@FediThing This is exactly why I'm immediately unsubscribing from channels that start using YouTube's AI thumbnail generator. Okay cool. How long before the script is AI slop? How long before instead of filming b-roll or buying from stock footage sellers, they just AI slop that? Time to get out at the first sign of rot.
@mjc0961 @FediThing is that voluntary or is there any chance Google opts videos into it without the creator's consent?
I think it's voluntary as @vwestlife did a thread about it being a bad idea recently.
@FediThing @0x2ba22e11 @mjc0961 @vwestlife
It's voluntary with YT videos, and some YT creators I follow (who usually make their own thumbnails) have tried it, for one video (with backlash).
YT Studio was already allowing A/B testing of 2 thumbnails if you supply 2, prior to the slop thumbnail generator.
@TechTangents posted examples of it getting thumbnails very very wrong (without using any in a video).
FranLab (not on Fedi) made a video about it. She found the process very slow and tedious.
@0x2ba22e11 @mjc0961 @FediThing You have to manually opt-in to that AFAIK. As it stands, YouTube still automatically grabs a random frame from the video if you don't manually upload/choose your own thumbnail when uploading the video. Though either way, it doesn't stop people from just using ChatGPT or whatever to generate the AI thumbnails instead.
@Quinn9282 @mjc0961 @FediThing I'm just thinking I'd double check every time before passing judgement because I would be surprised if Google did not turn it on silently without consent in future.
@Quinn9282 Yeah it really doesn't matter if it's YouTube's tool or ChatGPT or whatever. If it's blatant AI slop, I'm pressing unsubscribe and/or don't recommend channel. It's an obvious sign of rot, if they're willing to hand over one part of the creative process, how many more will they hand over in the future? Trust is completely broken.
@Quinn9282 Also it seems pretty obvious that it's opt in, because there isn't a massive outcry about Google forcing it on people. A lot of people would be PISSED about forced slop thumbnails they didn't want, and we'd hear about it.
@mjc0961 @FediThing Most of that is YouTube making that the default and creators have to actively deselect it on each video so it's not an option in the number of thumbnails that appear to users.
Depressingly, at least two creators have said they would deselect it but the AI ones are the ones with the most clicks to their videos
@trebach Then they're still making a choice to use it and can still be ejected from my feeds.