Bad science: AI used to target kids with disinformation on YouTube - BBC World Service

KZbin channels that use AI to make videos which include false science information are being recommended to children as “educational content”, the BBC’s Global Disinformation Team has found.
Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 bbc.in/3VyyriM
We identified over 50 channels in more than 20 languages using AI to create videos with pseudo-science or conspiracy theories. With millions of views in their channels, creators make money from placed ads.
KZbin says it is committed to removing misinformation from its platforms.
00:00 - What are “bad science” videos?
01:41 - How do we know they’re reaching children?
02:11 - Would kids believe these videos?
03:45 - How are they multiplying so fast?
04:24 - Stealing from other creators
06:07 - Making money from views
06:57 - Reveal
07:14 - What do educators think?
08:00 - KZbin’s reply
08:44 - Emerging threat
This video was made by the BBC Global Disinformation team. They expose the real-world harm of disinformation bringing you original stories from all over the world. If you want to watch more of their work check out their playlist here 👉🏽 • BBC Global Disinformat...
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#AI #Artificialintelligence #Education #UK #Thailand #KZbin #Science

[@BBCWorldService]

Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 bbc.in/3VyyriM

[@mefisto05s.20]

This video itself is copy of a different KZbinr that made video on this exact topic.

[@NaraSherko]

Who cares@@mefisto05s.20

[@AthenaNKnight]

0:52 pyramids are hypothesized to be powerplants or chemical plants based on the evidence... they sure as hell weren't tombs lmao that's why they had the vally of the kings.

[@AthenaNKnight]

It's hilarious that you claim UFO's aren't real as well, when NASA and the US DOD are studying them. it's like this video is misinformation...

[@membranealpha5961]

as if the bbc dosent do the same shit to people

[@kobe-fi7vi]

Those disinformation videos don’t just harm kids but also ignorant adults.

[@rock_and_roll_hootchie_coo]

Not just ignorant adults. Adults who don't do the adult thing and check out the story if it's real. What really freaks me out is that we expect that AI will not lie. Why? They do. Why not? After all they're made in our image and likeness. That is...our likeness after the power of reasoning awakes in our conscience. AI has no conscience. Only mankind does.

[@AncientakoCh]

​@@rock_and_roll_hootchie_cooYou really just made the description of ignorant people and the current AI is not sentient but collect data by using mass data gathering of the related content and stitch them together and source data itself can be false

[@Tiemen2023]

I think that AI can potentially Harm every well thinking and critical adult too. If this problem of misinformation is spread too much.

[@tritun5154]

The algorithm didn’t tell David Grusch to testify…. Or the pentagon to release statements saying there’s literal ufos in the sky. This is what happens when the BBC or US government lie to its people for so long.

[@tritun5154]

Piso electric effect is a real thing.

[@smartereveryday]

I don't see the information panels KZbin uses to combat disinformation to be particularly helpful. I'm glad you included Kyle in this video, he's great.

[@nikelinq2899]

I still see them, but its presence does not do enough to combat this. KZbin needs to take physical action…

[@CornPaper]

@@nikelinq2899 physical!?

[@hugocustodio2324]

Congratulations to the BBC and all the channels and influencers committed to informing and teaching people on the internet. However, it is sad to see that a well-made and very relevant video like this has many fewer views than the videos ai generated out there that spread misinformation. What will it take for KZbin and other media to really take action and do something to change this?

[@huelu982]

Yeah because they don’t have educators etc. They’re just like normal polices, they can’t tell who’s who

[@superfishman3243]

There's like a need for specific, especially new topics when there is no info on them, like James Webb. Then there is the sensationalization of science like the history channel that I guess came back to haunt us.

[@FUTheycallmeMikey]

“Children are more susceptible than adults” That has not been my observation. 🤣🤣

[@rozzgrey801]

It's the BBC, they are programmed to misinform, deceive and mislead.

[@RDdggrd]

True😊

[@jasondavid7529]

Perfect explanation.

[@mavadelo]

2020-2022 have shown different indeed. Never seen so many "do your own research" followed by some youtube or facebook link to Dr. Gimmeyadubloons

[@steeljawX]

Humans are and are much like gamblers; Just because you've done it longer doesn't mean you're not that much more of a sucker at losing everything to a simple 3 Card Monte.

[@johndavis7031]

I teach science in middle school. It's hard enough trying to get them to learn credible content based on solid research. The idea of having to compete with conspiracy laden pseudoscience generated by AI that targets kids based on demographics, susceptibility profiles, age-based fear tactics, and historic interests derived from previous clicks is terrifying. Schools are limited by thin budgets, behavioral problems, and short-sighted politician driven agendas.If I wanted to incorporate this as a warning lesson into my lesson plans, I run the risk of offending the wrong parent due to the political nature of the content and getting a formal reprimand since it's not a standards-based content model that will be tested on statewide assessments. This is a truly terrifying precursor of what our future adults are going to believe as they enter society as contributing members of humanity.

[@JoseLopez-tk4tq]

Another reason not to be a public school teacher. Low pay, over-crowded classrooms, students with emotional/psychological issues, active shooter scenarios, etc, and now this!

[@LcdDrmr]

All true, but we don't have to accept that this is the future. There is considerable psychological damage likely if children are forced to grow up living in a sea of lies, even if we try to teach them critical thinking. Young children especially are vulnerable to this because they cannot think critically yet, and are predisposed to believe what they are told. Sowing a deep distrust of what they hear and see is similar to when many centuries ago children were told there were evil spirits and such all around them, perpetuating all kinds of superstitions which they carried into adulthood. We shouldn't have to tell children to be constantly on their guard; they shouldn't have to worry that everything they see or hear might be a lie that ends up humiliating them for believing it. Growing up in fear and uncertainty about the adult world is just not conducive to good mental health. I believe channels like these could be easily shut down by KZbin by using its AI to identify and fact-check them. This is how they enforce copyright, so there is no excuse for them not to do the same to keep these bogus "science" videos off the platform. The fact that they do not do so is evidence that money means more to them than human well-being, and only elevating public awareness, and the resulting public pressure, will ever force them to take the proper measures to put a stop to these destructive videos.

[@Yosef9438]

@@JoseLopez-tk4tq It's part of the plan by the Religious Right to ruin the public schools. We have to take them back for education.

[@El-wc5hl]

So you're teaching kids that piezo electricity isn't real and the pyramids were built as tombs built by slaves. And you believe the BBC propaganda?

[@rooty]

On the bright side, they can't be any dumber than adults are now and always have been

[@kylehill]

Great piece. Happy to help.

[@Joel-kw7jf]

You're the GOAT Kyle!

[@kylehill]

@@ottobena name 10

[@rupam0]

@kylehill Thanks man.

[@BendsSpace]

@@ottobena The video is only 12 minutes ... ?? Also how in the world is that video click bait? It's directly stating the question it answers in the title.

[@SciFiMangaGamesAnime]

HA, was thinking , "Oh Kyle would love to see this!"

[@spcraftsman2656]

Sadly, children aren't the only ones on the platform succeptible to these false pseudoscience videos. I have encountered way more than a few adults who believed the wholeheartedly.

[@Caerigna]

in my experience adults are equally, if not more in the pre-digital geners, susceptible.

[@narrativeless404]

Religious adults are the most susceptible to this nonsense

[@narrativeless404]

@@Caerigna Yeah, those old people are pretty likely to believe in nonsense without checking

[@vonn2221]

​@@narrativeless404 religious people without common sense one will be. One with common sense will find it weird after awhile

[@narrativeless404]

@@vonn2221 True That's why there's an atheist movement emerging and gaining even more traction lately

[@Gatitasecsii]

Calling them "creators" is an insult to everyone else.

[@KevinAdams26]

We need to hold internet content providers responsible. If it has an "Education" tag, it should be verified. Period. The head in the sand argument that absolves these companies from liability needs to be shunned, mocked, and rejected.

[@betel1345]

Critical thinking skills seem like the #1 priority for education across the world

[@ar_xiv]

People have been saying this since the bush administration. So what next?

[@lorenzoblum868]

Hard to do when we're fed with fairy tales since cradle... We become addicted to illusions. Kafkaesque.

[@tritun5154]

I agree. Aliens are real and disclosure is happening. Get ready.

[@plainlake]

@@lorenzoblum868 The people saying things like this are usually the ones that believe most false information and conspiracy theories. And they did not pay much attention in class.

[@sor3999]

It's only a single class in college. And it's generally taught poorly in my experience looking back on it on hindsight. We were never taught how to assess credibility and asked to question our sources on things when presenting our research. This should be taught in high school and reinforced regularly. I remember a KZbin video I watched where he was looking for the source on some behind the scenes info on the making for a Lupin movie and the only sources referenced each other. There was no actual quote or statement by the creators regarding something like the budget. Basically someone just made it up and it spread like a cancer.

[@elliepay3763]

I also believe the issue stems from documentaries being glammed up with special affects. I’ve found my adult friends believing ridiculous ‘documentaries’ on Netflix with no scientific grounding. So no wonder a kid can’t tell the difference between a well produced piece of information and this crap.

[@down-to-earth-mystery-school]

Yes, as long as it looks polished, it seems credible. Polishing is very easy these days

[@stormsoul8910]

People are lazy, and like believe stuff that fits their mindset. Sure it's shoking when you see pseudo docus on Netflix featured as scientific proves. I have nothing against fun and entertainment, but there should be a check for tags, cathegories etc. Then money is allowing all, nothing new, but sad.

[@Muck-qy2oo]

I actually had the hope that at least the kids were more wary about the nonsense.

[@alexlang2086]

When a kid play fornite at first he cannot realize he is playing mostly against bots. Each kill he does is like if he killed a human. ChatGpt now has the option to understand what you say and answer you with voice fluently.

[@MrMrdave1966]

Lol. Watch the Bigfoot "documentary" shot partially in Alberta. Bad robotics and a big friggin Indian pretending to be Bigfoot. It's sad that adults aren't smarter.

[@Rickfernello]

This video talks about children, but the target is not only children. I've seen these AI videos in a multitude of topics; from philosophy, psychology, to speedrunning documentaries. We like to think that we could easily identify videos like this, but no one is immune to misinformation.

[@Mozokuni]

Perfect example of why verification of sources is a necessity. If teachers are going to use KZbin as a teaching tool, then they need to watch the video before they recommend it to the student.

[@aqualms]

And especially just link to verified sources! I usually only use news or channels I know as videos to watch, and if I ever hear something strange (usually not false, just off topic) I tell the students ignore it, or that it's not totally accurate (things about nutrition where they mention BMI or that you must eat 2,000 calories a day etc but it could vary based on so many factors, that oil is always bad etc etc)

[@rzkysyz]

Not long ago we also found videos with disturbing/suicidal audio stories but uses cooking or other kids friendly visuals. And I found this on the YT Kids app. The version of KZbin that supposed to be "curated" for children. So parents, pls be aware.

[@Vidchemy]

I've noticed them, too. Was wondering why the video had nothing tomdo with the audio. Maybe it is a brainwashing method, or an attempt to bypass the autocensors.

[@teassister]

probably those reddit stories 😭 theyre those types of joke videos but kids aren’t supposed to see it 😭😭😭

[@AllDogsAreGoodDogs]

And not a drag queen in sight!

[@kellydalstok8900]

@@AllDogsAreGoodDogsthe only dangerous drag queen is George Anthony Kitara Devolder Santos Ravache

[@probrickgamer]

No you didn't

[@SudhanshuDhanraj]

I'm from India and this pseudoscience is biggest problem here because here everyone is trying to prove that religion is science and people are believing that those stuff are true. It goes for every religion .

[@kellydalstok8900]

It’s because they were made to believe the nonsense of religion without questioning from a very early age. Religion is man made. No one has ever been able to prove otherwise, even though they believe they have. Their evidence always falls flat.

[@user-sf9gs2pg1b]

@@kellydalstok8900 No evidence? I have a book that says,” trust me bro,” if that isn’t evidence enough for you idk what to tell you.

[@ArunPaji]

It's better that people figure it out. Or those who are atheists create better videos instead of censoring

[@arifbagusprakoso2308]

"Trying to prove that religion is science" is okay. Keep "trying", and someday you will find the real truth.

[@marblecar1162]

​@@arifbagusprakoso2308what? that religion itself is false, or that it isnt? you're being a bit vague.

[@xenontesla122]

I remember being misled by “free energy” and “anti gravity” videos as a kid. Thankfully I realized it was all false and learned to be *very* critical of everything I see. I hope these kids realize it too.

[@OurResistance]

I remember when I was a kid I read about Space Planes, fusion power and worm holes for time travel. I still feel that people are trying to deceive me!

[@helpmeget100subs]

@@OurResistancenext they’re going to force us to believe the earth is round. Lolol

[@helpmeget100subs]

Ask chat gpt. It is a logical theory

[@lenarianmelon4634]

@@OurResistance Space Planes and fusion power are definitely real, it's just that no one uses them for several reasons.

[@hypenheimer]

The hardest part about building a perpetual motion machine is figuring out where to hide the batteries.

[@BowserLucaTheThird]

KZbin should take some responsibility for its own platform and we need to recognise that if we're not ready for KZbin and fake content we're not prepped for anything

[@phil20_20]

They're doing well because social media companies are allowing them. We need to hold them liable. Preferably by legislation, but by lawsuit if necessary.

[@agritech802]

Agreed, and our kids are also being exposed to other inappropriate content and dangerous content as well. Why are we not doing anything about it?

[@runnergo1398]

Time to create AI to combat the false AI.

[@fun_g]

@@runnergo1398 actually not a bad idea...Ill try working on something like this ty for the idea!

[@Pammellam]

KZbin needs to be sued for allowing this. Also the people making these lies need to be sued and banned from KZbin.

[@lorenzoblum868]

Too many liars, not enough lawyers... Although sometimes they're the same 😂😢 Edit : kafkaesque 😱🤯🤔

[@johnjakson444]

As a science junky in my 60s and a lifetime engineer, I have noticed these questionable videos too, the AIs make terrible editing mistakes like repeating a sentence fragment twice with the exact same voice tones, or massive mispronunciation errors. It may well help me stop wasting time watching them.

[@seanmcmurphy4744]

These will be fixed eventually. And what about the huge number that are not made by AIs, that have human narrators that sound like and claim to be experts or professors? I am an engineer too, and many sophisticated fake science vids cannot be distinguished by general viewers from legitimate science.

[@janemiettinen5176]

AI is the worst it will be now, it will only get better. I have actively blocked all shady channels, but Im sure I cant do it nearly as easily in the future.

[@michaelbujaki2462]

If you happen to stumble on one, try to report it for misinformation.

[@jordinne2201]

@@michaelbujaki2462 usually wouldnt work

[@bestdjaf7499]

BBC is promoting garbage "science" all the time. And KZbin runs fake "science" commercials. .... We are even teaching Feminism & Fat Studies... at Universities!!! Nobody can't even replicate the majority of those idiotic studies in the Academia. How IA supposed to know, if BBC & ABC & CBS & CNN & ... promotes garbage!? Maybe you should clean your own house first, & then we will talk about AI.

[@supercommie]

What I am concerned about is that we as a society are losing our faith in science and this kind of content definitely has a role in it.

[@MrOnwisconsin2011]

I'm glad Kyle Hill isn't the only one talking about it. Thank you for covering this BBC.

[@na3rial]

I really feel for kids these days. Media literacy was easy when I was growing up. Things that didn't look legitimate weren't, and it was easy to check authenticity. Now, with AI and more online tools making it so easy to make "realistic" content, it's probably impossible NOT to be fooled at least once in a while

[@creativecatproductions]

This is naive, sadly

[@babybirdhome]

@@creativecatproductionsHow is it naive? I’m not sure the word “naive” means what you think it means - or you replied to a comment that isn’t there anymore.

[@blaximperia]

Also, growing up not being exposed to the legitimate old-school ones, and instead being raised on all these souped up special effects-driven ones, they wouldn’t inherently notice the difference.

[@fete0]

welll back then history was mostly written by the winners... so a lot of real things were manipulated too... but yes, not like nowadays

[@user-sf9gs2pg1b]

I keep seeing fake AI videos. It’s crazy, like the images look so real. Every time I hear an AI voice in a video I click “Don’t recommend this channel,” and when I see even a hint of some misinformation I do the same thing. Would recommend.

[@angelm.bouchard3722]

I’m a teacher in the US, first it is so difficult to convince my 7th/8th graders that bad science videos are giving fake information. Worse than that, these videos are fooling adults too.

[@joh22293]

I'm glad that people are starting to become aware of this, but I don't yet think people fully appreciate the risks it causes which, imho, are tremendous. We already know social media such as YT, Facebook, Twitter are really hopeless at identifying and removing misinformation and there's good reason for that because they MAKE MONEY out of it. For starters it's essential that everything produced by AI needs labelling as such.

[@Kerbeygrip]

I am a retired Physics teacher. The challenges to what I taught were just beginning. The Planet is in the state it is because of widespread ignorance. Adding disinformation and false science will be our complete undoing.

[@oleggeraschenko4932]

Dear parents and teachers and children, needless to say, as a teacher I find this trend disturbing. However, I have good news for you: critical thinking can and must (like never before) be brought up in children from a very young age (I know because my mother did that to me). As parents and teachers it is imperative that we 1. bring up critical thinking in our children early 2. are reliable and trustworthy parent/teacher figures to our children/students, to whom children look up to and whom they trust to share information they have seen with and to whom they listen. It is not easy being a parent/teacher, but it isn't about being easy, it's about our future - our children. We can do it and we must

[@mitchmccarron8337]

Thank God @oleg - finally a sane and measured response !! Censorship, just like communism, can never enrich a society - regardless of good intentions.

[@seanmcmurphy4744]

In the long run education is the cure, but unfortunately it won't help with false info on social media. The lie factory is too good. For 15 years educators have tried to design a media literacy course to teach secondary students to distinguish fake sources from reliable ones; examples are CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) and RADAR (Rationale, Authority, Date, Accuracy, Relevance). They have failed completely. Fake scientific and news stories are now so good that it may take hours of fact checking to debunk them. The only way to get reliable information anymore is to trust in a reliable source. This is admitted in the latest research acronym: SIFT (Stop, Investigate the source, Find better sources)

[@anticarrrot]

How do you prove to someone limited to a child's knowledge that, for example, George Washington was the first US president? Teachers currently rely on "Trust me bro, I'm an Authority Figure". How would they do it, if the kids turned around and used CR to say, "Nu uh. We don't believe you on faith. Prove it." Yes it can be done. But how long would that take? How long would that take for every fact in every subject we currently expect kids to learn? As a follow up, if there was some short quick easy way to get around that, what stops the fake science videos from using it? I think you need to think critically about your use of critical thinking in the class rooms.

[@laner.845]

Too bad parents don't want to parent these days. They just birth their little tax deductions or welfare multipliers and expect teachers and the government to raise them for them.

[@praneshchow]

Sometimes I think that social media makes us fools. and they use our emotions for their benefit.

[@aquelpibe]

About time.

[@gauravgaming9380]

True

[@Kezat]

Not that it's really a surprise to anyone.

[@rozzgrey801]

But this is the BBC, mainstream media, so they have a vested interest in attacking the internet, as it is competition they are losing out to.

[@davidbond5448]

Just like the BBC

[@TheOtherSlideYT]

I'll repost here what I commented on @kylehill 's video. "I saw your first video on this topic right before starting my own channel. It was something I was genuinely worried about-I didn't want people to think my channel was just AI spam, especially since I don't use voiceovers in my videos (at least not yet) I appreciate you drawing attention to this topic as I hope it will prevent new/small channels like mine from being pushed out ❤"

[@pranavyedlapalli2127]

This is a huge problem in India. These videos don't only target kids, even adults are affected by these. And its not just ai generated crap. Even human generated crap is harmful

[@machoslothman]

This has been a long term issue with social media platforms and especially KZbin in my experience. I am 21 now and when i was growing up on KZbin around ages 7-13, these clickbait-y science and conspiracy theory videos were recommended to me and as the curious kid I was, seeing something outside of my realm of understanding, those were the videos I was drawn to. Lots of memories of late night rabbit holes

[@Makes_me_wonder]

Do you regret falling into those late night rabbit holes as a child ? Do you think they wasted your time or stunted your potential as an adult ? Do you wish someone had educated you about the nature of social media early in life ?

[@machoslothman]

@@Makes_me_wonder Yes I have mental health issues as a young adult now, and while I cannot say they are directly the result of social media, growing up on the internet definitely influenced my depressive self perception. I do not necessarily regret spending my youth on internet rabbit holes, just wish i was more productive, even thinking about binge watching netflix in years past, if i could have gone back and learned a new hobby instead of spending countless hours streaming, I think I would be in a much more fulfilling place in life

[@navneetkalia]

Very soon we will need teachers spending more time telling students what to unlearn rather than learn. Sad !!!

[@lorenzoblum868]

Very good point. . But social media is only the reflection of mainstream medias. Since cradle we're being fed with illusions, fairy tales and such. Santa Claus to promote consumerism. Advertising industry, politics, religion and the list goes on. We live in a world of make believe. Kafkaesque.

[@whatisahandle221]

We need customizable, personal, learning AI filters!

[@Riteshkrpanda]

Critical thinking and Logical thinking that is what we need to teach kids I am afraid apart from Some particular cases Schools doesn't teach that rather often ignoring that and making students memorize facts

[@lorenzoblum868]

@@Riteshkrpanda I'd be curious to hear your version of "logical thinking". Logic can sometimes be counterintuitive...

[@dogstick12]

​@@lorenzoblum868formal logic doesn't make sense

[@Fir3Chi3f]

Here from the Kyle Hill crew. I worry more about the influence on adults and the redirection of viewership to a worse iteration of a product and no compensation to the creators of said product.

[@yippy327]

The woman teacher said "it's just not in our wiring to question things". That's all that kids do....question things. lol The problem is that, schools don't teach kids how to think. They teach them how to take tests.

[@digster2344]

We really aren't ready for AI; it is far too easy to make these kinds of things with it, and people either don't understand the consequences, or do, but don't care about them. Hopefully laws will be passed in as many places as possible and soon to restrict the use of AI and prevent it from being used in harmful ways

[@ingridfong-daley5899]

People don't care about accuracy--they're interested in titillation and being agreed with. As long as the content ticks one of those two boxes, it's the same as real-life interaction: most people seek to believe what they already believe, not the actual truth... cuz that might 'offend' their personal ideologies or feelings of security.

[@user-pl1yp1tj8b]

Well, you know what they say about this kind of thing... we have 21st century technology but we still have stone age brains. Also, as they say about hide & seek... ready or not, here I come.

[@whatisahandle221]

Fight malicious technology with helpful technology: We need customizable, personal, learning AI filters!

[@AG-ig8uf]

Well, Joe Rogan is not AI, but his bro-science channel spread tons of misinformation and disinformation to many millions across the world. The problem is not new and is not limited to just AI.

[@RoseDragoness]

Things that bad people been doing with AIs been done for ages. From art plagarization, fake news, snake oil, and so on. What AI bring is not revolution of these things but making it one hundred time easier to execute and with almost no budget. I do hope, we as a species can solve these issues before all we have is junk foods all over the place for our body, mind, and soul.

[@Kedarnath.A]

Thanks for this report. My son is 6 years old, I am really worried about his KZbin kids now.

[@KlikAku]

And HISTORY channel

[@ahmedhistoryMA]

​​@@KlikAkuwhat ?😂😂😂

[@thefireyphoenix]

@@KlikAku lol

[@udaykadam5455]

​@@KlikAkuyeah it's the OG.

[@spacecowboy5274]

if your son is using phone you can download the good videos in youtube you want him to see and then disconnect it from the internet before giving it to him.

[@scottkidder9046]

I think this is one of the most disappointing and awful things I’ve heard about social media in a while. The only way to combat this is to introduce new rules that will make it more difficult for people to make legitimate content. The whole point of KZbin was to make great content more accessible and to make it easier for creators to produce that content. Hopefully there’s a good solution to this

[@schiffelers3944]

LOL it probably is just a typo: make it more difficult for people to make legitimate content? Illegitimate. KZbin was started with Niple-gate and music video's. That was the first intent of YT. Re watch the trendy things of the youth. And now...? This simple post can be seen as disinformation as well, since it has flaws. Similar to how teachers warned for using Wikipedia and everyone still uses it, it often is the first result on a search engine.

[@Canetoady]

Or maybe make science videos 13+

[@elainelouve]

If KZbin would have actual moderators and not just an algorithm, that might help a lot. I mean all they seem to care about is money.

[@adiprasetya2207]

Those channels needs to be exposed and reported for false information. And we need to promote the legitimate science channels more, they deserve more attention for their efforts. Some of my favorites are : - Kurzgesagt : They have bunch of interesting science topics, packed in dense but fun and interesting explanation. The animation are cool too! - PBS Space Time : Lots of science contents mainly around physics and cosmology, explained in a more sophisticated level. Totally legitimate - Sciencephile The AI : Various science mix philosophy topics. Fun & entertaining, you'll laugh a lot while having existential dread at the same time

[@aldovernal]

Kyle Hill made a video about this months ago, I’m glad that this phenomena is getting attention

[@onikaizer]

After seeing video after video with David Attenborough's AI voice, I would suggest to the BBC to take a harder stance on AI generated content. They will use your material for model training, make no mistake.

[@roiiam]

KZbin used to have a visible dislike system. But they hid it, so only creators of the video can see it. YTs reason was to protect creators mental health btw.

[@onedroprule]

When I was a kid they had the National Enquirer and other sketchy "news" magazines at grocery stores. I remember briefly thinking they had real stories. At some point between school and my parents, i learned about the difference between reliable sources and unreliable sources. Hopefully we'll teach our kids to be able to discern b.s. online 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@theelephantintheroom69]

It just occured to me that if our ability to discern AI voices and faces from human voices and faces comes from our early years of learning what's real, then the coming generations wont be able to tell. They'd be colour blind when it comes to AI

[@4rumani]

That's awful, I'm surprised they couldn't tell

[@Theimtheimtheim]

On the other hand, the voices might improve to a point where nobody can tell...

[@theelephantintheroom69]

@@Theimtheimtheim that will happen a bit later yes

[@davidacosta9212]

​@@theelephantintheroom69It's actually happening now. A program like Elevenlabs has gotten scarily accurate at voice replication.

[@preciousnwaoha3123]

It is quite important to note that from the way the scripts are written, it is not the AI that's making mistakes. Whoever is prompting the scripter is asking for unreal controversial stuff with no scientific background. In order to beat the algorithms. This is an AI Engineers perspective.

[@agdevoq]

It's quite important to note that, from the way nuclear disasters unfold, atoms are making no mistakes. Whoever engineered atomic bombs, did so in order to beat the enemy. However, nuclear technology is scary enough to be highly regulated. AI is not. Even tough it poses gigantic threats to humanity (job disruption, education disruption, etc).

[@DarthChrisB]

You are not an AI engineer.

[@gardener7592]

The inherent problem with social media is that misinformation generates more revenue via engagement, both positive and negative. As long as they get paid their ad revenue they don't care about the quality of information.

[@L_Train]

The worst thing on the internet is the incorrect and overuse of the word "literally" by everyone.

[@marcbiefnot9375]

A concerning video - I passed it my my science dept colleagues. Education about misinformation starts at school.

[@kellydalstok8900]

Or even earlier, at home. People do seem to find the time to indoctrinate their children with that other misinformation i.e. religion, which leaves them more open (gullible) to believing all kinds of non existent things.

[@WagnerPierre-sv1vd]

I really hope science classrooms are addressing this issue, because we must prepare students for the future with real science!

[@haroldsegard8381]

Current Real science has long since disappeared. What is being given us now is truly junk science. If all the current environmentals really what to know the truth the they would dig deeper and learn the real truth and not based on criminal lies. I have been involved with climatetolgy for over 50 years and have always used the real science and not the nosense the pseudoscience of enviromentalist!!!

[@kexcz8276]

Glad that you had used Kyle Hill's clip and photo there and also that you talk about this! This is a serious problem, because it is already big in english content, but there is even more with less known languages! I can go and find many arguable / weird and lying videos in czech in under a minute. Hope we will find way how to deal with those bad creators! Big respect BBC! 😉

[@botezsimp5808]

It's sad to see what the internet has become and where it's going. The internet used to be a bastion of freedom, truth, and authenticity.

[@tjmarx]

7:15 "I think children often take what they see as fact" Children? Have you seen the people in the world today? It's not children, it's people in general.

[@matthewshiers9038]

KZbin needs to be held accountable for facilitating this. It's all kinds of wrong. Theft of content, deceit in how these channels categorize their videos, and potentially even money laundering through the ad revenue scheme. KZbin profits from all of it almost as much as the channels that do it. Best way to do it? Not with a lawsuit - go through their advertisers. Talk to the people who fund this problem and ask them, "Why would you want to be seen doing business with crooks?"

[@basbekjenl]

I wish adults were less susceptible to this kind of mis-/dis-information. But no one is immune to bias or getting tricked, everyone can fall for these lies unless they stay vigilant and sceptical of the content they consume. I think it would be a really valuable experience for those student to make a fresh youtube account and upload a video within a lesson's hour, to proof anyone can upload content and it can be whatever you want it to be.

[@JoelBondoux]

One of the dangers here is that it may then be perceived that all AI content is 'false' and all non AI content is 'true' which of course is very far from the case. Students need to be taught the skills for critical thinking to be able to sift through all the current and future content.

[@asdfghyter]

treating all ai content as false is sensible, since it’s false more often than it’s true, but assuming that non-ai content is true is obviously extremely naive

[@xx_somescenecath0lic_xx888]

FR

[@xx_somescenecath0lic_xx888]

⁠@@asdfghyterdude ppl need to see the truth in one thing or another and the lies in stuff instead of being like "all this is completely false"

[@asdfghyter]

@@xx_somescenecath0lic_xx888 you could use the exact same argument for predicting the future using coin-flips. something that produces falsehoods 50% of the time is worse than useless unless you only use it as inspiration for what to research more about. that’s why you should by default assume it’s false until you have proven it otherwise. (in case it was unclear, i’m primarily talking about tools like chatgpt here. but i’d also see the extremely low budget ai voice videos in general as a case of this. assume it’s untrustworthy until proven otherwise)

[@asdfghyter]

@@xx_somescenecath0lic_xx888 yes, being able to distinguish facts from fiction is a useful skill, but it uses significant effort and time, so no one is going to actually fact check every single piece of information they get, so it’s also very useful to have rules of thumb for when you can just dismiss it without further examination (unless you’re particularly interested in it), e.g. chatbots and videos with ai voices, and when you can generally accept it without further examination (unless you have a reason to be skeptical), e.g. information from a textbook or *verified* subject matter experts (for subjects outside your expertise you would probably not be able to examine it anyways other than by seeing what other experts on the same subject say, which is of course worth doing) yes, sometimes you can quickly think something through and realize the fatal flaw, but most of the time all you have to go on is hunches to determine if you want to spend the possibly hours on examining it (and in the worst case only find more misinformation)

[@WildlifeGuy]

I am a College Professor who teaches Anatomy and other Health courses..It drives me crazy seeing all this Bad Science everywhere

[@vaughnmaycock4504]

There is a whole world where about 1/4 of the adults love this kind of thing, because it "proves" what they already believe. They get to vote.

[@SecularGeek]

Thank you so much for presenting this! I showed it to my son, and we had a great discussion about it.

[@Sindig0]

Now this is a good suggestion.

[@freeriderfact793]

In future children need to read Books 📈

[@petrtomsej6064]

When i was young, i was almost addicted on videos describing philadelphia experiment, Bermuda triangle, UFO's etc.. yes, i was young and this all sounded fascinating, but i grew up and i developed critical thinking.. then i had to persuade my older brother that all of that is bullsh*t (actual terminology)

[@Ausf]

I enjoyed things like that when I was a kid too. I didn't believe any of it, but I certainly found it interesting. Trying to control the narrative is worse. All it takes is for the "official" source to get things wrong, and they instantly lose all trust. Instead, teach kids how to work it out for themselves. No point just telling them. Worst case scenario, some kid thinks the pyramids are batteries. No great loss.

[@AnimalPersonhood]

I first became aware of this through Kyle Hill's channel. For the 02:11 experiment , I think it matters what context( classroom ) where the child's defense and scrutiny might be down. Most eduction systems don't encourage critical thinking, just teach people to accept and conform so we can move onto the next lesson. Also what were info were the kids told prior to the vids being shown? all this matters. Regardless of experiment shortcomings, this is a very legitimate concern, so glad not just KZbinrs are looking into it.

[@XOPOIIIO]

"These videos are fake" "How do you know?" "Adults told me"

[@ThePzrLdr]

Kids need to learn critical thinking skills. Question everyone and everything.

[@Dave_of_Mordor]

That's not critical thinking. You are confusing that for being argumentative or being critical of other people. Critical thinking is the ability to think clearly and rationally, understanding the logical connection between ideas, and able to think in a reasoned way to help you make decisions. CRITICAL THINKING DOES NOT MEAN TO BE A CRITICAL PERSON!

[@dazzothegreat]

You are talking about an educational system that still works like it's the 1900s that doesn't allow you to be unique and free thinking . Now get back in line and listen to your teacher 😂

[@KatherineWhite-nn5ic]

We adults need to work on our critical-thinking skills, too. Also, it's just as important to identify sources you CAN trust as it is to question everything. KZbin tends to do a terrible job of helping users evaluate the credibility of different channels or individual videos.

[@rizwanrauf4940]

I think it's just not your intellect, but also focus on your heart, if you purify yourself your all faculties will grow, modern person often neglects this aspect

[@danielwhyatt3278]

Yeah. I was really shocked to see that these kids believed all of these videos. Perhaps this is the education or intellect level or something. I could tell easily from these videos, even without the writing in the corner that they were all fake.🫤🤨🧐 I mean, you can literally hear the inflection and tone of the AI voices in the videos that those for starters weren’t real. Let alone the so-called science used. None of it was believable or connected to any source materials that you can actually follow. I honestly thought more than half of these kids would actually know it was fake right away, but they didn’t. That is very bizarre and disturbing to me. Perhaps they need to do a wider study among large groups of schools, rather than just one in the UK and one other in another country.

[@flipwinks5387]

“We are moving towards a new class division, not longer based on money, but on the ability to use one's critical mind and sort through information.” Umberto Eco

[@hyndscs]

This sounds like the BBC complaining they aren't the primary source of disinformation

[@deathwrenchcustom]

Gotta love those kids. "I didn't believe it before, but I do now." Adult: "Those videos were fake." Kids: "Yeah, I could tell they were fake because of the voice." 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@williamhalstediq]

7:30 yep that’s the biggest problem with our education system , don’t question anything, don’t challenge a fact . Just believe whatever they are saying. And we wonder why there’re so much adults believe misinformation nowadays within secs

[@chenwilliam5176]

We need 'Law for ChatGPT' , Just as 'Law for Gun' 😅

[@martinb.770]

Useless, as nobody will be able to execute it in a globalized internet and platforms, that enable people to generate new channels within minutes, after being blocked on an old one. Further more, this kind of censoring would boost the mystery factor, in the line of "this video has been blocked/forbidden by authorities - watch, why!!!!", generating even more clicks. Fighting nonsens and misinformation starts by educating media competence and critical thinking by a solid basement of MINT education and logical reasoning, which takes many years to form the young brain, but introduces the danger other uniformed, uncreative and tunnel view thinking, on the other hand.

[@PERRIERhp]

I felt like we need a new curriculum at school that dedicates awareness of false information floating on the internet and how to identify them. Also identify scams website, emails, messages, and malware sites. I felt like this is quite important because user id and fingerprints that search engines and ads use, tags us so that more false information and bad content being pushed towards everyone

[@stuartriley4976]

Starting early in a child's education, we need to teach them how to think at least as much as what to think. Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit is a good start.

[@space-time-somdeep]

Opinion Piece(its a little long, but topic is very close to my heart) Not only bad science, it's everywhere.. false communal history, misinformation journalism etc.. High time to teach kids(and all internet users) about besics of web awareness, internet literacy as education curriculum.. And most importantly, when science related misinformation are in rise, universities and research institutes should have to take this challenge most actively.. they have to make high quality but easy to understand language videos with animation and arts.. there is a big potential in collaboration of scientists and professors with digital artists(who's career are also in stake due to AI, we had seen in recent NYC protest) There should be more lectures, podcasts, seminars etc should be created.. not in boring manner with conventional setup.. Curiosity isn't a crime, rather it's a blessing, now it's your moral responsibility to capture the curious minds. I don't understand why Universities(atleast public universities) don't spend a little amount of money in making all semesters online, accessible for whole world still in 2023.. I remember, internet's own boy, Aaron Swartz at these moments. As far as i understand, he had a beautiful deeam of opensource collaborative research framework for internet. (I know there are legal issues, there should be robast democratic discussion about these kind of critical issues, rather then just sidelining them. Time has come to make science free, from all it's cages, before it's too late. We are seeing, all around the world, right wing politics in rise everywhere thriving on these kind of misinformation and imaginary theories) More then science, at this moment, we need mass scale 'scientific temperament' in internet's large landscape.

[@DeniseCoelhoEnglishForLife]

Because capitalism

[@space-time-somdeep]

@@DeniseCoelhoEnglishForLife Yea.. partially yes.. but capitalism is there from a long time.. it's recent

[@seanmcmurphy4744]

@@DeniseCoelhoEnglishForLife Not capitalism. It is social media that is destroying our information ecology

[@seanmcmurphy4744]

@space-time-somdeep Educators have been trying for 20 years to devise a program to teach high school students to distinguish false information from reliable information sources on the internet. They have failed completely. Fake information and science has gotten so sophisticated that it is impossible to detect without hours of fact checking and access to paid scientific journals. The only way to ensure you get reliable information is to get it from a reliable source.

[@elliepay3763]

Preach!

[@fredrikgit]

I think training in critical thinking is one good measure to take And maybe there could be requirements for listing sources on educational youtube videoes. So that videos that are absolutely made up can be easily taken down based on the lack of sources, thus avoiding the scary idea of someone dictating what is and isn’t true. And maybe there needs to be found other requirements to use for removing false information, but sometimes the line really blurs when trying to tell what is and isn’t real, so I don’t know.

[@richardhall5489]

Critical thinking training in schools would be a great idea. I'm not entirely sure schools would really want their pupils to primarily think critically. I doubt political parties (at least those in power) would be too keen on a population that thought critically either.

[@RoseDragoness]

research papers more often than not is gated behind expensive fee, and that make things harder to PROPER fact check either-- if you even got the time. I mean, if people really invest on knowing more, they go to college not to youtube. Imagine just wanting to feel educated and entertained by 100 animal facts and then having to find and crosscheck all 100 informations! I think, making an AI that can do automate crosscheck and list sources could be beneficial on this.

[@dimitrispapadimitriou5622]

Critical thinking must be one of our first priorities, for all of us. As for the lacking of sources... unfortunately, AI - generated pseudo-sources are a common place nowadays with LLM / chatbots... Very few have the time and the patience to check them one by one..

[@Jimraynor45]

Critical thinking is key. Would you rather have live in a world where kids are never exposed to questionable and outrageous ideas (an impossibility) or one where kids themselves have the ability to discern for themselves what they should believe in? A good philosophy for raising kids is not the make the road safe for them, but to make the kid tough enough to travel any road. The world is a tough complex place, and neither you, or big daddy government is always going to be there to take care of them, nor should that even be the goal. We want strong individuals who can think for themselves.

[@darklittlepeople]

what stops anyone from fabricating fake "reputable" sources with the help of a.i.?

[@TheBlueB0mber]

7:23 When I was growing up I had the exact opposite view. I would often ask difficult questions only to receive insufficient answers. This would spur me on to seek out my own answers at the public library. I *NEVER* just took information at face value...perhaps I was just lucky that both my parents & teachers taught me how to fact-check sources.

[@JordiH69]

This is really scary.

[@tristramgardner8975]

The teacher half awkwardly saying "we don't question really do we" is for me the annoying point - are you saying that it's a cultural norm to be non critical? Half of teaching should be showing people how to think

[@sirolsh2]

please could you list the name of these channels because i might have been a victim of this mischievous.

[@Valhain]

Knowing what I know from my education, listening to these scam channels makes my brain hurt. Good on you folks for helping to expose them.

[@WindCivilian]

It's toxic to the next generation, and KZbin simply don't care as long as they are earning money.

[@charlesdacosta2446]

The question for me starts with the following questions: 1) "Why do these videos get created?"; 2) "Wchildren children to uncover fake content/science and expose it publicly -- and thus becoming an embarrassment to the platform hosts and content creators.

[@DeniseCoelhoEnglishForLife]

Capitalism

[@vylbird8014]

1) 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 With a few AI tools, this 'content' is dirt cheap to create, and it's free to publish. The investment is practically nothing, and the more a producer churns out the more views they can get and the more ad-revenue comes flowing back to them. Content is views, views are ads, ads are money.

[@thegamingofM.S.K]

And its only now serious attention is given to the issue. Imagine the confusion it caused

[@TheFos88]

I have a "roundtable" of science creators that I have loved and learned a lot from over the years. Kyle HIll one, Anton Petrov, Arvin Ash, Science Asylum, the Fermilab channel, History of the Universe, etc. These are all legit and range my favorite topics being cosmology and physics. Unfortunately KZbin has also been recommending these AI channels to me and i usually give them a shot if i've never heard of the creator, and sometimes it isn't so obvious that it's AI. Thats the scary part. Some of them its undeniable but others are so "good" at passing the Turing Test that it takes me a few videos to really be able to see behind the curtain. It's been so bad that I often question other types of videos wondering if they are even real people, even when there is a person on the camera talking i drive myself nuts trying to decide if it's a real person or AI generated as now there are AI generated "people" that almost look convincing and the only way to really know one way or the other is by paying attention to facial movements and voice inflection. Scary times man.

[@DarthChrisB]

The Turing Test doesn't assume that the human doing the test is stupid. There are no convincing AI-created videos on YT. It takes me no longer than a few words to realize the voice isn't real and no more than a few sentences to realize the whole script was written by AI. If it took you, a supposedly scientifically minded person several videos to realize you're being fooled, then all hope is lost.

[@mauriciarruda]

And “it’s easy” to KZbin solve this problem, KYC and tracking were money for ads goes…

[@manueldavid7369]

VERY dangerous indeed. I see it myself with kids in that age.. lots and lots of false information from KZbin and social media in general.

[@appleitree]

There are so much of misinformation, how do we identify

[@user-sf9gs2pg1b]

Not to mention the porn bots. I’ve also gotten several videos on KZbin shorts that were incredibly inappropriate. I wouldn’t put kids near this site, imo it should be 18+ until all of that is sorted.

[@user-sf9gs2pg1b]

@@appleitree Only watch videos from trusted sources instead of any and all videos that just pop up randomly on your feed. Block channels that even have one tiny thing wrong, because that could be a bad sign for the entire channel. For me, I also block all AI voice channels.

[@spacecowboy5274]

​@@user-sf9gs2pg1b Blocking channels that have eve one tiny thing wrong is not neccessary. Almost every channel that has a frequent upload rate will have some small thing wrong. U will block the channel for a pronounciation error or a spelling mistake? Plus often these channels will have a pinned comment highlighting the small mistakes.

[@snowy_spirit4189]

Great video, could you please identify those 50 channels to us now? Would be super helpful in fighting back and avoiding them.

[@SoulSonder26]

Loved that little clip of the Thai teacher. He seems like a really good teacher to me.

[@zufalllx]

Yeah, that's the answer, just tell the kids to "think harder". Don't bother explaining anything to them

[@august_2688]

they never take those down eventho you reported them. they are still there tho😢😅

[@andrewrockwell1282]

Kyle Hill sent me. Thank you for going into this and I hope it reaches a large audience.

[@jimthorne304]

It's not just children who are misled by these videos. There's a great deal of dubious material on KZbin.

[@Ahlnie]

It's a shame that if any action is taken here, it will be further restrictions on which channels are allowed to discuss what, rather than promoting critical thinking.

[@darsanabandara3988]

that is why we need to teach kids how to become a information literate person . if we not it will be huge problem here is the 8 model. 1 identify 2 explore 3 organize 4 create 5 present 6 analyze 7 evaluate 8 apply . it is like to circle . it is call 8 empowering model

[@anonemoose7777]

Thank you BBC for this showcase on misinformation and it’s techniques. It’s always good when an expert on something explains it to you. 😅

[@brianhockin4854]

Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit but the highest form of intelligence 😎 oscar Wilde I believe 😂

[@zeefy9606]

KZbin should run ads about misinformation on the platform. I used to see ads like this as a kid on TV. There used to be an ad which told you not to believe everything you see on TV.

[@justinjohnson4502]

I’m glad you guys did a study on this

[@VeganDoris]

So horrible that people would do this.

[@rozzgrey801]

Don't trust the BBC, they are very biased in this matter, they always run hit pieces on the internet as it is a rival they are losing to.

[@kvnptl4400]

Nice report. Thanks for raising this topic. It's going to be a major threat in coming years.

[@CIS101]

The more things change the more they stay the same. Proof positive that you still need good parents, and good teachers same as before the internet !

[@extraterrestrial7424]

AI Wars. Some AIs used for creating bad science content, other AIs used for battling and removing this bad science content. And then there are battles of AIs within AIs, like one YT AI may be telling this is bad content and should be removed and other YT AI may be telling this has high monetization value and should be promoted highly.

[@vylbird8014]

There's a solution for that latter problem with AI. You just train two models. Then you take the inputs they disagree on, and train a third model only on those.

[@user-hq5sp5pi2e]

Reminds me of when I was a kid and we were convinced those artistic sculptures someone made were real aliens

[@Bryzerse]

Really glad organisations like the BBC are covering this issue, it's incredibly serious but not given anywhere near enough attention. Also great to see Kyle Hill featured.

[@dio8636]

I was not allowed a smartphone or computer until age 13, high school. I still became super addicted and even dropped out of school a couple of times in part due to my internet addiction and related mental health issues. I cannot phathom what it would be like to grow up with internet from age 1... I worry about that generation and wonder if they will even become functional members of society at all. I don't think kids should be completely banned from using internet like I was until high school, but I do believe it should be forbidden to have their own smartphone, conputer and tv until my age. Using social media alters your brain structure in such an intense way, I think kids should be shielded from that until they reach an age where they have learned critical thinking skills. They should have internet lessons in school every week from a young age, because internet literacy is important, but the HOURS upon HOURS each day wasted on devices (averaging on a full work week's amount of hours, and more!!!!! They spend just as much if not more time online as they do in the classroom) should be avoided at all costs

[@eav1ck]

I think the point is not really just about Children. what about if the Video is covering content which is less obvious to differentiate true or false? what about if everyone is more aware about fake video, which can potentially discredit creator which is creating authentic and quality content human brain is vulnerable to cognitive bias, these fake video is exploiting the weakness of human being While this seems suggest fake Video is generated for profiting taking. but same approach seems can be replicated with different purpose. (promoting terrorism, promoting authoritarian, etc)

[@aquelpibe]

In case you haven´t realized it yet this has been going on for years.

[@Fabian46544]

@@aquelpibe And? A lot of things go on for years until people realise it creates harm. That will neither prove it right nor make the criticism any less valid. “It's been going on for years” is such a stupid attempt to kill the conversation that it's better to say nothing than this nonsense.

[@aquelpibe]

@@Fabian46544 you missed my point. The OP says it seems that disinformation can be used to promote terrorism, authoritarianism, etc. This is not a mere likelihood but a reality. It is actually done all the time and has been for years.