Their titles read like a parody of clickbait headlines: 8 UK Steak Pie Brands That Are Mostly Gravy (Where’s The Meat?); UK Major Frozen Food Brands Collapsing Right In Front Of Our Eyes; Stop Buying Meat From These Grocery Stores Immediately.
But there is not an ounce of knowing or irony in the output of the tsunami of AI-generated docu-slop accounts on YouTube taking aim at UK grocery.
The account names have a similar ring – Exposed Brands UK, British Oversight, Food Reality UK, Trolley Truth – and the tone of every video suggests you should rush yourself to A&E immediately, if you can make it there before the imminent societal collapse.
“There is a quiet lie sitting in your freezer right now,” states a clearly AI-generated voice over clearly AI-generated imagery, in UK Ice Cream Brands To Avoid At All Costs (And 5 To Buy). It soon glitches: “It tastes like absolutely nothing, not nothing dramatic, just nothing. A vague ghost of vanilla.”
The videos are bold enough to call out brands and supermarkets by name, but their banality is so gruelling they are unlikely to ever reach an audience they might sway. It’s the worst internet conspiracies made completely unviewable.
So what’s it all for? Actual human consumption? Recent research by Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop. But their huge viewing figures – even if mainly from bots – makes sizeable revenue.
The Dead Internet theory becomes ever more convincing. These troll-trash videos are anything but.
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