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$100 Billion Buyout. The Creator Economy Is DEAD - Video học tiếng Anh
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$100 Billion Buyout. The Creator Economy Is DEAD
$100 Billion Buyout. The Creator Economy Is DEAD
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0:00
Your favorite YouTuber - the person who’s given you countless hours of
0:03
entertainment - might not be who you think. Same room. Same voice. Same opinions that
0:08
made you trust them. But lately, they feel…
0:11
off. The edge is gone. The takes are safer. Something changed… and you were never told.
0:17
Behind the scenes, the channel was quietly snapped up. The videos, the backlog - even
0:21
the audience - it’s all part of the deal. On the surface, nothing looks different.
0:26
If the person you trust is no longer in control of what you’re seeing… what are you watching?
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This is how your favorite creators are owned by private equity.
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Chapter 1 – The Stealth Buyout and The Enforcement Loophole
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YouTube’s feed has started to shift. What was once a deep and diverse mine of fascinating
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content started to feel a little shallower. Videos began to feel empty and repetitive. And
0:49
hey, it’s not like we’re innocent. Sometimes you get tired and think you understand the
0:53
audience. For a month they want the same thing non stop. Then the next month they tell you you only
0:58
make one kind of a video. Trust me. We remember the Russia / Ukraine war feelings. But anyways…
1:04
Titles became more clickbaity. Thumbnails turned into a bland, AI-generated mess.
1:09
Creators who once seemed independent started saying the same things. It didn’t happen all
1:14
at once. It was gradual. Almost impossible to notice unless you were really paying attention.
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Maybe your favorite creators just “got lazy” or “sold out” and started jumping on trends? Maybe
1:25
they started copying other channels rather than showing that same fun personality that made you
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a fan of them in the first place. The truth is much more sinister.
1:33
The channels people loved and grew up with are being bought up by Wall Street. Private
1:38
equity and other large investors have poured billions of dollars into buying
1:41
out some of the biggest YouTube channels. Veritasium, Fireship, Fern, Donut Media,
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Economics Explained, Simple History and History Hit are just a handful of creators that have
1:51
been snapped up. Even kids’ channels are part of the bargain, with the likes of Cocomelon
1:56
and Blippi under the thumb of Blackstone, the biggest alternative asset manager on earth.
2:01
And those are just the deals we know about. They’re not being treated like personal
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creative spaces anymore. They’re being treated like media machines.
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Cheap to run. Easy to scale. Built to grab attention, push ideas, and sell whatever stories
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or ideas their owners want to feed to the masses. A number of financial and tech entities are in on
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this. Some you’ll recognize, like Blackstone and Goldman Sachs. Others… maybe not. But they still
2:24
have huge amounts of cash to splash around. The same playbook has already hit some of
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the world’s most loved brands - like Toys R Us, Sears and Blockbuster.
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They take something people trusted and turn it into a hollow entity… all in the name of profit.
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When it comes to Youtube, they’re not just buying random content.
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They’re buying familiarity. The faces you already know. The channels you already
2:45
click without thinking. The routines you don’t even realize you’ve fallen
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into. They’re buying built-in audiences. Demographics. The reasons why you watch.
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And they’re not stopping at creators. They’re taking entire libraries of content
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as well. Years of videos. Years of trust. This all happened without people even
3:03
realizing what was going on. Because the faces stay the same.
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And a lot of people still think the creator economy works the way it used to. A creator
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makes videos, builds an audience and earns money from views. All the while, they stay independent.
3:17
At the highest level, those rules no longer apply. Because those private equity firms realized
3:22
something that should send a shiver down the collective spines of YouTube users:
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buying loyalty is a lot easier than earning it. Say a company wants to sell you a product like
3:32
a smartphone. They could do it the usual way, spending millions on marketing and
3:37
pushing the message as hard as possible. But even then, there’s no guarantee it works.
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You might see it… and still not care. But what if they bought the tech reviewer
3:46
that you’ve trusted for the past decade? At that point, they don’t need to convince
3:50
you of anything. They don’t need fancy marketing slogans or expensive
3:54
ad slots. They’ve already convinced you. And here’s the terrifying regulatory loophole
3:59
that makes this whole thing possible. Usually, if a creator accepts to promote a product,
4:03
they have to disclose it. They have to follow a set of guidelines, enforced by the FTC and
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YouTube itself, among other authorities around the world. They have to put a “Paid Promotion”
4:13
tag on their videos and disclose that they’re promoting or advertising a product or service.
4:18
We’ve all seen them. Short clips, ads, sponsor segments. Even if you skip them,
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you know what they are. Whatever you think of them, they’re upfront about it… because
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they have to be. Platforms require it, or the content gets flagged, or worse, taken down.
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But if a Wall Street firm buys up an entire YouTube channel and assumes full editorial
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control, they don’t have to announce the buyout to the world. They can keep the new corporate
4:41
ownership completely hidden. And while federal law technically requires them to use "Paid Promotion"
4:46
labels if they use that creator to shill their products, enforcement is practically
4:51
non-existent. They can bypass the rules, skip the labels, and hope they'll never get caught.
4:56
The creator cashes their check, signs an NDA and then goes right back to “business as normal.”
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Except it’s no longer normal. The audience is none the wiser.
5:04
They still think they’re supporting some sort of one-person passion project.
5:08
In reality, they’re feeding a corporate entity. The whole thing is a lie.
5:13
But one thing we do have to address is that not everyone who sold their channel did it because
5:17
they wanted to exploit their audience and cash out. We don’t know the circumstances or decisions
5:22
of the creators. Some might be exhausted and need to move on. Some might be deep in a financial hole
5:28
and need help. We don’t know. And we’re not going to put blame onto those creators. They’ll have
5:33
their reasons. We’re just trying to shine a light on the changing dynamics of the creator world and
5:38
the content that’s being consumed on YouTube. Chapter 2 – The Enshittification Pipeline
5:43
When YouTubers set up their channels, they’ve got one goal in mind: to build and engage an
5:48
audience. While the motivations might differ, the end goal is always the same: get people watching.
5:53
It’s all about subscriber count and viewership figures.
5:56
Private equity firms don’t see things the same way.
5:58
For them, it doesn’t matter what they’re buying, the goal is always the same: Buy it. Grow it. Sell
6:03
it for more than they paid. The industry might change,
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but the business model doesn’t. They don’t care about quality content.
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They’re not interested in creativity, authenticity, or the community.
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All they care about is the bottom line. Most of the time, they’ll pay around 3 to
6:18
5 times a channel’s yearly earnings just to buy it outright. Or they’ll structure it differently.
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They’ll take a majority stake - maybe 50 to 80% - while the original creator keeps the rest.
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That’s often the better approach. Because at that point, the creator isn’t just a creator anymore,
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they’re a shareholder in their own channel. And that changes everything.
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They’re tied to the investment firm that bought them. They share the same interests to grow the
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channel and sell it for as much as possible. Either way, control shifts.
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Investors need to find ways to increase both the amount of profit they generate,
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and their overall values. You might think that a smart way to do that would be to give the
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original creator the freedom they need to keep doing what they did that made them successful.
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The classic “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach.
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But that doesn’t work for investors. They don’t want slow, steady growth.
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They want rapid returns. They want costs cut to a minimum. They want optimization in every area.
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They don’t just buy one or two channels. They buy a whole bunch of them. Records
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show that some of the biggest investment firms have purchased groups of channels,
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often with similar styles, audiences, or themes.
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Then, they use a tried and true investment trick called multiple arbitrage.
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The way this works is simple: firms roll up multiple entities into one big package.
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You could buy up 5 different YouTube channels, each making $1 million per year. Individually,
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each one will sell for around $3 to $5 million. But when you combine them under one owner,
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they’re no longer just separate channels. They become a portfolio. And that portfolio
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can sell for far more, sometimes close to 10 times the combined earnings.
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And the craziest part of all? It doesn’t even matter if the content is good.
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In fact, it can get noticeably worse. The channels can even lose some of their audience, but still
7:58
make insane profits for their investors, because Wall Street cares more about scale than soul.
8:04
That’s where the next piece of the puzzle comes into play: saturation.
8:08
The channels start creating more content. Fewer breaks, more videos every week.
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If a creator is making $10k a week on one video, investor logic means that they could be making
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$70k a week with seven videos instead. And at that point, the creator isn’t
8:22
really deciding anymore. It’s no longer about what they think their audience will enjoy.
8:26
It’s about making videos that are proven to perform.
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It’s not about being unique or creative anymore. It’s about latching onto trends,
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riding hype trains, giving the masses what the data says they want.
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This is where the rot sets in and the “enshittification” pipeline takes hold.
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Investors look at how the creator’s channel is actually built. The researchers, writers
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and editors who shape every video. The designers who built the visual identity over time. To them,
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this isn’t a close-knit creative team. It’s overhead.
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And overhead gets cut. Videos that were once carefully
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researched and painstakingly pieced together by people who cared about the end result are now
9:04
churned out by content mills or generative AI models. Why pay a researcher to uncover
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interesting trends and topics when you can just ask AI to generate a listicle for you in seconds?
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All of a sudden, a channel is producing more videos. That might have once been a
9:18
good thing, welcomed by its audience. Instead, viewers are left wondering
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what went wrong. Because as the
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quantity increases, the quality declines. Those wonderfully researched and flawed yet
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unique videos they fell in love with have gone. And in their place is little more than
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AI-generated slop. Videos that are just about good enough to keep people watching
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long enough to see the ads and promos, but leave the audience feeling empty.
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You can see it in the “before and after” of some of your favorite channels.
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That tech reviewer or drama channel you loved had texture. Soul. Life. It wasn’t perfect. No
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one is. But the content itself made up for all that. It was original. It was real. Ideas and
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videos that were crafted with care, presented by people who took pride in what they were making.
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Then, the new version comes along. The “flaws” are fixed.
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The look changes, suddenly becoming a little too slick, too clean.
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What once felt like a glimpse into someone’s private world now feels staged.
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Videos no longer feel “discovered” but “manufactured.” Commentary becomes lifeless.
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And the part that hurts the most is that the audience can see this happening.
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They can tell that something has changed, but they're not quite sure what or why.
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Some even blame or gaslight themselves. Maybe they’ve “grown out” of a creator they once loved
10:35
or that their tastes have changed. Often, that’s not the case.
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It’s not just you, and it’s not just in your head. Your favorite creators have gotten worse.
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And it’s not because anyone got older or changed their style. It’s because
10:48
these independent creators have been absorbed into corporate machines,
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leaving their audiences alone and confused. Chapter 3 – The Editorial Hijack
10:57
If this were all just about boring videos, that would be annoying, but not exactly a crisis.
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Unfortunately, that’s not the case. AI slop and lower quality content
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aren’t the end result of this whole process, they’re just by-products.
11:11
The real danger isn’t that you have to sit through videos that are barely half
11:14
as entertaining as they used to be, wondering why your favorite creator seems so soulless,
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all of a sudden; the real danger is how those videos and creators are being used.
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And it’s happening right now on your YouTube and social media feeds. Once investors own
11:28
the creator, they don’t just own the channel, they also influence what gets made… and what
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doesn’t. Topics get filtered. Edges get softened. Ideas never make it to upload.
11:39
We’re already seeing this in local news channels in the U.S. Big corporations are buying up small
11:44
stations and shaping their output. They are scripting segments, standardizing messages and
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pushing centrally produced commentary into local broadcasts. And it reaches millions of homes.
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You are being told what to listen to…. Most viewers never notice the shift.
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John Oliver famously broke this down in a now viral clip. Dozens of local anchors
12:04
from network affiliates across the country read the exact same script, word for word.
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That’s the fear. That’s the end goal.
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Because once content is owned at scale, it stops being independent…
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even if it feels personal and familiar. Massive investment firms aren’t held to the
12:20
same level of visibility as individual creators. Which means acquisitions can happen quietly. They
12:25
can take over your favorite channels and shape what that channel becomes. From the topics to
12:30
the tone and the direction it takes. They are the ones bankrolling it, so they have a say.
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Think about the power that the big YouTubers have. Followers can hang off their every word,
12:40
follow their opinions, and make decisions based on what they say. Once Wall Street is involved,
12:45
certain stories could get amplified. Others could quietly disappear.
12:49
Once firms hand YouTubers a big money deal and a non-disclosure agreement,
12:53
there is nothing legally stopping them from telling those creators exactly what to say.
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These aren’t just any firms. The big private equity firms, like Blackstone,
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have their hands in everything. Healthcare, real estate,
13:06
energy, and even the military. If a firm like that controls a network
13:10
of so-called “independent” YouTube channels - collectively reaching tens or even hundreds of
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millions of people - they don’t need to buy news stations. They already have distribution. They
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can shape what gets seen, what gets repeated, and what reaches mass audiences in the first place.
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And it all happens through channels that still look completely independent on the surface.
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Chapter 4 – The Death of the Indie Web This isn’t what YouTube was supposed to be.
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It was once the site where anyone with a camera could effectively run
13:38
their own personal TV channel. For a while, that all worked.
13:42
YouTube didn’t just challenge conventional media but largely overtook it. People began
13:47
watching their favorite creators over tuning into cable stations. Individuals
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who started off as “nobodies” became “somebodies.” Audiences formed communities,
13:55
and followed their favorite creators, eager to see what interesting ideas they’d come up with next.
14:00
It was all built on authenticity. Real people, real ideas, real feelings.
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But private equity firms are taking that away from us.
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The bedroom creator has become an endangered species.
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Thumbnails are now designed by committee. Video ideas come from analytics. Sometimes
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even AI. Scripts are shaped by marketers. And personalities become brand assets.
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YouTube starts to look like the thing it was supposed to replace.
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And now, every time you feel a connection with a creator, every time you think what
14:28
they’re saying is honest, or personal, or real… there’s something else sitting
14:32
behind it. Investors. Incentives. Profits. They may not be visible, but they’re always there.
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And they’re shaping what gets made, and why. At the end of the day, you might not care.
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If the content stays the same and it doesn’t influence anyone’s opinion, why should you?
14:48
It’s entertainment, it’s no different from going to the theatre to watch a Marvel movie.
14:52
We do need to say The Infographics Show is 100% independent… and we always have been. We’re
14:58
financed by the ads you see, by the sponsors that we mention in the videos and by members
15:03
of the channel. Can we say it’ll be like this forever? We definitely hope so. But Youtube is
15:08
changing. Who knows where it’ll be in a few years time. Honestly, we might not even have this job
15:13
by then. AI slop is taking over the platform. We make a video and 1,000 more appear within hours…
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and they’re all AI generated. Our scripts get regurgitated. AI is faster than animation. We’re
15:26
competing for views with every AI slop channel. Do we use no AI in our production?
15:31
No, we can’t say that. We use it as a tool, not a replacement. We use it to change text
15:36
on a thumbnail, where before it would need the producer to have photoshop experience. We use it
15:40
to autogenerate sheets so our directors can break down a script. We use it to upscale a video from
15:45
normal HD to 4K so it’s more TV friendly. But our research, our writing, our animation, everyone’s
15:51
favorite voiceover… that’s all 100% human. We can’t predict how things will evolve. We
15:57
can only see where things are going. But, the worst part of this all is,
16:00
this doesn’t stop at YouTube. It’s part of a much bigger system,
16:03
one that touches everything from the food we eat, to the clothes we wear,
16:07
to the information we’re shown every day. If you want to understand how deep it really goes, you
16:12
can find out in Secret RICH Families Controlling the Economy. Or watch this video instead.
