[YouTube] Prioritize human-created content in algorithm

Hopefully this is allowed, as Oculus Imperia is an amazing creator for Warhammer lore and I would like to try and raise some awareness to his on-going channel struggles on YouTube and the harmful effect that AI generated slop content is having on the Warhammer creator community. Today Oculus Imperia sent out a message to his subscribers, where he talked about how his channel is struggling lately and has seen a massive drop in viewership. In his message he says that he believes the influx of AI generated content is drowning out the channels of legitimate creators and is doing great harm to the creative community side of Warhammer. I have seen the same sentiment be stated by other creators, notably Johnathan Young and Lorcan Ward who create or have created Warhammer related music. I'll paste Oculus's message below as I believe he sums out perfectly both his frustrations he has with it, as well as his pledge to try and continue to make quality content for the community: Hello friends. It's been a while. I feel the need to reconnect, so let's get personal for a second. In the past couple of years, Warhammer's popularity has kinda exploded. I feel in recently months it's been thanks to Space Marine 2, and Secret Level, but regardless, it's wonderful to see so many more people engaged with the hobby, with the world, with the lore. I'm a firm believer that new fans bring new perspectives and new joys, and having them discover the wonderful gothic insanity of the 41st millennium is deeply cool. You may think that this would be reflected in the channels view count. Unfortunately, this ain't the case. After a brief bump in everything during December (Christmas ad buys mean the YouTube algorithm works overtime to keep viewers on the site), the channels numbers have been in near freefall. Less people are watching month on month, less people are subscribing and the click-through rate has likewise tanked. Overall, the algorithm is just not putting my stuff out there. That being said, subscriber viewership remains consistent. So to all of you who love the channel and tune in all the time, thank you, sincerely thank you. You guys absolutely rock and I love you for the support. As YouTube will never tell you why it does what it does, seeing your numbers plummet (and I mean PLUMMET; like barely 25% of what I have come to expect) is extremely disheartening. Lacking any external factor, a creator will immediately blame themselves. You feel like not doing good work anymore, and that people no longer care. It's demoralizing, and corrosive, and it's unavoidable. There's no external explanation beyond what your brain can conjure, and that will inevitably turn inward, on your own creative output. I remain proud of my work, but I have to acknowledge that something out there has shifted. I won't lie, a lions share of my suspicion falls on channels exclusively dedicated to AI-generated lore content, with AI voice engines reading AI scripts overlaid onto AI art, pumping out 10 times as many videos as I can in a given period. The algorithm doesn't care; it only needs to keep people watching, and if people choose to watch videos made entirely by Plagiarism Machines, I literally cannot compete with that. This is, of course, extremely demoralizing; seeing a video of someone's stolen voice churning machine-stamped words pull 20 times the views I could ever hope to get on the same subject matter cuts right to the core of doing what I do. While yes, I I love this universe and playing in it, while this remains a wonderful hobby and creative outlet for me, knowing my efforts are being crushed my people who only care about Capital C Content just hurts, friends. This miasma of thoughts was driven home to me today when last month's numbers showed it to have been the worse since 2021, when we were all locked down and no company was spending money on much anything. I'm attempting to stop what I feel could become a vicious cycle: working to produce videos I know will work for the algorithm at the expense of creative fulfillment is never what I WANT to do, but this environment can force the decision upon you whether you like it or not. I want to write what engages me, and what I think will be fun for you guys to listen to, but numbers like I've been seeing will drive home this feeling of existential dread, dread that the channel won't make it, or that everyone out there would simply prefer to hear a machine read them something a machine wrote. That they just do not care about the human element in any respect. That they just want to consume, rather than engage. I'm going to be taking some steps to reengage myself creatively, because I know I fundamentally will not be able to out-compete a machine designed to steal art and joy. If there is anything I can ask of you all during this time, it is to keep watching, but also to share, to comment, to like, to subscribe. I know it's the YouTuber's ad nauseum slogan, but it is vitally important to our survival, and to how many newcomers see our work. As ever, there is this Patreon. Right now, if you want to support human creativity over machine slop, that is fundamentally the best way to do it. Voluntary subscriptions so directly to us and is a direct affirmation that you are personally choosing a person's work. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart of continuing to do so. Quite honestly, all support is support, monetary or otherwise. I love what I do and I am incredibly privileged to do it. The channel isn't going anywhere, and I'll be damned if I let gen AI slop take over the hobby and universe that I love so much, or the whims of an algorithm dictate my creative output. The release schedule may be a little rocky compared to usual; all I ask for now is your patience and support as I chart a course forward. And, also, if you have ideas for what you'd like to see from the channel, or what me as a creator, please feel free to let me know. Thank you all for being with me for the incredible journey this has been so far. I am as ever utterly in your debt and deeply grateful for the years of support and creative joy you have all brought me.