Reisner, Alex. “YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’.” The Atlantic, August 22, 2025. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Recently, viewers and creators alike on YouTube have noticed something is off when watching YouTube shorts. They soon found there was a reason for this. Without asking permission, or even notifying posters, YouTube used AI to try and improve the video quality on some YouTube shorts.
This has been met with massive backlash so far, from both those watching and the YouTubers who have had their content modified. Certain creators, like “Mr. Bravo” mentioned in the article, have had visual effects they added to their content on purpose be warped by the AI. Creators on the site are also concerned that viewers are going to see this content and assume it was the creator who used the AI, and will subsequently write the creator off without giving their content a chance. Creators frequently use YouTube shorts to upload highlights from their full length videos, hoping that someone will see the clip and check out the whole thing.
Certain sources have not gone as far as The Atlantic to make the claim of AI use. A YouTube employee posted on X claiming that YouTube did not use generative AI, do any upscaling, or even change the resolution of any of the affected shorts.
This was especially interesting to me because I’ve been a long-time viewer on YouTube, and YouTube has been consistently dropping the ball when it comes to the treatment of the creators who earn the site’s revenue. I’m not too surprised, considering YouTube seems to have an inexplicable commitment to angering its own community. YouTube is, of course, owned by Google, who has a lot of skin in the AI game right now, so I wouldn’t be surprised to learn this was more of a Google choice than a YouTube choice.
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