YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said reducing “AI slop” and improving deepfake detection are priorities for 2026. In his annual letter, Mohan described the growing challenge of distinguishing AI-generated content from authentic videos and emphasized labeling AI content and removing harmful synthetic media.
YouTube continues to expand AI infrastructure to support new workloads and enhance its Gemini models across consumer and business products. Mohan said more than 1 million channels used AI creation tools daily in December, and the company plans to extend AI capabilities to Shorts, enabling creators to produce videos, games, and music using simple text prompts.
The platform also prioritizes creator protections and monetization, including shopping, brand deals, and fan funding features. Efforts to make YouTube safer for children include simplified parental controls.
Separately, YouTube recently introduced AI likeness tools for Shorts, allowing creators to use their own face and voice while preventing unauthorized AI use.
