying to give back as much as I can and help as many people as possible start their dream businesses with YouTube, which is why it's really good you're watching this video right now, because this is going to help you keep your channel safe.
Now, before I show you how to do that, there's one more type of channel that is probably going to surprise you that's getting affected a lot on YouTube. Now, I've talked about this in some past videos, so you may have already heard this, but essentially, I almost lost my own channel because of this, the channel that you're watching right now. And the type of content is the make money online niche. So, while all this stuff with AI is also happening, you've also got niches like the make money online niche, which you would wonder, how in the world is that a problem? And there's tons of channels that have got banned like how to AI, which was making a million dollars per year, got completely wiped off the platform. So, why? And why did I almost lose my channel? Well, it's because, at least in my personal opinion, I don't have absolute confirmation on this, but I'm pretty sure this is the reason. What I think is going on is that agencies like the FTC are putting pressure on YouTube to moderate things like the make money online niche because there's a lot of people claiming things. There's people who are selling scams on YouTube. And so they've probably made their AI systems better at detecting keywords like make $200 a day online and keywords similar to that and then they're automatically moderating those types of videos. And a lot of very genuine channels have got swept up in this. If you just titled your video wrong, you could get your channel deleted, which is very scary. Like that channel, How to AI.
Now, I had two of my videos get strikes on them from this, and luckily, I've been able to keep them due to the fact that I've kind of changed my strategy a little bit. And I'm making sure to position my videos more so now in a way of like how to build a real business on YouTube and more so tutorial-based videos rather than general how to make money online types of videos. So, if you're doing a video within that niche, be very careful with it. And you can do it in a very genuine good way. A really good thing to do as well is to make a custom AI based off of the YouTube terms and service. Just copy paste them into an AI like chat GPT or Claude. You can make a Claude project and do this and then you can just ask it like, "Hey, I'm thinking of doing these video ideas and here's my potential thumbnails. Will these potentially be a problem according to the terms of service?" And then you can get an answer for that.
And so those are all the types of content that are being affected. And then going back to the original tweets that we looked at at the beginning of this video, there's really no way of me verifying whether or not those tweets were because of an AI voiceover due to the fact that I have thousands of students who run AI voiceover channels. In fact, most of my channels, every single channel except this one right here are AI generated voiceovers. And I've never had a problem because of that. And neither have any of my students. So, it's very likely that those tweets we went over in the beginning of this video are either doing something wrong or they didn't do anything wrong and they just got swept up and everything and after they appeal, they might even get their channels back and it might not even be an issue at all. So, keep that in mind.
And now, like I promised, I'm going to show you the path forward, what you absolutely need to be doing in order to keep your channel safe. Number one, avoid any of the banned niches on YouTube. I made a video on my channel going over niches that might as well be banned. And they're basically niches that are producing content that isn't friendly to advertisers, which as we've discussed, YouTube does not like whatsoever. It's stuff like violence, AI generated, copyright infringement characters, Reddit story channels, stuff like that. And I go over a few more in that video if you want to check it out later. But as long as you just ask yourself, you know, would an advertiser want to put an ad on this type of video? And this even includes things like you wouldn't even expect like swearing for instance. It's something that I recommend not doing in your videos to make sure that your videos go to the limited inventory because 90% of advertisers only put ads on what's called the limited inventory. And that excludes videos that include swearing or references to weapons or anything else that could potentially be non-advertiser friendly. All of that content is called the expanded inventory. and you don't want your content landing there because it's pretty hard for advertisers to find that. But a pro tip, if you ever run ads on YouTube, put it on the expanded inventory. You'll get a lot more people for a lot less money, but you run the risk of your ads being shown on some questionable videos. And big brands may not want that. So, make sure don't swear in your videos, don't have violence, don't use AI in a wrong way.
And this probably is making you wondering like, how can I use AI in the right way? and how can I make sure that my channel doesn't get flagged or banned or anything else. And it's actually very simple. You just need to make sure that your content is providing value. Now, value sounds subjective, I know, but it's actually not. Value can be educational or entertainment. And the way that you can do this is by using AI tools that provide value. For instance, instead of using chat GPT to generate a script, use something like my tool that I made called Tube Magic where you can put in multiple different videos as context links and then it'll take all the best aspects of those videos. It'll run them through all of the best practices then for writing YouTube scripts and then it'll write it all in an original way. So, you'll have an amazing script for your video that beats using chat GBT where it's just going to sound like every other AI script out there.
Another really pro tip, which is going to help keep your channel safe, is to have an AI avatar be the face of your channel. Channels like Zinny Studio, Captain Workout, and Yellow Dude are great examples of this. And I'm even starting a new channel called Stickman Matt, which is also a great example of this, where they're faceless channels, but there is a character who is the quote unquote face of the channel. And this allows you to build brand IP. It allows you to sell something a lot easier and it allows you to build a connection with your viewers. And I believe this will help keep your channels safe. And when it comes to AI, think of AI as a tool and not a replacement. If AI helps you in your process get things done faster, by all means use it. But if you're using it to generate stuff that's going to infringe on copyrights, don't use it. AI, like everything else, is a tool.
And remember the forces that are at play. YouTube wants to go all in on AI, but they need to keep their advertisers happy as well. So, put yourself in YouTube's shoes when you're producing content. Pretend you're a tiny owner of YouTube. So, you want to look out for this platform and you want to make videos that are in the best interest of the platform and of the advertisers. And if you do that, YouTube can give you an incredible business and an incredible life like it has for me. And even when I started YouTube, you know, back in 2014, there was people who were making questionable videos back then who were always infringing on the rules. I saw like, you know, compilation videos where people would just steal other people's videos and re-upload them. And I thought to myself, man, this isn't fair. They're getting millions of views and they're barely doing any work. I'm having to sit here. I'm having to, you know, do original human voiceovers and write a script and follow fair use and they're not doing any of it. Lo and behold, all of those channels are now gone. They've been banned. And I'm still running my channels from back in 2014 to this day because I've taken the time and I've followed the rules and it turned out to be a great long-term investment for me. Obviously, it's made me incredibly wealthy at a very young age. And I'm just saying this to say that it's a really good idea to build a channel that provides so much value that you never have to worry about a policy update. So, build something you're genuinely proud of, whether you're using AI or not. Use it as a tool. Don't use it as a replacement. That is what is working right now.
And I'm not sitting here to defend every single, you know, decision that YouTube makes or anything else like that. Obviously, they're going to make mistakes as any huge company is going to. And YouTube is comprised of a lot of different people who are doing a lot of different things. But as an overall company, their goal is to make money and provide shareholder value. And the way that they do that is with advertisers. So, keep the advertisers happy, you'll keep your channel safe, and you'll build a real business with YouTube. And I'm just saying this to help you out with your channel as well. I want you to build a huge business. It's one of the most rewarding things that you can do. And if you're currently worried about your channel, use this as a wakeup call and make sure that you're on the right side of this.
And if you want my team and my help for helping you run your channel, where we can help you make your videos, structure everything correctly, and monetize correctly to build a real long-term business on YouTube, you can book a call for my program, Tube Accelerator, down at the link in the description. We'll help you do all this. We'll help run it all for you. But if you just want the information and you want to learn how to structure your channel correctly, how to run it, how to monetize it before you're ever even monetized and how to do all this whole process when it comes to generating AI videos and uploading them and monetizing them. I do have a completely free training on YouTube. It's basically a free course. It's my gift to you. You can check it out next to me right here. And in this video, I'm going to show you all of those things and some additional bonus things and some new updates for this year which are incredibly important to watch. I'll be going over those at the end of this video. But the most important thing is going to be the symbiotic system, which I'll explain exactly what that is.