00:00And you were kind of taken aback by the amount of AI-created, kind of addictive short-form videos
00:05that are getting out there onto YouTube Kids.
00:08Well, before I was even taken aback by the AI content, I was taken aback by the fact that
00:13there are so many babies on YouTube and YouTube Kids in the first place.
00:16Yeah, talk about that stat.
00:17So, we know that kids are loving YouTube. They have been for a very long time.
00:21So much so that YouTube created YouTube Kids a decade ago to help create a safer space for this audience.
00:27However, YouTube will be the first to say that YouTube Kids is not created for babies under the age of 2.
00:33It is recommended really for kids ages 2 to 12.
00:35But new Pew data has shown that babies and infants are actually flocking to YouTube in droves.
00:42And that is, of course, a fact not lost on content creators who see in this audience an incredibly valuable opportunity to make content.
00:49Their brain is still developing. That's the argument as to why perhaps it should be limited to an extent.
00:54But look, your heart goes out to families who almost need another parent in the house when they're trying to juggle different jobs.
00:59I can understand how it ends up entering your lifestyle.
01:03But then what is entering the kids' heads at the moment?
01:06How much of it is being created by AI video generation?
01:09It's hard to quantify exactly how much of this is high-quality content and how much of it is purely AI generated.
01:14But in speaking to experts for the story, it is clear that a lot of what you see on YouTube Kids is promoting itself as being educational.
01:22You see titles that say that they're educational, things like learning to talk or how to say your ABCs.
01:27And you certainly get some good quality stuff.
01:29You've got the really popular children's channels like Cocomelon.
01:32You've got creators like Miss Rachel.
01:33But mixed in with results from those sort of vetted, reputable places, you've got much more obscure videos that are from sources that you can't really figure out quite where they're from.
01:44And therein lies probably the issue for YouTube, that YouTube Kids is meant to be safe.
01:48It's so safe, in fact, that over in Australia, even though they're banning YouTube and other social media for kids under 16, they're not banning YouTube Kids.
01:55Is that an interesting fact for you?
01:57And is it how much YouTube Kids are going to have to start limiting exposure to this so-called slop?
02:02And when you want to type in Miss Rachel, you get Miss Rachel.
02:05Well, I think it is really interesting that in Australia, YouTube Kids is one of the few social media platforms that is basically being spared in this ban for under 16s.
02:16YouTube Kids may have a lot of content that is safe, but I think it begs the question of how much should kids be watching it in the first place?
02:23And how short is too short?
02:25Some of the experts we spoke to are concerned that some of the shorter content can affect children's attention spans.
02:30And how long is too long?
02:31Some of the content that I was finding on YouTube Kids was four hours long, and that is obviously far, far longer than, you know, than is recommended by experts.
02:40So I think the question is how YouTube Kids balances that, whether these are questions that they address,
02:45and sort of what they communicate to parents to help parents feel more comfortable that the content that is up there is actually vetted
02:53and not just simply chosen by AI as something that could be appropriate for kids.
02:56You and I, parents of young children, how many parents are worried about this that you spoke to?
03:01Parents are very conflicted about this.
03:03They're extremely worried, but at the same time, parents I spoke to for the story said that they need YouTube.
03:09One parent I spoke to described it as a third parent sometimes when she just needs a break.
03:13Another father told me how this is a really big internal struggle because sometimes he just needs the kids to lock into YouTube
03:19so he can deliver on other parts of being a dad.
03:22At the same time, I think that there were parents that I heard from who, you know, described wanting to get rid of YouTube Kids altogether
03:30because they said that more than any other platform that their kids are using or app,
03:34when they're told to turn off YouTube Kids, they actually can't turn it off.
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